I am proud to announce....iTithe. Over the past several months, Alex has been working with developers somewhere in TX to create an iPhone app.
iTithe is an app designed to help Christians keep track of their tithes and charitable giving. It is especially designed to be a tool to help those of us who may not have regular incomes (ie., don't have a paycheck every 2 weeks). If that's you, you know that it can be difficult to remember whether you tithed on a particular job or contract. This was Alex's inspiration - as a photographer he has irregular income and also receives payment on each contract in stages - a deposit, and then usually 1, sometimes 2, additional payments - and then maybe some extra income if a couple wants upgrades to albums or wall art prints or something.
So in iTithe, you can enter an income amount and source and then keep track of when you tithe on it to your home church. You can also, separately, keep track of charitable gifts.
If you have an iPhone we would love for you to download it, the app is just $1.99, and then review it!! You can also check out the iTithe website.
What is a tithe? I'm sure some people are asking themselves that. Well, in the Bible, God commands Christians to tithe. A tithe is a tenth of what you earn. A tithe should be given to a believers church, as opposed to charitable gifts which are given above a tithe and may go to any organization you may want to support. The principle is simple - God is the creator of all things, I believe that all I have is a gift or a blessing from God - so what I have is really His. As such, I want to give back to him the portion he requests - gladly - in thankfulness for what he has so generously provided to me.
If you want to see more - check out the 'Tithing principles' section of the iTithe website.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
whew...
Seriously, no one told me that NOT working would be so exhausting. Trust me, it's still WAY better than doing all this stuff AND working which is why I was about to have a breakdown 2 months ago- so I'm not really complaining.
Generally, I go to the child care center 2-3 days per week w/ Alex. I'm very happy because since I've been there we've implemented some positive new practices:
Also - we have a name for the girl - Grace. How appropriate.
Generally, I go to the child care center 2-3 days per week w/ Alex. I'm very happy because since I've been there we've implemented some positive new practices:
- Our Health Department approved (90% of our kids qualify for free b-fast, lunch and snacks) has been improved - now almost all fruit we serve is fresh- except peaches, which would be too hard to get in ripe and store, etc. The kids get fresh fruit at least once per day and now they eat fresh stuff like: bananas, pears, apples, cantaloupe, watermelon and prunes. So far, they seem to be loving it. These were changes we could make w/out having to get our menu reapproved; it was simply swapping canned to fresh. The next step down the road is to look at the actual cooked meal components. Other food changes include switching ice cream 1x per 2 weeks for yogurt and graham crackers; and swapping crackers w/ American cheese to crackers and cheddar - b/c I don't believe that American is an actual 'cheese'.
- The oldest kids - the pre-k kids (4-5 yrs), now enjoy 'family-style' meals. Rather than sitting at tables waiting for someone to serve them their food - which can take up to 12 minutes for the last kids to be served, now each meal component is in a bowl on the table and the teachers help them serve the appropriate measurement of each component. This has significant decreased meal 'down-time'.
- A friend of mine from my previous life, is the dental director at the Health Department, they have a mobile dental unit. They will be coming one day per week for a month to do exams, fluoride and dental education to the kids.
Also - we have a name for the girl - Grace. How appropriate.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Master of Disguise
I have quickly learned that being a mother of a toddler necessitates becoming a master of disguise...of food.
I wouldn't say that Caleb is a picky eater, I would simply say that he doesn't care much about eating. He eats to live, not the other way around.
In typical toddler fashion, he likes a food one day, and not the next. So I'm learning some tricks...hiding food.
1. a new staple for when I don't know what to cook, but want to ensure that he eats: pancakes. So - how to disguise other foods in them....Banana pancakes, banana strawberry pancakes, and the new one of last night - PB&B pancakes - peanut butter and banana pancakes. I simply mash up whatever I'm 'hiding' and mix it in the batter. The wonderful thing about pancakes is that they reheat well and they FREEZE well, so I can always pull them out for later since one batch of batter makes WAY more 'silver dollar' sized pancakes than needed for one serving.
2. Spinach - nearly tasteless and easy to hide. Tonight, I made whole wheat corkscrew pasta w/ meat sauce and then diced up spinach really small and mixed it in. I was unsuccessful in getting him to eat much of the ground meat (he's not much of a meat-eater), but I'm sure the spinach got in there - and I prefer it that way!
I wouldn't say that Caleb is a picky eater, I would simply say that he doesn't care much about eating. He eats to live, not the other way around.
In typical toddler fashion, he likes a food one day, and not the next. So I'm learning some tricks...hiding food.
1. a new staple for when I don't know what to cook, but want to ensure that he eats: pancakes. So - how to disguise other foods in them....Banana pancakes, banana strawberry pancakes, and the new one of last night - PB&B pancakes - peanut butter and banana pancakes. I simply mash up whatever I'm 'hiding' and mix it in the batter. The wonderful thing about pancakes is that they reheat well and they FREEZE well, so I can always pull them out for later since one batch of batter makes WAY more 'silver dollar' sized pancakes than needed for one serving.
2. Spinach - nearly tasteless and easy to hide. Tonight, I made whole wheat corkscrew pasta w/ meat sauce and then diced up spinach really small and mixed it in. I was unsuccessful in getting him to eat much of the ground meat (he's not much of a meat-eater), but I'm sure the spinach got in there - and I prefer it that way!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to all of my favorite moms out there!! This has been a great weekend, even if Alex did have to shoot a wedding today...really, who gets married on Mother's Day? In his defense, Alex didn't know it was mother's day when he booked it...the date does change every year. However, we celebrated w/ his mom and sister yesterday at his parents house. While we were there, Caleb got to practice his new swimming skills - he LOVES the water! He also had a nice fall after dinner when he tripped over Daddy's foot and landed face-first on the tile. Actually since it was almost bedtime he actually landed pacifier first - which somehow scraped his gums and we had a little bleeder. He's ok, although today his frequent little stumbles have been accompanied by slightly more tears than normal.
Today, we had a quiet morning at home, the three of us, until 11, when I went to put Caleb down for a nap...while rocking him a little he and I BOTH fell asleep in the glider and woke up at 12:45! nice.
Here are some pics from the swim class that we started last week. We are going to Ocaquatics Swim school. I thought that the activities were really well-planned - it was like a Mommy and Me or My Gym activity class in a pool.
And - as an update - YES, I finished working. I am loving it!! Although, I must admit that I have exceedingly busier than I anticipated. This is mostly due to trying to catch up on some of those things that don't get done when all parties in a home are working, and the timing of some special events. We had house guests for two nights - Alan and Diane Sams, the parents of my best friend Jenn. The were headed off on a cruise to England to visit Jenn for several weeks, so I asked them to stay with us. We had a GREAT time and spent both nights talking way later than Alex and I usually stay up. I had several appointments (OB, hair, dentist) and also had to do some prep to help at the school for a Mother's Day breakfast for the kids' moms on Friday morning, and I also volunteered to make baked ziti for all of the staff for Teacher Appreciation week. That luncheon was also held on Friday - so Thursday was a busy, busy day. I didn't stop from 6 am when Caleb woke up until 10 pm.
Today, we had a quiet morning at home, the three of us, until 11, when I went to put Caleb down for a nap...while rocking him a little he and I BOTH fell asleep in the glider and woke up at 12:45! nice.
Here are some pics from the swim class that we started last week. We are going to Ocaquatics Swim school. I thought that the activities were really well-planned - it was like a Mommy and Me or My Gym activity class in a pool.
And - as an update - YES, I finished working. I am loving it!! Although, I must admit that I have exceedingly busier than I anticipated. This is mostly due to trying to catch up on some of those things that don't get done when all parties in a home are working, and the timing of some special events. We had house guests for two nights - Alan and Diane Sams, the parents of my best friend Jenn. The were headed off on a cruise to England to visit Jenn for several weeks, so I asked them to stay with us. We had a GREAT time and spent both nights talking way later than Alex and I usually stay up. I had several appointments (OB, hair, dentist) and also had to do some prep to help at the school for a Mother's Day breakfast for the kids' moms on Friday morning, and I also volunteered to make baked ziti for all of the staff for Teacher Appreciation week. That luncheon was also held on Friday - so Thursday was a busy, busy day. I didn't stop from 6 am when Caleb woke up until 10 pm.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Countdown correspondence
Today is Wednesday...my last day is Friday - the countdown is in full swing!
I am doing pretty well. I only got teary-eyed ONE time today, and there were no witnesses (great!). This is impressive considering that I was taken to lunch by my awesome staff (the original ones before my department grew), my great friend Susan (CEO's assistant) and Mo, our CEO. When I arrived to work, I found a beautiful gift bag on my desk and inside....the most thoughtful gift I could imagine! They had gotten me one of those photo mugs...you know where you have photos printed onto the mug. Well, they had made a collage of photos of me with my friends and coworkers over the six years that I've been at The Trust. It was awesome. That's what made me cry a little. I was worried about the lunch - but the conversation was light and fun and thus tear free.
Today I also began packing up my office. This won't be too difficult of a task b/c most of my stuff will stay put as is. I'm only taking personal items and some books or notes that will be particularly useful for consulting later down the road.
So - speaking of tears. I must have just hit an emotional stage of this pregnancy b/c yesterday I got teary and/or weepy a couple of times. Once, while driving home these songs came on by an appropriately named band 'The Weepies'. They are an awesome folk-rock type band that I wouldn't say are particularly melancholy, but they do make me feel nostalgic. Second, while Alex and I were watching American Idol, 'Big Mike' sang some Shania Twain song that sounded to me about moving on after someone dies (although I think it's about a break-up) so I started crying. Third, Alex told me a very sad story about one of the brides at a recent wedding - I won't get into it - I probably would have gotten teary about that even if I wasn't pregnant. And finally, we've been watching the movie Armageddon in pieces for a while now and finished last night. That was the kicker. Alex was teasing me that he thought he would need to change his shirt after the movie b/c I cried all over him. I was kind of a mess at the end of the movie - but it's really sad when Bruce Willis decides to stay on the asteroid to detonate the bomb and says goodbye to his daughter....so sad.
I am doing pretty well. I only got teary-eyed ONE time today, and there were no witnesses (great!). This is impressive considering that I was taken to lunch by my awesome staff (the original ones before my department grew), my great friend Susan (CEO's assistant) and Mo, our CEO. When I arrived to work, I found a beautiful gift bag on my desk and inside....the most thoughtful gift I could imagine! They had gotten me one of those photo mugs...you know where you have photos printed onto the mug. Well, they had made a collage of photos of me with my friends and coworkers over the six years that I've been at The Trust. It was awesome. That's what made me cry a little. I was worried about the lunch - but the conversation was light and fun and thus tear free.
Today I also began packing up my office. This won't be too difficult of a task b/c most of my stuff will stay put as is. I'm only taking personal items and some books or notes that will be particularly useful for consulting later down the road.
So - speaking of tears. I must have just hit an emotional stage of this pregnancy b/c yesterday I got teary and/or weepy a couple of times. Once, while driving home these songs came on by an appropriately named band 'The Weepies'. They are an awesome folk-rock type band that I wouldn't say are particularly melancholy, but they do make me feel nostalgic. Second, while Alex and I were watching American Idol, 'Big Mike' sang some Shania Twain song that sounded to me about moving on after someone dies (although I think it's about a break-up) so I started crying. Third, Alex told me a very sad story about one of the brides at a recent wedding - I won't get into it - I probably would have gotten teary about that even if I wasn't pregnant. And finally, we've been watching the movie Armageddon in pieces for a while now and finished last night. That was the kicker. Alex was teasing me that he thought he would need to change his shirt after the movie b/c I cried all over him. I was kind of a mess at the end of the movie - but it's really sad when Bruce Willis decides to stay on the asteroid to detonate the bomb and says goodbye to his daughter....so sad.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wow! Weelicious Wonderful
I have several goals for my upcoming foray into being more of a homemaker (along w/ overseeing our child care center - but still).
1. More time for Caleb and baby girl in August
2. Help Alex with running our businesses so that he can ALSO work less
3. Improve spiritual health
4. Improve family's physical health.
1. and 2. will be addressed by having quit my job, beginning in May.
3. Not working like a crazy-person will give me more free time. More free time = more time for God's word. I have also joined Bible Study Fellowship. I'm finishing up the current series (John) now in the evening through May and then in September when the new series on Isaiah begin in September I will do that one during the daytime (ahh, the liberty of having day-time free!)
4. Getting healthier. My goal is to take time to walk and/or do other activity outside with Caleb everyday. Now that I will have more time to think about and prepare meals, I want to make healthier, meals with fresh ingredients.
So - this just might be the best blog I've read in AGES. If you have babies or toddlers - this is for you! Weelicious
Now that Caleb is eating 100% table food, I am often faced with the challenge of trying to think of meals that Alex and I want to eat, that Caleb would also eat. This is really difficult - especially right now since Caleb is just over a year - he flip flops on what he eats. Some days - he loves veggies or fruit; the next, he won't touch them. The only stand-by guarantees are applesauce, bananas, and yogurt.
As I've been poring through this website, I have found that I save almost every recipe to my recipe box! They are delicious and healthy (and easy) recipes! So far, I haven't cooked any - but I have several printed out a waiting for me!
ENJOY!
1. More time for Caleb and baby girl in August
2. Help Alex with running our businesses so that he can ALSO work less
3. Improve spiritual health
4. Improve family's physical health.
1. and 2. will be addressed by having quit my job, beginning in May.
3. Not working like a crazy-person will give me more free time. More free time = more time for God's word. I have also joined Bible Study Fellowship. I'm finishing up the current series (John) now in the evening through May and then in September when the new series on Isaiah begin in September I will do that one during the daytime (ahh, the liberty of having day-time free!)
4. Getting healthier. My goal is to take time to walk and/or do other activity outside with Caleb everyday. Now that I will have more time to think about and prepare meals, I want to make healthier, meals with fresh ingredients.
So - this just might be the best blog I've read in AGES. If you have babies or toddlers - this is for you! Weelicious
Now that Caleb is eating 100% table food, I am often faced with the challenge of trying to think of meals that Alex and I want to eat, that Caleb would also eat. This is really difficult - especially right now since Caleb is just over a year - he flip flops on what he eats. Some days - he loves veggies or fruit; the next, he won't touch them. The only stand-by guarantees are applesauce, bananas, and yogurt.
As I've been poring through this website, I have found that I save almost every recipe to my recipe box! They are delicious and healthy (and easy) recipes! So far, I haven't cooked any - but I have several printed out a waiting for me!
ENJOY!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
countdown begins!
Wow! So much to share since my last posts...
1. The countdown has begun at work - only TWO WEEKS to go! I still get very emotional and nostalgic at the thought of saying goodbye to my wonderful, wonderful coworkers whom I care about so much. However, as the work and projects keep coming--I have to admit I am SO relieved to see a light at the end of this tunnel. Not even, that light is the dawning of a new day - it's just so close!
2. Caleb is now walking and walking. About a week and a half ago you could practically see the switch flip in his brain that told him, "Hey this walking thing is way more efficient than crawling, even if I do fall down a lot." Since then - walking comes first.
3. Vocabulary is growing. Caleb says Mama and Dadda - although Dadda comes far more frequently. Dog started out really clear as Daoh (like "ahh" with a D on the front), but it is now a two syllable word that sounds like dod-do. Which is just weird since we have made a point of always calling things what they are, so we say "dog" not doggie or anything else. Dog is said to almost anything with 4 legs - he also says it if he hears barking. Somewhere along the line he picked up 'Bird' (burr) - and very accurately says it to anything that flies (we saw a lady-bug in a cartoon - that was a burr).
4. In case you don't follow me on Facebook - #2 is a GIRL! At first, we had to adjust b/c we kind of thought we wanted another boy. But now - we are all warmed up to having a little girl. Although am nervous about one thing: I have had very, very short hair for over 10 years - I don't think that I even know how to put up a ponytail - I'm very concerned about learning to do a little girl's hair.
1. The countdown has begun at work - only TWO WEEKS to go! I still get very emotional and nostalgic at the thought of saying goodbye to my wonderful, wonderful coworkers whom I care about so much. However, as the work and projects keep coming--I have to admit I am SO relieved to see a light at the end of this tunnel. Not even, that light is the dawning of a new day - it's just so close!
2. Caleb is now walking and walking. About a week and a half ago you could practically see the switch flip in his brain that told him, "Hey this walking thing is way more efficient than crawling, even if I do fall down a lot." Since then - walking comes first.
3. Vocabulary is growing. Caleb says Mama and Dadda - although Dadda comes far more frequently. Dog started out really clear as Daoh (like "ahh" with a D on the front), but it is now a two syllable word that sounds like dod-do. Which is just weird since we have made a point of always calling things what they are, so we say "dog" not doggie or anything else. Dog is said to almost anything with 4 legs - he also says it if he hears barking. Somewhere along the line he picked up 'Bird' (burr) - and very accurately says it to anything that flies (we saw a lady-bug in a cartoon - that was a burr).
4. In case you don't follow me on Facebook - #2 is a GIRL! At first, we had to adjust b/c we kind of thought we wanted another boy. But now - we are all warmed up to having a little girl. Although am nervous about one thing: I have had very, very short hair for over 10 years - I don't think that I even know how to put up a ponytail - I'm very concerned about learning to do a little girl's hair.
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