This is a well done article in the Dallas Morning News. If my church were to do this, I’d be giving them an earful and probably leaving if they didn’t stop. And that’s saying a lot because when they banned babies and toddlers from the service but only requested cell phones be turned off (and I hear at least one pretty much every Sunday still) I gave them my opinion and still stuck around. We even stayed when our pastor resigned last year (lots of people left, then.) This might mean I have nowhere else to go to church and would have to just meet with other believers in homes… and that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Sounds kinda first century!

“The bad news is we can’t swim. The good news is tomorrow is going to be a SUN day.”

This is my 4yo last night on the phone to Daddy who’s in California. The rain has meant we can’t swim this week. He doesn’t realize that tomorrow (today now) is not going to be a SUN day. It’s still a RAIN day. I guess it’s still bad news!

I have no idea where he picked up on the good news/bad news phrase but it cracked us up. I prefer the rain to the hot, hot temps. But it would be nice to take him swimming because he loves it, it’s good exercise and it wears him out!

Our oldest headed out this morning with a group of adults and youth for Double H High Adventure Base. They’ll be hiking between 50 and 70 miles over the course of about 8 days. This morning while they were on the road he called me and said he’d forgotten his food money for the travel portion of the trip. It was one of those times where I couldn’t just fix it for him. I advised him on a couple of options (such as stretch his spending money to buy food and get no souvenirs at the trading post) and told him he’d have to decide what to do. This evening I talked to him and one of the adults offered to cover his meals and he’ll pay him back when they get home. And my son said he was going to eat as cheaply as possible (I was glad to hear he’d thought to do that). I think he’ll learn something from this experience – and hopefully he won’t like the feeling of owing someone money.

I’m going to miss him. And I’ll be praying fervently that he stays healthy and has a great time in spite of the bumpy start today.

When I first started homeschooling 10 years ago, one of the ridiculous questions I heard was, “How will they learn to stand in line?” The answer, of course, is Six Flags! That ranks right up there with a mom asking on a newsgroup how her baby would learn to sit up if she didn’t go to daycare. Or when the Dad was asked how his kids are “socialized” if they are homeschooled and he replied, “Well, once a week I take them into the bathroom, beat them up and steal their lunch money.”

But back to lines… I can understand lines at the store – to get your turn to pay. Or lines at amusement park rides – to get your turn on the ride. Lines can be helpful. But this week is Cub Scout Day Camp and some of the adults are just freaky about getting the boys in lines for no apparent reason. I don’t understand it. I think my homeschooling, free spirit, rebellious self is in full bloom this week. I say let the boys be in “blobs” when it doesn’t matter. Just let them… be.

…Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen are on PBS – and you sit and watch. Yeah, the Sesame Street channel.  In my defense, I was sorting out some old clothes to purge and needed something to help pass the time.   Really.

What other channel is needed when everyone in the house can be entertained by one station? Maybe it’s time to throw the TV out the window.

I was reading this blog post and was intrigued. Since I’d recently grabbed a 1st quarter 2007 financial summary, I thought I’d play with the numbers like Lew did. Click here for the chart he cited – it’s the second to last item on the page. He goes on to compare those numbers to some data on conversions (interesting stuff) and there’s a whole other aspect I’m mulling over, besides. But I’m just playing with the budget tonight.  No deep stuff right now. *smile*

My church is having a bit of a crisis – our senior pastor resigned “in disgrace,” I guess you’d call it, last September. At the end of 2006, giving and expenses pretty much matched. That seems like a pretty good thing given the circumstances. But the first quarter of 2007 did not go as well – there is a deficit. Anyway, I did the groupings for both the budgeted amount and the actuals (guessing as best I could on what some things meant). For Good Works, I included all the in house ministries as well as missions and community outreach. Here’s what I came up with:

Budgeted:                                                 Actual spending:

50.2% – Payroll                                         53.4% – Payroll

29.5% – Structure Costs                           30.0% – Structure Costs

20.3% – Good Works                                16.6% – Good Works

This is interesting to me because in almost every line item, they are running under budget, including payroll. But looking at the percentages is a bit alarming – as giving has gone down, less goes to Good Works and more goes to Payroll. Overall, though, it looks like the church’s budget is pretty much average.

One thing I love about this church is it’s emphasis on cheerful giving and cheerful service. They don’t talk about money very often – and they never beg or ask for pledges or anything and I’ve always liked that. I wonder if it’s been difficult for them to even bring up the deficit to the congregation – I have a feeling it is, but if they aren’t open, how will we know there’s a need? I like being given the facts (like they recently did) so that I can know. I can figure out what to do without a guilt trip.

Last year for Christmas, I tracked down the SAT Question of the Day Page-a-day calendar (for my oldest son as a Christmas present – it wasn’t his ONLY present!).  The nice people at Barnes & Noble checked with other stores until they found one in stock and had it held for me.  A couple of months ago, I signed up my son and myself for the daily email SAT Question of the Day at the College Board website.  I must be weird because I kind of enjoy answering it. 

I recently asked my son if the questions on the calendar were different than the emailed version and he said that no, they are the same!  That does it, I’m not buying their overpriced calendar again if they can’t bother to provide different questions!!  I’ll save my money for their overpriced testing, instead. 

This Christmas I’ll choose something more fun for a calendar and let him keep using the free email question of the day.  So there. 

We’ve been doing Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover since June 2004 and yesterday we “pulled the trigger” and paid off the second mortgage on the house (most of it was a swimming pool, which happens to be broken right now – don’t get me started!). We’ve paid off over $70,000 in debt in those 3 years. Dave would say we’re “debt free” (except for the house). I don’t feel debt free with the mortgage hanging over my head, but we’ve definitely changed our lives for the better.

We wish we’d known all this stuff 20 years ago because our main “stupid tax” has been with cars. If we’d paid cash for used cars we could have invested all that money and be retired now in our 40’s – or at least be doing something we love instead of being tied to a Jay-Oh-Bee (JOB).

I’m very passionate about this topic, and last year I coordinated Dave’s Financial Peace for the Next Generation at our homeschool co-op. I’d love it if our church would let us do it, too. Debt is bondage, I wanna be FREE!

I think I’m starting to feel more excited about this now…

so I think I’m going to have to get it. Here’s the website for The Dangerous Book for Boys. I think we could tie this into our homeschooling very nicely… yeah, it can come from the education budget, that’s it!

There’s even a video trailer:

I couldn’t sleep last night. Thoughts of awful things in this world were running rampant in my head… thoughts of Kelsey Smith – abducted in broad daylight and murdered; Madeleine McCann – where is this beautiful 4 year old? A man from my town was recently arrested for attempting to buy a young girl to be a sex slave. A person we know is about to go to prison for a heinous act on a young boy.

And I know the same thing that causes these crimes is inside me, too. That all of us are capable of it. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? That is one of the most discouraging things to hear. My heart is desperately wicked. The more I know about God, the more I know this is true.

I was overcome with sadness because of the world’s wretchedness last night. The next thought in my head was, “I have overcome the world.” It is a comforting thought, and I know a better day is coming. But I sometimes think God should just pick up the globe and hurl it through the universe. Good thing I’m not God.