Visitors for New Year's 2009-2010

Dave's mom, Martha, was one of the guests we had over for New Year's. We had wanted her to come visit for some time and decided after Christmas was going to be the best time. She came out late Wednesday night (the 30th of Dec) and stayed til Saturday the 2nd. One of the main goals of her visit was to allow Dave and I help her transition over her budget system to an electronic form. When Dave and I visited her a few weeks back on our way home from Ohio, she showed us her paper system of budgeting with the envelope method. Her binder of papers was categorized with all her expenses, how much she budgeted per month, etc...it was a painstaking (well, that was our perception of course) effort of budgeting that method on PAPER, of all things and required so much of her time to organize and keep up. Dave and I have our finances (the envelope budgeting system) on a software program called Money Map which is designed by Crown Financial Ministries. Anyway, we saw the work she did to record just one transaction and knew immediately if she converted her work to the software that we used, it would be MUCH easier for her to manage. In our opinion, of course. :) She was very willing, however. She brought out her computer and we got the software downloaded onto her computer, and over the course of three days, converted her work on paper to the software. It is all the same information and the same way of budgeting, it will just take her awhile to learn the functions of the program. She feels very lost and confused, but she knows we'll help her transition over. There were moments during the set up process that she "saw the light" and got very excited at the prospect of having all this information at her fingertips. With her paper system, she never really knew if the envelope balances added up to the balance in her checking account, and the software program calculates everything to the penny so you're never a cent off. I also helped her log on to her internet banking, sign on to her credit card online, and when the time comes, I will help her pay her first bill online. We're rocketing her into the 21st century world of banking (which is SO much easier! I can't fathom actually writing a check, sticking it in the mailbox, and putting a stamp on it, I haven't done that for 10 years). She's nervous, of course, because she tried convincing me that her generation of folk doesn't trust the internet, but with our guidance, she will figure it out soon. We told her to call us if she has even the simplest of questions about the program, and we're confident we can help her transition over. I know once she learns it, she'll be glad too. Shawn and Kim Thompson also came for New Year's. We have a tradition going with them for the past few (4 or 5 maybe?) years of getting together to bring in the new year. They came back to Iowa during Shawn's break from school and spend Christmas with their parents (who live in Mason City and Greene), so they get together with us for New Year's. They came on Thurs the 31st and stayed overnight. Martha, Shawn and Kim joined us for a few hours at Bethany Bible Chapel's New Year's Eve celebration, which was really fun. There was tons of yummy food to munch on, games to play, and silly home videos to watch (small groups made videos). We only stayed a couple hours so we could put the kids to bed around 9:30 pm and we stayed up and played Balderdash. The first day of the New Year was a delicious one. Martha made a favorite recipe of Dave's, her egg/cheese/bacon frittata, cinnamon coffee cake, and I cut up and served red juicy grapefruit, melon and strawberries. What a great way to start the new year! New Year's Resolutions? That question got asked many times. Dave started working out in December. He's following a year-long fitness program that he used years ago and really likes. He actually started in the last two weeks of December to get his body used to working out in the morning. Three times a week he gets up early and goes to the rec center and follows the weight-lifting routine. He is enjoying the work outs, he says they're not too strenuous and it starts fairly easy. He enjoys the feeling of being sore and knowing he's making progress. Me? Nahhh, no new year's resolutions. I'm gonna have another baby, there we go. But I'm very proud of Dave for sticking to his plan so far, I guess my resolution will be to support him in his effort. I know I play a big part in his success, being OK with him being gone three mornings a week. At least its not in the evening.