Family, Faith & Finances

A 4th "F": Food

2012-01-12T08:16:00.000-05:00

I am thinking of adding a fourth "F" to the title of this blog of "Food". A little less than five years ago, I began having daily headaches and intestinal pains. For ten months I was unable to figure out what was wrong, even though I consulted a doctor at least once during that time period. Finally, after crying my eyes out more than once, I again went to my doctor and she suggested eliminating wheat products and dairy to see if that made a difference. Bingo! I was severely intolerant to gluten products. Since then I have discovered (mainly through elimination diets) additional intolerances to soy, corn, sunflower, dairy, and chocolate.
When my friends and acquaintances learn about this, the most common response is "I could never give up bread!". That would most likely have been my response as well, before starting this five year journey. However, the Lord has shown me many blessings as a result of this "hardship". I

Blessings from the Lord due to Food Intolerances:

1. Food is no longer my God. Daily, I have to depend on God to supply my needs instead of filling up the hole in my heart with chocolate, candy or other unhealthy snacks from the vending machine. Between 2 and 4 pm I would normally take a trip to the vending machines at work and fill up on cookies, or a candy bar or chips plus a diet Coke. :-) (You know the food calories don't count when you eat them with a diet Coke!) Once I had discovered the majority of these intolerances, there was quite literally nothing the machines that I could safely eat.
This snacking was not normally because I was truly hungry, because I had eaten lunch only a few hours ago. Instead, the sugar, caffeine, and high carbs in these snacks served to give me a false energy boost and my low point in the day. Since then, I have learned that God is what is truly need to fill up my body and my spirit. The junk food took me away from my true need instead of leading me towards Him. Because there are so few junk and snack foods I can eat, it takes more work to find something I can eat. This gives me time to pause and reflect whether there is a true physical hunger or if it is a spiritual hunger instead. If it is a spiritual need, as it often is, then I pray for the Holy Spirit to fill me, instead of Snackwells. When my body does need food, I have learned to be prepared with healthy snacks around me instead of junk food.

Future posts will discuss more blessings, including what I have learned about healthy nutrition.

Organization Update-To Do Lists

2011-04-11T18:43:00.003-04:00

I have officially completed the 30 Day Challenge by Chalene Johnson. This is a tool I would definitely recommend if you would like to become more productive and organized. It is especially useful if you have a "big" goal and don't know exactly how to get there. She gives a number of tools to use that I have begun to use or refine.

Written List of Goals
Like many of you, I had a general idea of goals for my personal life, but I was not writing them down in a consistent manner. Chalene suggests listing your goal and wriitng a new list every week, without referring to your old list. This way you can tell which of them are consistent week to week. Often you may have one "Push Goal" that, if successful, will help you accomplish your other goals. Or your "Push Goal" may just be your most important one. My "Push Goal" for the next 12 months, is to successfully homeschool Katte. We will officially start in August, but I have a lot to do between now and then to get ready.

Brainstorm Tasks to Accomplish your Goals
Tasks that I need to do in order to accomplish my goal will often go across my mind. For my homeschooling goal, one task is to register for a official accountability group, which is something mandated by state law. this is not something I can do immediately, however, because I still need to do some investigation. Chalene suggested that you brainstorm and make a written list of all the tasks you can think of that you will need to do to accomplish your goal. Writing these down, frees your brain from constantly sifting through these items. Anytime I think of another task, I review my brainstorm list and add the task to the list, if not already there.

To Do Lists
I was already a list maker, but the 30 Day challenge has helped me further improve this productivity skill. Chalene encourages you to include one or more tasks a day on your to do list from the tasks that need to be done to accomplish your big goal. Referring to your written goals when making your To Do lists, encourages you to really think about what your are doing and reflect whether each particular activity is in harmony with your goals or not. She had quite a few techniques for color coding yours tasks, and using your phone or computer to streamline your to do lists. I have a blackberry which is tied in to both my work and home e-mails and my Outlook calendar. I have started logging my tasks in the Outlook "tasks" section, which is also on my blackberry. That way it goes with me. That is much better than multiple pieces of scrap paper and has streamlined this quite a bit.

If becoming more organized is of interest to you, I definitely recommend the 30 Day Challenge. You can find at it at the link here. http://www.chalenejohnson.com/30daychallenge/members/ Chalene will send you a daily e-mail with a short video.

Organization how to: Differences with Your Spouse

2011-03-17T20:20:00.000-04:00

Now you may have figured out how to organize your mail, but perhaps your husband or wife is not fully on board. How can you deal with this situation? First, talk about this together. Perhaps he will be willing to be more organized, but does not know how or maybe he would be happy for you to be responsible for one aspect.

Second, develop specific areas with container for your different stuff. Have a box for mail for each person in the family. Set aside a basket by your spouse's favorite chair and put his reading materials there. If possible set aside separate desks for each person, or at least separate drawers. Then each of you can be as organized as you like within your own space.

We currently have a number of small pieces of paper on this desk by our phone. I had Doug go through to throw away what was not needed. Then we logged the needed phone numbers, e-mails and other information in a notebook by the phone. Instant organization!

This may take a while, but try to work on one small area or project at a time.

To help ensure marital harmony, don't throw anything away of your spouse's without asking permission first!

Organization How To: Managing Mail

2011-03-13T20:01:00.004-04:00

Yesterday a friend of mine told me that she spent much of her day just organizing the mail that had accumulated during the week. She felt frustrated because it was covering their dining room table and she spent much of a Saturday figuring out what to do with it all. I told her I would be glad to help her set up some ways to manage it, and I thought it might be good to list those ideas here as well.

OPEN YOUR MAIL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE It is amazing how mail will seem to grow if not taken care of immediately. I get the mail from our box as soon as I get home from work. within the first five minutes of being home I generally open all mail. If the mail sits there for very long, then other things get piled on top of it or you may get distracted with other things.

THROW JUNK MAIL AWAY IMMEDIATELY The City of Aiken has a curbside recycling program, so I put all junk mail and envelopes into the recycle bin immediately. The advertising circulars, unwanted catalogs, and other items, should not not even be opened if possible. Throw it away immediately in a recyle bin or the trash can. We also have a shredder, so I shred unwanted credit card junk mail before tossing it.

CATEGORIZE YOUR MAIL AND PLACE IN THAT AREA Other than junk mail, we receive bills, magazines, financial statements, catalogs, and the occasional, but welcome, personal card or letter. In most cases you won't be able to pay bills or read magazines immediately, so these will tend to stay in the same location that you open them, such as my friend's dining room table. Instead, you need to designate a separate place for each type of mail that you receive and immediately put it in that place until you have time to deal with it. I pay most bills online, so I have a file folder beside my desk where I place the bills until I am ready to pay them. I have a place in our den where I put the magazines I read and another place for my husband's magazines. Most catalogs go into the recycle bin, but I have a basket where I store the few I save. We also have a file folder for the financial statements and a basket for each person's personal mail.

It probably takes five minutes per day to do this and now our mail stacks are under control. But you say, I am overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. First determine your main categories of mail. Then figure out where to keep them and what sort of container for each type to use. Then start sorting. The first day or two it will take you longer, but soon it should be easy. If your spouse is not as organized, just volunteer for the mail job yourself and give him or her their own basket. That way, their stack should be minimal.

Happy organizing!

Topics on this Blog

2011-03-09T19:38:00.004-05:00

There are a number of interests that I have and I will write about. These include Simplicity/minimalism, Organization, Personal Finances, Conservation and Healthy Eating. There are numerous blogs that discuss these issues, but not many of them have a distinctively Christian worldview. As I discuss these areas, I will strive to make sure that these are discussed in light of the Gospel.

For example, often people discuss conservation as if Earth is god and that "saving the planet" is the highest good. As Christian's we are to be about God's mission of evangelizing and "saving people". As part of God's creation mandate to us we are to be good stewards of the world and its physical resources, but not at the expense of people.

30 day Challenge Push Goal

2011-03-07T20:17:00.007-05:00

This is precious picture of Katte with "Baby" when she was about 3 1/2. rhw don't stay little for long!

I have had a goal to write on this blog on a regular basis for probably a year and a half. And I have not been successful so far in keeping it:-(

Hopefully this is a new leaf I have turning over! My friend Mila introduced me to a web site the 30 Day Challenge by Chalene Johnson. Here is link to her web site. http://www.chalenejohnson.com/30daychallenge/members/ This is a method to get you motivated and in the habit of accomplishing whatever goal or goals that you set for your life. I am on day five and so far it is good. she has you first start by listing your priorities for your life. then the next day you are to list ten specific goals that you have. I will have to re-set this list once a week for four weeks without looking at the previous list. The theory is that your REAL goals will show over time. Then you are to set a "Push Goal", which is the one that will enable many of the others to be accomplished if you achieve this one.

My "Push Goal" is to write on this blog at least 3 days per week. Some of my other goals include to use my God-given skills for His glory, to help other people, and to grow and maintain relationships with others. I think accomplishing the blogging will help with all of these.

It should also be a good journal of my relationship with God and others.

I have notes for quite a few posts, so stay tuned!

Drama

2009-06-16T20:04:00.003-04:00

Kathryn (excuse me, Katte) is love with drama! The acting kind, and sometimes the life kind since she is age 12. She is currently in the Aiken Community Playhouse Youth Wing show called "Fairy Tail Bits and Bytes". I watched an open dress rehearsal and they will be putting it on next week. It is a very cute show aimed at preschool and elementary kids. She is a good actress, if I do say so myself and plays one of the dwarfs from Snow White called "Crabby". She has a fun-ole time being well, crabby!! Kat is also in a drama camp at USCA this week on acting for film and TV. It reminds me of my school days when I was in Amahl and the Night Visitors as the mother, and my friend Katherine Morrah and I put on plays about the Artful Dodger and Oliver.

I have been listening to RC Sproul recently on my ipod and am amazed at God's sovreignity. I am also amazed that I was a Calvinist before I knew who Calvin was. God plans everything, but He uses us in his plans! I want more than anything to get to heaven and have Jesus say to me "well done, good and faithful servant" and we can do that when we follow the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
This summer I am trying to do more reading, especially some classical literature. I just finished "A Little Princess" and "Anne of Green Gables" is next. The writing is just superb and stories like these have excellent morals, unlike most literature of today. I am also "bribing" Kathryn to read some of these classic stories. Her taste runs to fantasy, but we need these as well.

I'm Back!

2009-06-14T20:43:00.010-04:00

Okay, so it has been over a month since I have written. My excuses? It gets hectic here at home at night. Oh well.

I just started teaching a new Bible study this past week called "Can We Talk?" by Priscilla Shirer. The first week is about controlling the tongue. It has been personally convicting and I am asking the Holy Spirit to enable me to get vitory in this area. This is group of women from church (and one from work) who are spiritually mature, so I feel it is priviledge to be asked to lead them. the study is mostly schripture on various topics and we are encouraged to listen to God speak into our lives with the scripture.

I am in the third week of working M-Th for 9.5 hour days and then we are off for three days. I love the weekends, but the weekdays are very tiring. This is only for the summer, however, and I hope that Doug and I will be able to take several trips to Hilton Head. I miss the ocean!

Montana

2009-05-07T19:58:00.007-04:00

Last week Doug and I were in Columbia Falls, Montana near Glacier Mountain Park. The Rocky Mountains are just incredibly huge and beautiful. However the weather was very COLD. the high most days was around 40 degrees with 20 mile an hour winds. At this same time in Aiken the highs were in the 80s, so I was missing my SC heat. I am a true Southerner when it comes to the weather! However, it was great seeing a totally different part of the country. The pucture above was a view near our condo. We were located on a golf course, which Doug get to play on Thursday.

We saw all kinds of animals including deer (many), buffaloes, a bald eagle, many cute gophers, and pronghorns. Here are a couple of shots.

The beauty of God's creation is just incredible! I had never seen so many multicolored rocks all together! My friend Darlene says its because of the glacier moving rocks through the ice and then melting. That's not a technical term. I am no scientist!

Sorry this post does not look great. This is my first use of pictures in the blog and I didnot get the formatting exactly right.

Creating a Spending Plan

2009-04-22T20:57:00.003-04:00

In my last post I promised to explain how to create a spending plan, AKA a budget. I like to think of this as a spending plan, because this is something you (and your spouse if married) decide on. As you get more financially free, there should be more discretion in your spending plan.
To develop a spending plan review your checkbook for the last few months and list all your expenses. Try to put them in logical categories for you. If there are a lot of ATM withdrawals or things that you can't remember, you need to track all expenses for 30 days. Write down everything, including the dollar for the diet coke at noon and the 50cents for your child's extra lunch money. If you have ever done Weight Watchers, this is much like keeping track of all the food you eat. It is amazing how many little expenses we may "forget" without this tracking mechanism.
Once you have all of this information, you need to make your Spending Plan. List items by category and total. Make sure and include a monthly amount for those items you pay annually, such as car insurance, car taxes, or home owners insurance. OK, so my expenses are greater than my income? Now what? In the short term, you may need to go on a "beans and rice" diet, as Dave Ramsey calls it. In future posts, I will discuss strategies for reducing expenses. We LOVE finding ways to save money and reduce expenses in the Hudock household! Its fun.
Keep going and keep track of your expenses.

For further information on budgeting ideas, see the resources at www.crown.org. They have some good forms you can use, as well as some sample budgets for various family sizes and income levels that can be used as good guidelines.

Happy budgeting!

Credit Card Debt can Cost you in More ways than One

2009-04-14T19:49:00.003-04:00

"The borrower is slave to the lender" according to Proverbs 22:7. The NBC Nightly news showed this truth extremely well on tonight's show. The story told haw many banks were doubling interest rates on credit card customers in good standing so that they could make more money. One man had always paid on time, and paid more than the minimums and Bank of America notified him that his rate would increase from 7% to over 12%. We don't have any credit card debt and I urge any of you that do to pay them off as quickly as you can. If you buy a $1200 computer with a credit card and make minimum payments, you will be paying for that computer many years after the computer has gone to the junkheap.

If you are committed to reducing this debt, but don't know how, watch for my next post where I will go though the basics of a spending plan, AKA a budget.

"Get Motivated"

2009-04-13T19:48:00.004-04:00

Last Thursday I went to an all day seminar at USC Columbia's Colonial Center called "Get Motivated" I went with three others from USCA and we were there with 10,000 others who have decided not to participate in the recession. There were some very famous speakers including Earl Mendell, Dr. Robert Schuller, Zig Ziglar, Suze Orman and Major Rudy Giuliani among others. The seminar is produced by Peter and Tamara Lowe who seem to be strong Christians. Our group was pleasantly surprised at the positive references to God and faith that were included by most of the speakers. Of course we expected that from Robert Schuller, but it was very exciting to me to hear business speakers being open about their faith.

Zig Ziglar reminded us "that if you ever get discouraged, just remember that Moses was a basket case". He also encouraged us to be people who do not pay attention to the economy, but to instead thrive regardless of the outside world. We can do a lot about our personal economy, even though we can;t do a lot about the national economy.

Krish Dhanam told us to take ownership and that we are accountable for our own futures. He also told us to practice stewardship: GLOW Give more than you have. Leave more than you take. Offer praise. Whose applause matters? (God's)

I am not normally a huge Suze Orman fan, but she gave the most solid financial advice of the day. She had the audience stand if they had any debt at all. the vast majority of the audience did stand and it was very scary to me. The vast majority of Americans are living on little, if any, financial margin. That is why I am dedicated to writing and teaching about improving family finances. Many financial speakers advise that you should pay off credit card debt first. However, Suze advises making only minimum credit card payments until you have at least six months living expenses in the bank so that you can withstand a job layoff or other financial emergency. That makes a lot of sense given South Carolina's 11% unemployment rate. She also encouraged everyone to invest in their retirement plans, once their debts are paid off.

This seminar was well worth the time and it only cost $50 for five of us to go from USCA. An incredible bargain!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T20:05:00.000-04:00

He is risen indeed! Today is my first day of blogging. I felt called to do this for a while, but was intimidated by the technology. Finally this week I saw Megan Everitt's blog and it got me motivated. thank you Megan!
In the sermon at church today our pastor was talking about Leah. She wanted Jacob's love, but he did not give it. Leah prayed to the Lord and was blessed with sons. Her fourth son was Judah whose name means "praise". She gave the Lord praise and her trust and He gave her the incredible blessing of being the direct great, great, great, great (and several more) grandmother of Jesus! We may never know in this life how God will use us. However, if we follow Jesus He has promised that he makes "all things work together for our good" (Romans 8:28). On this Easter Sunday, I am praising God for all the wonderful things in my life--the foremost being that He has called me to be His daughter-- and my precious husband Doug, and two smart and talented children Patrick and Kathryn.