Faith in action

My husband and I have been faithful tithes since we got married six years ago.  As a Christian, we believe that everything we have on earth is just loaned to us by God.  God owns everything, and we are just stewards of those worldly possessions.  Tithing is giving back to God 10% of what he has so generously allowed us to manage here on earth.  We're not rich by any means, but we've always had the money we needed, so I've never had a really good story about the benefits of tithing until now.

Over the past month we have had two snow/ice storms in Georgia.  Usually we might get one snow during a winter, but it doesn't really stick, and it's usually gone by the afternoon.  With the mild winter and the rainy and mild summer last year, I knew this winter would be rough.  We have already had two shut-the-state-down snow storms, and there may be more to come before it's all over.

When a snow storm shuts the state down, both of our offices close too.  For me, I'm salaried and I can work from home, so I don't miss anything.  But for Rob, who is hourly and can't bring work home, if he doesn't go to the office, he doesn't get paid.  For four days over the past month, Rob's office was closed, so we were losing money.  

With the increased cost of healthcare this year, as well as general inflation cost, we were already on a tight budget.  I've been trying to cut corners where I can by making more meals at home, because eating out was one of our big monthly expenses.  We knew we were going on a cruise for vacation this year, and had saved and planned for it already (along with the help of our cruise points from our credit card).

We open our mail once a month when I pay all the bills all at one time.  This morning I opened our mail so I could pay bills on the plane on the way to Miami for the cruise.  In the mail, was a check from our mortgage company for the exact amount we had estimated that we were losing from the four days our offices were closed.  To top it off, we usually have to pay extra for our escrow account, so I had already budgeted for that expense.  So now, we have the cash we needed, and we have one less expense.  All I could think was, "God is so good."

If we are faithful to God, he will be faithful to us.  He will provide for all our needs.

January resolution

Well, the month of January 2014 has come and gone.  In those 31 days, my resolution was to do ten minutes of abs every day.

How did it go?  For 28 of the 31 days, I did it.  So I didn't 100% meet the goal, but I did a pretty good job.  Seeing as at least one month of the yearhas only 28 days, I would call that a success.

Where did I fail?  Two of the days I missed was when I was traveling to do the back-to-back marathons.  I missed that Friday, because I got up early and drove to Mississippi, and then just forgot to do it at the end of the day when we finally got to our hotel.  The second time was after the two marathons when I was driving back from Mobile and didn't get in until 10pm.  The third time, I just forgot.  This was a day that Rob was out of town.  I hadn't gone to the gym that morning because it was a weekend, and I just totally forgot at the end of the day.

How did I do it?  There are several aspects to this question.  The first aspect is "when did I find time?" On days that I went to the gym, I did my ten minutes at the gym.  When I didn't go to the gym, I did my ten minutes in my room before bed.  The best thing about a goal of doing ten minutes of abs a day is that you can really do it anywhere.

The second aspect of the "how did I do it" question is what ab workouts I used.  I have found several workouts apps that work very well.

My favorite app is the Workouts app (pictured in the middle of the top row above).  If you search for "workouts" in the App Store, it will most definitely come up.  This app is great for ab workouts.  It provides two different workouts and three different time options (5 mins, 8 mins, or 10 mins).  The video shows you exactly how to do it and the voice will tell you when to switch exercises.  Bonus is that it me also has arm, butt, leg, and cardio workouts too.

My second favorite workout app is the Workout for Women app.  It is similar to the workouts app, but doesn't show you a video of the workout.  Instead it shows a picture (in dynamic mode) and describes the exercise for you.  The voice also talks you through when you're supposed to change exercises and lets you know when you only have 5 seconds left.

I also used the Ab Workout X, which is the men's alternative to the Workout for Women app.  It lets you download videos of the workouts, but for some reason, they never work for me.

The last one I used was the V Abs Free app.  I rarely used this one, though, because it was my least favorite.

Typically I would switch around which workout I would do.  So one day I would use one of the ab workouts in the Workouts app.  The next day I would do the Workouts for Women app.  The next day I would do the second ab workout in the Workouts app. And the fourth day I would do the Ab Workout X, etc.  switchi them up seemed to help keep it from becoming boring.

I will continue to do abs, but probably not every day.  I hope to continue it at least three to four times a week.

February is my multivitamin month.  Along with that, I am going to try to drink more water.  On to the next adventure.