I have mentored friends financially, and we eventually touch on the topic of giving money as worship. In these conversations I call it tithing, and I don’t get on a soapbox in front of the wretched sinner before me, unlike me the perfect born-again person, and declare “it’s not tithing until it’s 10%” like some people I know. I think that’s just legalistic and shaming. I don’t feel superior – I know how disobedient and selfish I am. Hopefully that self knowledge transfers to grace and slowness to judge others finances, mixed with actual interest to discuss household money.

Now, while I do agree that the technical definition of “Tithe” is 1/10th, I believe this word has a different definition in our culture- It means giving money to the church or a charitable organization. And I believe it’s important to start when interacting with anyone with a realistic understanding of that cultural definition.

Porter has spoken better than I ever could what giving money as worship means, please take time to listen to it.

I’m working on giving money back to God (since it all came from Him) as obedience. And I have found that I simply do not cut a check and put it in the offering on a weekend. When I go to do it, I find myself looking at the checkbook balance to be sure we can cover it, and deciding to wait maybe until the next paycheck. That’s stupid- we have a budget- I know how much, God willing, we will bring in that month. But I must be truthful and realistic about my hoarding weakness.

The answer for me is auto bill pay. Now, you can tell me all you want that I lose the joy of giving as worship; for me, right now I’m working on obedience- That’s worship, because it’s bowing to God as God. And it’s trusting him and believing he will provide what we need, or learning to, anyway.

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Tonight I noticed he used it to go to high school football from The 2008 Magicians Award show.

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Associated Bank, and others, only offer Quicken file downloads from online banking, leaving you unable to import transactions into Quickbooks. I have been importing transactions for years, and have been taking this ease of data entry for granted as I sing the praises of Quickbooks to my friends. BUT I read today online that qfx (Quicken) and qbo (Quickbooks) files are THE SAME- so I downloaded ad qfx, changed the file extension and imported it successfully today.

What remains to be seen is if it has all the same snappy qbo features like smart import, where it doesn’t download the same transaction twice. I will run this process myself for a month or 2 before I declare success.

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Intuit wants to help small businesses through tough economic times and of course are always working to bring more business owners on board as QuickBooks users.

Intuit is providing the following offer:

• The regular price of QuickBooks Pro 2009 at Staples is $199.99.
• You receive a $40 instant savings.
• You receive a $159.99 mail-in rebate form.
• When you mail in the rebate form, you will receive, some weeks later, a $159.99 rebate.
• Once you obtain the rebate, your base cost is zero: $199.99 - $40.00 - $159.99 = $0.
• You are still responsible for sales tax at the time of purchase.

This offer is for today only and limited to one copy of QuickBooks Pro 2009 per customer. You can find the nearest Staples store at www.staples.com or buy on-line.

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Thank you, Steve Garbe, for sending this to me. I love it! for my friends that wonder about my status posts regarding the Hadron Collider, this is actually a pretty good explanation of what it is and why.
Except it’s offline- doesn’t work. Big waste of money and time if you ask me…

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These two women have been on the street begging every day since we have been here. They are in different spots but nearly always to be found within a couple of blocks of our hotel. I have been smiling at them every time I see them and we have fed them whenever we have had food to give which is almost daily. (I don’t give them money because they are slaves and whatever they collect goes to the beggar king - essentially a pimp of beggars- EVIL stuff)

any way, we have made a connection and now they greet me. I asked for a picture today and they were very accommodating. I wanted something to remember them by.

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But I do want to express my appreciation for all that God has taken care of during this strange time and so here is my list of things to pack when you are heading off for an adventure in an unstable country.

1. Family with a strong faith that God is in control - so you don’t have the added pressure of handling their freak out (at least not when you are on skype with them)
2. SKYPE!!!!
3. A hotel reservation in a place gracious enough not to kick you out when you have no place to go: Thank you, Father, that we have a place to stay and please keep all those who are sleeping on airport conveyor belts or under hastily slapped up tents safe, fed, and well.
4. A sister who speaks the language and doesn’t get mad when she must race down to the laundry to translate for you before she is dressed for the day.
5. A place to feel useful in the long days of unknown: Eli is helping in an English class and Brandy is found in the lobby helping students practice conversation and running spelling and vocab drills.
6. A sister who knows how to order strange food to the taste of “farangs” (white people who think they can handle spicy food but really can’t handle Thai people’s idea of “a little spicy”)
7. A video game controller to help Eli fill the time- this is big!
8. Bible
9. A mother who spends time on the phone extracting a guarantee the Northwest will not only replace the canceled flight from Bangkok to Tokyo but ALSO the missed flight from Tokyo to MSP - which isn’t technically covered by the state of emergency.
10. Access to funds from home- REALLY I mean this. There are a lot of desperate people who have run out of money because they only planned to stay a certain length of time and I am not taking this gift for granted.
11. Some one like Andrea Bordeau who is kind enough to run some book keeping tasks at FCC that cannot wait while you talk her through it on the phone.
12. An understanding employer- that’s another big fear I hear about here. Job loss for not returning.
13. A husband who: Answers no matter what time you call, listens when you need him to, laughs for same reason, and makes any phone call he can helping to get you home and extend the length of time your debit card will work in Asia. And holds the puppies up to the camera so you can see them.
14. Prayer
15. Prayer
16. prayer
17. Friends who leave encouragement of facebook and send emails.
18. Friends who feed my husband and check in with him

The list could go on and on- I am so grateful. Thank you, Father. Thank you, friends & family.

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100_0288

Originally uploaded by Brandy Dopkins

flight was great, food wasn’t bad, and we got to see Alaska! I’ll post those photos later.

Post script: isn’t this ironic? we had no idea what we were in for...

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Behold the single minded focus of Frito Puppy.

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