We are having a boy!

Here is one of two ultrasound pictures from today. (The other will be kept off the internet.)

Winter Time Pictures

Merry Christmas 2008

Wishing you a very merry Christmas. Love,

JD, Danielle, Lily and baby2

Luke 2:1-20
1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

wii blogging

This blog entry was posted using the wii browser and fhe wii remote.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year Danielle and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house. We enjoyed having family over and eating wonderful food. Danielle made a great juicy turkey. We are truly blessed and praise our Lord for his provisions. Enjoy the pictures.

Same Dress Then and Now

Danielle and Grandma

Same dress made by Danielle's Grandma.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #14

#14 Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford
I don't think I could say it better myself.

Baby2

Lily is looking forward to being a big sister. We are happily expecting our second baby in mid May.

Wii

So yeah, I bought a Wii. Yeah, it is a lot of fun. Lily can even pitch in the baseball game. She is known to pitch shutouts. Watch out world.

Really Cute pictures of Lily

Lily is enjoying a Subway sandwich. I find the 1st four pictures really cute. She is posing in all of the Sandwich pictures.

2008 11 12

This is Hyperinflation

I started a new blog called This is Hyperinflation for my economic interest.

Is Icelandic króna the next Zimbabwe Dollar?

Iceland was recently the UN's world’s best country in which to live. There prosperity was built on debt. Now the country's currency has lost half it's value.

New York Time's piece.

Wikipedia Entry.

Election Day Thoughts

Daniel 2:21
He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.

F16 Fly Over

We saw this on our bike tour

October Pictures

Here are a few picture for October 2008.

October 2008

Fall Bike Hike 2008

Brian, Ben and Patrick joined me for a 47 miles bike hike starting in Urbana, OH and ending at my house in Xenia. We took detours to see 3 airports. Be sure to check out the pictures.

Fall Bike Hike 2008

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Fall Bike Hike 2008

10.2 Quadrillion

10.2 Quadrillion is the current estimated annual inflation rate in Zimbabwe. (Price doubling every 7 days 20 hours)

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #13

#13 Finding the lowest gas price.

Normally on trips, I advocate not worrying about the price of gas, much. Most times gas prices are within 10 cents a gallon or so. It's not worth $2.00 a tank to hunt down the lowest price.

But today I was able to get gas for the lowest price in the area. $2.119 a gallon. Here are a few websites to help you find the lowest gas prices.

• DaytonGasPrices.com Internet user report the price of gas per staton. Also has great historical graphs and maps. GasBuddy.com is their national web site
• GasPriceWatch.com is also user reported prices. This site let you know the highest and lowest prices in the country.
• Speedway.com has a section that lets you know the street prices at Speedway stations. The site also gives directions and will plot the speedway stations on your route with their price.

JD's Voter Guide

The following is my personal recommendation for how to vote for all offices and issues on the ballot in Xenia, OH. Feel free to leave your opinion, perhaps you can educate me and I'll change my mind. I did my best to include the web sites of each candidate, but I was unable in every case to find their site. I did not include the races where a person was running unopposed.

President (Very Important)

• JD's Pick -> Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party) or Bob Bar (Libertarian Party)
• Richard Duncan
  
• John McCain (Republican Party)
  
• Cynthia McKinney (Green Party)
  
• Brian Moore
• Ralph Nader
• Barack Obama (Democratic Party)
  
• Write In_________

• I'm advocating voting for anyone other than McCain or Obama. Both continue to play Santa Clause trying to buy votes for promises they cannot keep. Both voted for the bailout and both are for an interventionist foreign policy. Both will sink our county into debt and allow the Fed to create money out of thin air. I feel we need to take a stand and vote no to more of the same. Voting for the lesser of two evils in still evil.
  

Attorney General (Very Important)

• Richard Cordray (D)
• Mike Crites (R)
• JD's Pick -> Robert M. Owens
  

• Robert Ownes in endorsed by the Constitution and Libertarian Parties. I think this position should not be held by a partisan person. Robert Owens would protect our civil liberties and our economic freedom.
  

Ohio Secretary State Information on the State Ballot issues.
State Issue #1 (yawn) To provide for earlier filing deadlines for statewide ballot issues

• JD's Pick - Yes
• Earlier deadlines make it harder for dumb laws to be voted on? If anyone has another reason to vote yes or no let me know. I'm open to changing my mind on this issue.
  

State Issue #2 (Important) To authorize the state to issue bonds to continue the clean Ohio program for environmental revitalization and conservation

• JD's Pick - No

• Since this is not an emergency, I'll vote no to more debt.
  

State Issue #3 (Why are we voting on this) To amend the constitution to protect private property rights in ground water lakes and other watercourses.

• JD's Pick - Yes

• I'll always vote yes to protect private property rights.
  

State Issue #4 Withdrawn by the petitioners' committee

State Issue #5 (Very Important) Referendum on legislation make changes to check cashing lending sometimes known as "Payday lending," Fees interest rates and practices.

• JD's Pick - NO
  

• The government should never set interest rates, or keep a database of who borrows what.
  

State Issue #6 (Very Important) To amend the constitution by initiative petition for a casino near Wilmington in southwest Ohio and distribute to all Ohio Counties a tax on the Casino

• JD's Pick - NO

• Ohio constitution should not dictate a monopoly for a casino. This amendment also dictates the location. The amendment would preempt local zoning laws. May also increase crime.
  

Representative to Congress 7th District (Important).

• JD's Pick -> Steve Austria (R)
  
• Sharen Swartz (D)

• I hate to say this but I'm voting for Austria because he is a republican. We need as many republicans in office to fight with the Democrats. This is a vote for gridlock. He is Endorsed by National Rifle Association (NRA) - "A" rating And Ohio Right to Life

State Senate 10th District

• Roger Tackett (D)
  
• JD's Pick -> Chris Widener (R)

• Chris is Endorsed by Buckeye Firearms Association.He appears to be a great tax cutter.
  

2nd District Court of Appeals (Not sure how important)

• Jeffrey E. Froelich
• JD's Pick -> George B. Reynolds

• I liked his speech at Cedarville more than the other guy's.
  

Commissioner (Somewhat important)

• JD's Pick -> Eddie K. Baumann (D)
  
• Rick Perales (R)

• Eddie Baumann is a professor at Cedarville University. I read his website and I like his ideas for the commissioner position. I think the local government needs new people and new ideas.
  

Commissioner (Somewhat important)

• JD's Pick -> Marilyn J. Reid (R)
  
• Jerry Sutton (D)

• I like the idea of having a fiscal conservative at the commissioner position. I also think have a Democratic and a Republican commissioner is a good balance of power. Her Cedarville speech.
  

Recorder (Needed Position)

• Eric C Sears (R)
  
• Mary Taylor (D)

• Why do we vote on this position? Maybe we should vote on custodians? I not no clue who is better or worse. Just make sure the properties or recorded on time. Anyone got an opinion on this?
  

Treasurer (Important)

• Corinna Grooms (D)
  
• JD's Pick-> James W. Schmidt (R)

• James is the current treasurer, as far as I can tell he is doing a fine job.
  

State Board of Education 10th District (Important)

• Jane Sonenshein
• JD's Pick -> Jeffrey A. Hardin
• John McHenry

• Jeffrey is a fiscal conversation who thinks school should be controlled locally. He had good things to say about private and home schools. He also did not seam excited about no child left behind.
  

Xenia Issues

(Very Important)
#20 Xenia Community City School District Income Tax- Bond Issue
4.2 Mills
$132 per year on a 100K house
1/2 % Income Tax Increase
$194 per year on the average family income of 43K

JD's Pick -> NO

• This is a hard one. Clearly Xenia schools need physical help. If this passes we get about half of the money *free* from the state of Ohio. However, I don't like the location of the new school. I think we should negotiate with the state for a *cheaper* school that we can afford. This is a large tax increase during hard economic times. We need to be careful that the Xenia tax rates do not force people to move out. We don't want to build a school that is half empty.
  

(Not sure how important)
Greene County Children Services Board Replacement/Increase- Operating
1.5 mills
$48 per year on a 100K house

JD's Pick -> No

• I don't know how important this service is. If in doubt I'll vote no on a tax increase. If it is important, I'm sure we will get a chance to vote on this tax again.
  

(I do not really care)
Greene County Greene Memorial Hospital Renewal- Operating
0.5 mills
$16 per year on a 100K house

JD's Pick -> No

• I think hospitals should not be funded by the government. This is only $16 a year so not a big deal if it passes.
  

Greene County Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Board Renewal- Operating
3.5 mills
$111 per year on a 100K house

JD's Pick -> NO

• Again this is not a something that should not be funded by the government.
  

Greene County Mental Health and Recovery Board Replacement/Increase- Operating
2 mills
$63 per year on a 100K house

JD's Pick -> NO

• Mental Health needs two taxes?

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #12

#12 Zenni Optical
Lily ended up finding and breaking my old glasses from many years ago. So I was in need of new glasses. A friend recommended that I check out zennioptical.com. They have glasses that you can order online starting at $8.00. All you have to do is enter your prescription information. I only use my glasses when I don't feel like wearing my contacts. I didn't care all that much how they look. I was able to find glasses for $8 that looked fairly close to what I had before. I did add Anti-Reflection Coating for $4.95 and shipping was $4.95 per oder. Danielle also got glasses for reading and driving at night. She got nicer glasses for a total of $28.90 Making the grand total for two complete prescription eyes glasses: $46.80. It took two weeks to receive the glasses in the mail.


Total Savings: $38.31 (At Eye Mart glasses are 2 for $85.12 with tax)
Extra Hassle: Knowing how to read my prescription. Zenni Optical was less than helpful helping me, but Eye Mart where I got my eye exam was very helpful.
Catch: Waiting 2 weeks for glasses verses one hour and not being able to try them on.

BJ Lawson

I want a guy like this to run for Congress in my district.

50,000 for the 3rd time.

Zimbabwe is out with a New-New-New $50,000 banknote. There are 14 hidden Zero's behind the 4 that are visible. Inflation is running at two 5.77 188 Trillion 10.2 Quadrillion percent per year. (Price doubling about every 9 days) I'm guessing that the 100K note will come out in about a week and a half.

New Links

• LJ's Territory Jud is an excellent writer. He is also our Awana Commander
• The View from my perch Danielle's cousin. She is spending a year in Côte d'Ivoire
• EBCX Awana Blog The official blog for Awana at Emmanuel Baptist Xenia
  

How much is that new property tax going to cost me?

Here is Xenia, Oh there are 5 tax renewals or increases on the November ballot. Each are measured in mills. So what is a mill? A mill is one thousandth of assessed value of your property. Here in Ohio the assessed value is 35% of your appraised value. There is also a 10% rollback and other mysterious "any [other] reimbursements". If you live in Greene County Ohio, you can look this up here. Most other counties in Ohio have similar sites. You can find then using Google by searching [Your County's Name] County GIS.

Here are the issues in Xenia:
#20 Xenia Community City School District Income Tax- Bond Issue
4.2 Mills
$132 per year on a 100K house
1/2 % Income Tax Increase
$194 per year on the average family income of 43K

Greene County Children Services Board Replacement/Increase- Operating
1.5 mills
$48 per year on a 100K house

Greene County Greene Memorial Hospital Renewal- Operating
0.5 mills
$16 per year on a 100K house

Greene County Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Board Renewal- Operating
3.5 mills
$111 per year on a 100K house

Greene County Mental Health and Recovery Board Replacement/Increase- Operating
2 mills
$63 per year on a 100K house

I'm voting no all the tax issues. I'll lay out my reasons in a another post.

Here is a calculator I came up with so you can figure out what a tax issue would cost.

Ohio Millage Property Tax Calculator.

Appraised Value of your House:

Mill Rate:

Yearly Tax Increase:

This is only an estimate and includes the 10% rollback, but not the mysterious other deductions. If you live in your property you may be eligible for a 2.5% decrease. Also if you are 65 or older you maybe eligible for a Homestead deduction.

Lily Master of the Playground

Here is a break from all the political posts. A new video of Lily mastering the playground.

Who is the Liberal Now?

Are you upside down on your home mortgage? Don't worry John McCain and the government will take care of you. Here is what McCain said last night in the debate:

You know that home values of retirees continues to decline and people are no longer able to afford their mortgage payments. As president of the United States, Alan, I would order the secretary of the treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes -- at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those -- be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.

Is it expensive? Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy. And we've got to give some trust and confidence back to America.

This is non-sense and completely crazy. Maybe I should fall behind on my mortgage so the government will take care of me. Never mind the fact that the Fed will have the print the money out of thin air to pay for this. Hold on the your hats, we are going to be in for a wild economic ride as long as the government keeps interfering. Between this proposal and Bomb Bomb, Bomb Iran, there is no way I can vote for McCain. (or Obama.) I honestly, do not know which will do more harm to our county. I encourage you to vote 3rd party. I'll have more on this in a later post.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #11

#11 Free GPS.

Danielle found a great offer from Discover Credit Card. Sign up for a Discover Miles Card, make one purchase and they will send you a free Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS. I signed up for the card online and made one purchase to buy gas. About 6 weeks after signing up for the card, I received my free GPS as advertised shipped from Amazon.com. The GPS works great. Even if I had to pay the $160 or so dollars for it, it would be worth it. It not only gives you directions, it also knows where all the good places to eat are. The offer is still valid here.

I must warn you, I have no clue what it does to your credit rating, so if you are going to buy a house or something on credit, I wold skip this offer. Also, credit cards can easily turn into monsters, so if you have trouble paying your bills on time, or are carrying a balance, or spend to much with a credit card, I would also pass on this offer as well. I'll save my theory on credit cards for another post.

Those of you interested in the features of the GPS feel free to contact me.

I see an Empire Falling...

The National Debt Clock has run out of digits. The most fascinating part of the whole clip to me was when a New Yorker said near the end "I see an Empire falling".

Maybe we should just knock off ten zeros. They tried that in Zimbabwe.

1/2 Trillion percent inflation

$20,000 is the newest note from Zimbabwe. This is after knocking off 10 Zero's two months ago. They are burning through 2 zero's a month. Maybe by the new year they will knock 10 more off.

The Cato institute has estimated the annual inflation rate of the Zimbabwe dollar at 1/2 of trillion percent. This is price doubling every 11 days. Here is an example of what it is to live in Zimbabwe economy.

Pictures.

Here are a few pictures of our adventures in the past few weeks.

Early Fall 2008

Full House

This last weekend Danielle's cousin, Nate married Ivy in Greenville, OH. We set a new record for people sleeping over in our house: 19. Now, that is a lot of in-laws! We did have fun and I would do it again. I'm having trouble connecting my camera to my computer and the hour is getting late. I'll post pictures later.

NO $700 Billion Bailout

I digress into politics.... I'll refrain from ranting [too much] about how the United States in sliding into socialism... or the upcoming inflation nightmare. (Oil up $16 today)

I call my congressman's [office] for the first time in my life today. I called to voice my strong opposition over than $700 Billion Bank Bailout. It was quick took less than 5 minutes. The lady took my name and address and she would pass my concern on to the congressman.

Please consider calling your congress person and your 2 two senators.

Phone numbers found here: http://www.congress.org/c...

Tell them ...

1. You will not pay for Wall Street's mistakes.

2. You will not vote for anyone who dares suggest you should pay for Wall Street's mistakes.

Hate Tip to Brian for pointing me to this article about how we become the United States of France.

Roof is fixed

Living Life Richly on the Cheap

Friends.

Thanks to Ben we now have our roof fixed and better than ever. The plan was for me to help Ben fix my roof. He and his family put a new roof on his house and it survived the wind storm. As it turned out, Ben did it all by himself, what an amazing friend. Danielle was sick on Friday and I then I woke up very sick today. I was flat on my back most of the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day.

The contractor wanted $750 to fix my roof. I paid $55 for the shingles. Ben and Ann will getting a nice gift from us.

Ike Dammage

It is official our house has suffered damage from the remnants of hurricane Ike's blustery winds, even in Ohio. Praise the Lord we did not get rain. Now, I get to deal with contractors and insurance companies.

Vacation Pics

We had a great time in Gatlinburg, Tn. Here are the pictures. I also included pictures from our trip to Lake Michigan and Family.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #10

#10 Drive the Speed limit.

55mph v 65mph debate
With the high price of gas much has been said about getting better fuel economy. Many people advocate driving 55 instead of 65. On my recent trip to Michigan we drove about 93 miles where the speed limit was 65. If I had slowed to 55 it would have taken 16 more minutes and would have saved me about $1.25 in gas. In other words if I would have driven 55mph I value my time at about than $4.50 per hour. Had the speed limit been 75 I would have saved 27 minutes at a cost of $2.50 or $5.65 an hour. Unless you have time to waist I recommend driving the speed limit. Your time is worth more than you would pay for the extra gas.
Don't drive (Much) Over the speed limit
Most people drive just over the speed limit, and thus if you drive at the speed limit you will have less people to pass and a less stressful drive. If the police catch you speeding you have to pay for the ticket and pay higher car insurance rate.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #9

#9 Free Mini-Golf Coupons.

Young's our local mini-golf and ice cream activity center has an amazing coupon deal. In the spring Mountain Due cans come with a coupon with a free game of mini-golf at Young's. (Limit one free game per person per day) So, each spring I buy about 48 cans of Mountain Due. We bring along friends and go to Young's often. Young's also has the best homemade ice cream around. Also, the score card get's you a free waffle cone upgrade a $.99 savings. If you get a whole in one on the last hole your ice cream code only costs $1.00

Total Cost for two: About $10 (2 single scoop ice cream waffle cones [$3.29 each] and about one gallon of gas to get there and back - the free waffle cone. The Mountain Due cans costs about 35 cents each.)
Total Savings for two: $11.49 Mini-Golf is $5.25 for adults and $4.25 for kids, and don't forget about the free waffle cone upgrade. Using the Mountain Due Cans would make a cheap family outing.
Catch: We don't like Mountain Due at all, so we have to find people to drink it, which is not really all that hard. Young's Employees gladly accept full cans as well.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #8

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #8
Amazon.com

From time to time I'll write about where I like to shop. This time Amazon.com blew me away with their customer service.

Recently, my wife Danielle and I bought a DVD from Amazon.com for my Sister-in-Law's birthday. As it turned out that we bought the same DVD that her boyfriend gave her. So, we had a DVD that we needed to sell or return. I was really impressed with Amazon.com. They far exceeded my expectations on returns. Not only did they refund 100% my money, they also let me print a postage paid label. I didn't even have to pay to ship it back. All I had to do was package it up and walk it to my mail box.

On a side note I really like Amazon's reviewing feature. This feature allows you to see what other people think about the product.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #7

#7 Google for discount codes.

My wife, Danielle thought of this one. Most online e-commerce web sites have mysterious discount codes boxes. As it turns out, you can use Google to find legitimate code for most websites. Danielle recently bought sheets on clearance for a quilt project from JCPenny.com and saved $10. Typically, she can find codes to cover to shipping costs.

Total Savings: $10.65 Including Ohio sales tax.
Extra Hassle: A few extra minutes using Google
Catch:You might have to spend more that you want to get the discount.

No Trays at Chuck's

In an effort to *Go Green* the cafeteria at the university were I work has eliminated trays at the cafeteria. It will be interesting to see what the reactions are from the students when they return in a week and a half.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #0

#0 $1000 Emergency fund.

I cannot stress enough how important having a $1000 emergency fund is. I numbered this one #0 because without it, I could not live as "richly on the cheap" as I do. My friend Brian blogged about this one as well. Read his post. He basically said everything I wanted to say. In a nut shell, if you don't have a $1000, find a way to get it asap.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap # 6

#6 Taking advantage of good deals on top of good deals.

I received a gift card to Cold Stone as a thank you gift for working in Awana at our church. This is a great gift because Danielle and I can enjoy about 5 trips to Cold Stone on a single gift card. Cold Stone makes just about the best ice cream around. So tonight we took Lily (our 13 month old daughter) and headed to Cold Stone at The Greene. The Greene is the local upscale shopping "city" in the area. On Monday's Cold Stone runs a deal: buy one medium ice cream creation get a kids size free. We got the ice cream to go (tax free in Ohio) and sat outside by The Greene's fountian and enjoyed the beautiful summer evening. Also, Lily really enjoys playing in the fountian and The Greene provides free towels to dry off with.

Since this item was not a necessity there are no savings just a total cost
Total Cost: About $2.5o in gas. (9.4 miles, 25MGP $3.479 per gallon) (The icecream would have costed $4.69)
Extra Bonus: I got to read a good book while Danielle did some shopping.
Extra Hassle: Waiting for the right day to get the extra deal.
Catch: Might become addited to Cold Stone Icecream.

Pictures!

It's been a good week, full a new things for Lily. She was able to play in our backyard with the sprinkler, which she really enjoyed. Thursday was Cedarville's Faculty Staff picnic. Lily and I got the play on the huge inflatable slide. On Friday, I was able to go to the Greene County Fair and enjoy the demolition derby. Enjoy the pictures.

Summer 08

Living Life Richly on the Cheap # 5

#5 Riding your bike to work.

I'll post more later about how Danielle and I have one just car. I hardly ever drive our one car to work. I nearly always carpool or ride my ride. This week I rode my bike to and from work 3 times. This is a 25 mile round trip. The great part is 21 miles of the trip is on bike trails. I was able to eat breakfast and watch the sunrise over my neighbor's house. I spend about 1:40hr around trip on my bike. If I were to carpool it would take about 1 hour. So it costs me an extra 40 minutes to ride my bike. But I get a good amount of exercise in for only 40 extra minutes.

Total Savings: about $4.00 in gas or $14.50 if you use the government rate of 58 cents per mile.
Extra Bonus: Exercise without having a a gym membership
Catch: You need to find a way to shower once you get to work.

A few new pictures of Lily

In the last week Lily has nearly mastered the baby art of walking. She has gone from just being able to take a few steps at a time to being able to walk to almost any place she wants. She is very proud of herself as well.

When Lily was born I didn't have a clue on what to expect. This last year has been great. She brings we so much joy each day. I look forward to putting her down to bed each night. One of my favorite parts of the day is when Danielle and I peek at her while she is sleeping. She is so peaceful and beautiful. I can't say it's always been easy, but it has been a joy being a daddy to Lily for the for first 13 months of her life. God has really blessed us with a really cute, loving, happy baby girl. We pray for her safe keeping, wisdom for her and us and she grows up.

Lily July 08

When 100 Billion just isn't enough

Could the end of Zimbabwe's hyperinflation be in sight as the country's central bank run out of paper? According to this news story the country's solder's are starting to go unpaid. This cannot be good for the dictator-president. Hopefully peace will follow and not anarchy. Today 100 billion is worth about 20 cents on the black market.

Learning to Walk

Lily is learning to walk. Here is a short clip of her walking to her new toy.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap # 4

#4 Buy your 1 year old a toy from a yard sale.

We bought Lily this new toy from a yard sale for $2.00. She loves it and giggles over and over watching the balls roll through it.

Since this item was not a necessity there are no savings just a total cost
Total Cost: $2.00 + Gas and time. But Danielle and I enjoying shopping at Yard Sales.

Extra Bonus: After we are all done with have kids. I'm sure we could resell it for $2.00, bring the total cost near zero.
Catch: You could have to visit a lot of yard sales to find what you want. I also have the problem and buying too much. I'll write more about yard sales in a later post.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap # π

#π Yard Service.

I'm naming the entry #π since I am not yet sure if this is a good deal. I just signed up through Trugreen for 4 treatments to help kill to weeds in my yard and thicken up my grass in my yard. I can’t walk bear foot in my yard without fearing, steeping on some sort of thorny weed. I negotiated to $43 + tax per treatment. Buying the chemicals myself would cost about $40 per treatment. So I figured for $3 extra they could have the fun of spraying. When I do it myself I tend get a striped yard, which I'm sure is visible from space satellites. I’ll let you know in a few months if it was worth the money.

Since this item was not a necessity there are no savings just a total cost
Total Cost: $167.21 for 4 treatments. (13.93 a month) I know, I know that does not mean much in the winter.
Extra Bonus: Not having the store ½ used bags of fertilizer in my garage.

Extra Hassle: Calling and setting it all up. Having them show up at random times and not being able to use your yard for 24 hours.
Catch: I might have no grass left, just dead weeds…

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #3

#3 Keeping your eye out for amazing deals

About a month ago, Danielle and I headed to the Morris furniture outlet store for their big clearance sale. We were looking for a dresser. We did not find a dresser but we did find a very nice dining room table top with two leaves that folds out from under the table for only $27.77. The MSRP for just the table top was $650. The only catch was it had no legs and a few minor scratches. We could not turn down 95% percent off, so we bought it in hopes of finding a set of pedestal legs some place else. About a week, later Danielle found a set of pedestal legs on Craigslist for $20.00, only 60 miles away. The legs are a slightly darker color than the table, but they work great. So including gas and tax we have an amazing dinning room table for about $65.

Since this item was not a necessity there are no savings just a total cost
Total Cost: including gas and tax about $65.
Extra Bonus: Bonding time with my father-in-law as we assebled the pedestal bases and the table top. Danielle has also been wanting a larger, solid wood table, and now she's got it!
Extra Hassle: Being pateint and searching.
Catch: We might have been stuck with either buying expensive pedestal bases or having a $27.77 table top with no legs.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #2

#2 Level Bill Pay

My gut tells me the the Gas Company has to be ripping you off with level bill pay. I mean common sense says, why should I pay ahead in the summer for my gas bill for the winter? I could make tons of money in interest if I created my own level bill pay - right? Well, not so much. Being the the over curious person I am, I sat down and did some math. I found that the gas company was really accurate with their estimate. If I did my own level billing I would accumulate an astonishing $2.21 in interest over the year. (This assumes 2.33% interest rate from paypal.) I believe that part of living richly is not having to worry about fluctuating budgets. So in this case, not getting $2.21 is worth not have a freaking huge gas bill at the same time I'm buying Christmas presents, and it makes the budget much easier to work with.

On a side note here in Xenia, OH the price of natural gas is up 38% since February and some are saying that next winter's heating cost could be double of last years.

Total savings: -$2.21 enough gas to drive -16 Miles ($4.099/Gallon @ 30MPG)
Extra Bonus: Saving hours and hours budgeting calculations and worrying how to pay the winter gas bills
Extra Hassle: Setting it up with the Gas or Electric Company.
Catch: Don't burn more gas than last year.

Cedarville Young's Night 2008

Patrick and Rachel were able to join us for the annual Cedarville Young's Night. $2 got us a round of Mini-Golf and a double scoop-nut-covered-chocolate-waffle-ice-cream-cone! Bring on the fun!

Cedarville Young's Night 2008

Living Life Richly on the Cheap #1

Today, I am starting a new series called: Living Life Richly on the Cheap. I'll show you examples on how my wife and I have saved money.

Tip#1 Pay with Cash. Yes Hard Cold Cash.
I finally decided to replace the original muffler on our faithful '94 Saturn with 147K miles. According to the mechanics not only did the muffler need replaced, but the long pipe from the converter to the muffler needed to be replaced as well. Total cost with parts and labor was $235.19 before tax. I asked if there was a discount for paying with cash verses a credit card, knowing that he would have to pay credit card fees. He said that if I paid in cash I would not have to pay the tax. He even rounded down to a flat $235. And best of all we have a much, much less noisy car!! Wahoo!

Total savings: $12. 97 (((6.5% of 235.29) + .19) - (1% Credit Card Rewards) enough gas to drive 95 Miles ($4.099/Gallon @ 30MPG)
Extra Bonus: No Credit Card Debt.
Extra Hassle: Asking for a discount & Stopping by the ATM
Catch: This typically only works for larger purchases at small businesses. Beware of ATM Fees. Must have savings in the bank.

4th of July Weekend Pictures

2008 07 02

Stufff Christians Like & This is Zimbabwe

Stufff Christians Like

A friend of mine recommended reading this blog site. It is excellently written, very accurate and brutally honest. Stufff Christians like may very well consume vast amounts of your time as you reflect and relate to the modern American protestant church.

This is Zimbabwe

This blog chronicles the day-to-day struggles of living in Zimbabwe with inflation running about 10 million percent. Warning: The blog does contain very graphic pictures of the political violence gripping Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe Hyperinflation in Pictures

Zimbabwe Hyperinflation

Another Update from Zimbabwe

Here is another update from Nathan Williams describing his missions experience in Zimbabwe. As of this posting the Zimbabwe Dollar has officially fallen to 10 Billion to 1 us dollar with no bottom in sight.

Zimbabwe

(Nathan Williams) ...the longer I'm here the more I've been able to make friends with Zimbabwean nationals. A few new friends, Itai and Katsande, gave me an afternoon tour of the surrounding mountains and villages last week, which I had been really looking forward to. I've also had the opportunity to visit a few "mushas" (homesteads) to see how the average rural Zimbabwean lives. They really do fairly well considering they have so little. They've developed ways to boil and then dry fresh vegetables to make them last for weeks to months without refrigeration, and also they grind their corn into a powder which will sit on a shelf for years before it spoils.

When I'm not at work or taking hikes I do spend a lot of time playing with the kids. The older ones ALWAYS want to play a game (hide and seek, tag, kick the can, etc) whereas the younger ones are content just sitting on my lap and rubbing my face and head (the only thing I can assume is that they're wondering where all my color went...perhaps they're trying to rub off my "whiteness" so that my true, dark color can come through, haha). Tonight I invented a new game with the kids that essentially involves running really fast, then jumping and sliding as far as you can on your socked feet without falling down on our ultra-slick, freshly polished front sidewalk....obviously I defeated the children soundly (if you can't teach them the value of good, honest competition at this young age, then really, what have you taught them?).

I was also blessed to enjoy my 26th birthday out here on June 12th. It was fun, other than the fact that I was sick all day, haha. The missionaries actually had a mini-party for me last weekend, and I got a few nice Zimbabwean souvenirs as presents. Probably the best present was a bunch of homemade from scratch fresh cinnamon rolls from one of the missionaries! We call her "Ambuya" (which is Shona for "Grandmother") she is around 83, and she is the best baker on the planet. She and her husband (the hospital's lone surgeon right now) came out to Zim as missionaries in the early 1960's, and now their son has also joined them as a missionary surgeon at Karanda, although he is out of the country right now.

On a slightly more serious note, the political and economic situation here in Zim is very unstable. Due to this, I received word this week that the team of nursing students and the other RN who was supposed to lead this trip with me have been canceled from coming this summer. Please pray that they will be able to cope with the disappointment, and also that their contingency plans to serve at medical clinics in Swaziland is able to be completed. While none of us know the reasons, we must continue to trust that God's plan is perfect, and we should have faith that He works all things for our good.

While little is broadcast in the US about Africa (I can only assume it's because there's no oil here), you can read a lot online, and also BBC frequently airs stories about Zimbabwe. Since I arrived prices have jumped 15-fold, and now the exchange ratio is Z 3.5 Billion per US dollar. Even those Zimbabweans with jobs (under 20% of the population) are helpless because the banks only allow them to withdraw 10 billion per day, which is barely enough for a bar of soap or bag of rice. The political violence and intimidation is widespread, and many have been displaced as they flee the most violent areas. We treat victims of mob beatings daily at the hospital, and from all the reports we hear, we are in one of the "lesser impacted" areas. While none of the US missionaries or myself have felt threatened personally, we are very careful about where we go and what we say in public. A repeat presidential election is taking place in 2 weeks on June 27th. Pray that there is an end to the violence, and that Zimbabwe can have a free and fair election. Many worry that there could be a civil war post-election, but we're hoping for the best.

Overall things are going well, and although the country is in turmoil, things at the hospital run smoothly. If no one were to tell you differently, you could easily spend a few days out here visiting, vacation at Kariba Game reserve and then have a nice holiday at Victoria falls. Life continues with an unexpected "normalcy" despite the broader crisis of the nation.

I wish each of you well. Please continue to be in prayer for my ministry, safety, and the situation in Zimbabwe as I attempt to share the Love of Christ in a practical way through healthcare in this most-needy country. I would love to hear of any updates of new things God is doing in your lives, and interesting things you've been able to experience since I've been gone.

The rest of the Zimbabwe team is preparing to leave for Swaziland June 30. Thank you for praying!

Taken from Cedarville University MIS Team Updates.

Lily 1st Birthday in Xenia

My parents came down to help celebrate Lily's first birthday here in Xenia. We had a great time and Lily loved Strawberry Chocolate Cake and her new Noah's Ark toy. Enjoy the pictures.

Lily's 1st Birthday Party 2

Lily's 1st Birthday Party

Here are the pictures from Lily's birthday in Three River's Michigan.

Lily First Birthday Michigan

White Water Rafting Trip

Brian, Ben, Patrick and I went on a rafting trip to West Virginia. Here at the pictures.

Rafting Trip '08

New Stimulus package idea from the Federal Reserve.

Running short on Cash? Try this New Stimulus package idea from the Federal Reserve.

Lily's 1st blog

ddd,. bi ddddddddo,.dioii 4a90a MSM ,qfqafdaaadsfrz

Strangely enough, this is about what she sounds like when she talks. Just add a few more aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaa's

30 Pictures of Lily

Lily May 2008

Cedarville University Missions Trip update from Zimbabwe

View Larger MapMany of you know my fascination with the current economic situation in Zimbabwe, Africa. Sometimes I get wrapped in all the numbers of their crashing dollar and miss the human side. Please read Nathan Williams account of being a Team Leader for the Cedarville nursing Missions trip to Zimbabwe. Please be in prayer for the people of Zimbabwe. Incidentally, the Zimbabwe dollar lost about 1/4 of its value this weekend alone and is trading near 1 Billion to one.

Zimbabwe team is delayed until July, but CU grad and one of the team leaders, Nathan Williams went ahead and sends this report 5/28/2008:

It's great to write to you all again from beautiful Zimbabwe! I've been in the country about a week and a half now, and just today completed my first full week of work out at the Karanda Mission Hospital. Where I am is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Harare, which is the capital of Zim. Out here I am literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by small villages, farms, and open space. Luckily, we have running water, electricity (at least 3/4 of the time), and satellite internet.

Just to give you a quick rundown of my normal day: I wake up at 6:00 AM and get ready for my busy day. Chapel for the hospital staff starts promptly at 7 AM, at which we sing a few Shona hymns (Shona is the tribal language of most of Zim) and one of the missionaries shares a short devotional. I then head off to work my 7 AM - 4 PM shift in Female ward (the hospital is divided into Pediatrics, Male, Female, and Maternity wards...no private rooms). A normal shift involves passing medications in the morning, assessing the patients with the doctor during rounds, and then a huge pile of paperwork to record all new orders, admissions, and discharges. Needless to say, nursing in a third world country is VERY different from the US. Over here we re-use virtually everything. Gloves are washed, powdered, and re-sterilized. vials of medicine are washed and reused to collect lab specimins. Syringes are re-used. We have 1 (count it: one) oxygen mask to use for Nebulized breathing treatments for the entire hospital...we just carry it from patient to patient as they need treatments.

I get off work around 4 PM, and after that I fill my evening with playing with the village kids (who are AWESOME!!)...and they're teaching me Shona language. I visit the shops in the village, take walks up and down the old airplane landing strip, hang out with missionaries, etc. Thursday night we have prayer meeting with the missionaries and Hospital staff. Saturday mornings I help with their AWANA program at the church, Sunday is church...all in Shona, so I can't understand a word, but the singing is probably the most enjoyable worship I've ever had! Africans REALLY get into their music...many in the congregation bring their own drums, tambourines, and maracas.

It's definitely tough working in this type of environment. around 25% of the population-at-large is infected with HIV/AIDS....but that jumps to about 75% of the hospital patients who have HIV. The most common things we see are TB, Malaria, Pneumonia, and complicated pregnancies...most of them resulting from AIDS. Many of the patients truly have no earthly hope of ever recovering from their illnesses and returning to a normal life. Luckily Karanda Hospital also offers spiritual care. While I don't personally do much in the way of witnessing at the hospital, our full-time staff of counselors prays with the patients and shares the love of Christ to those who are in distress. There is daily chapel for patients, weekly hymn singing by the staff, and ward-by-ward devotionals and worship time led by the pastor's wife and some other ladies from the church, Karanda Fellowship Chapel, which is here on the hospital compound.

Everything has gone very well since I arrived out here...a true answer to prayer. The violence and civil unrest that threatened to close the hospital not two weeks ago has completely subsided, and this area seems calm for the moment. Unfortunately this can not be said for the rest of the nation of Zimbabwe. Throughout the country are roving gangs of militia, police, and army personnel intimidating, beating, and burning the homes of political opposition supporters. Please be in prayer for those who are suffering in a very real way. Even those who have homes have great difficulty acquiring food and basic necessities due to the economic situation. Zim's inflation is uncontrolled. When I exchanged my US dollars for Zim currency last week, I was given 250 Million Zim dollars for each US dollar (my grocery bill was approximately 30 billion). 3 days later a doctor from the hospital exchanged his US dollars for 370 Million Zim dollars. Even nurses in this country make barely 20 billion dollars per month, hardly enough for food and clothing, much less transport costs and school fees for children. Life is tough for Zimbabweans, but they are very resourceful and make do with what they can obtain.

Prayer requests:
1. The political and economic situation in Zim, including prayer for the upcoming presidential election on June 27th.
2. That I am able to learn more of the Shona language.
3. That I am able to use challenges and struggles I face in this unique setting to grow in my Christian walk.
4. For the hundreds of Karanda Hospital patients who's only hope is Christ.

I look forward to hearing from all of you, and how things are going back in America. I miss you all and hope all is well.
-Nathan

Taken from cedarville.edu/christianministries/missionsinvolvement/misupdate.htm

Commuting by Bike today.

Today I made it to work and back on my bike. Two other people joined me. We had a good time. The 26 mile round trip saved me nearly $4 in gas. In other news the guy who maintains the Miami Valley Ohio Rails To Trails web site has linked my map project of the trail to his site. He has also edited it as well. This is fantastic news! Open Source for maps


View Larger Map

Xenia to Cinci in 5 hours

Brian, Greg and I took the trek and biked the 53 miles from my house to the very end of the Bike Trail. We had a wonderful time. It very wooded and scenic and most important - downhill. I hope to do this again in the fall.

Xenia to Cincinnati Bike Ride

Awana Bucks

Tonight at Awana we ran out of stuff to sell at the Awana share store. The Sparks bought nearly all the items and left nothing for the T&T group. The economist in me, knew exactly what happened. The total price of all the items for sale was less than number of Awana bucks awarded - Too many Awana bucks in the system. We award Awana bucks for nearly everything possible. I suspect that next time we will see a bit of price inflation or more items for sale. Reminds me a bit of Zimbabwe money or gas prices.

Zimbabwe Bucks

One of the guys from work found a Ten Thousand Dollar Zimbabwe bill that a student had left in a dorm room. About a year ago it was worth about 1 US dollar. As of Thursday it would take 256 of them to equal one US cent. The Zimbabwe Central Bank has not update the official exchange yet today, but the black market rates are approaching 380 Million to one US dollar. Today also is the first day of the 50 Billion Zimbabwe bill. This is worth about 200 US dollars, but I expect it to be worth about a buck in a few months.

Lily Video

Three clips under 2 minutes. The best clip is at the end.

Two Weeks of Pictures

May 2008

Including Many Pictures of Lily and a Reds Game!

Second Cousin Ovilia's 1st Birthday

Danielle, Lily and I headed to Oxford, Ohio to celebrate Lily's second cousin, Olivia's 1st Birthday Party. Enjoy the pictures.

Olivia's Birthday

Nesting...

We have a couple of determined birds. No matter how often we clear [or burn] the grill of nest material, the birds keep coming back eager to build their nest in our grill.

3 Quick Pictures

Danielle's parent came to visit and watch Lily overnight, so Danielle and I could have a night away. I stopped at Ikea and bought a shoe storage bench and a hat rack. We also were able to catch a movie and watch Leather Heads. We have a few cute movie clips of Lily that I indent to publish this weekend.

2008_04_15

New Tricks

Over the last few weeks Lily has added a whole slew a new tricks to her list of abilities. She can now crawl from sitting up, sit up from crawling, climb up stairs, pull her self up on the couch and get back down, and walk if you hold her hands. I included a few new cute pictures.

New Tricks

Understanding Inflation by Ron Paul

This is written by Ron Paul.

On Money, Inflation and Government

These past few weeks have provided an unfortunate opportunity to discuss inflation. The dollar index has reached new all-time lows. The total money supply, M3, as calculated by private sources, is growing at a disturbing 17% rate. The Fed is pumping dollars into the economy at an alarming rate. Just recently the Fed announced new loan auctions totaling $100 billion. That is new money created from thin air. If these money auctions, combined with the bailout of Bear Stearns, continue to be the trend, we are in for some economic stormy weather. The explanation lies in understanding the basics of money, and why it is dangerous to give government and big banks control over it.

First, money is not wealth, in and of itself. You cannot create more wealth simply by creating more money. Wall Street bankers cry out for more liquidity, but what is really needed is more value behind the dollar. But the value, unfortunately, isn't there.

You see, the Fed creates new money and uses it to purchase securities from banks. Flush with funds, these banks seek to put this money to use. During the Fed's expansionary period, much of this money went to home loans. Through a combination of federal government inducements to lend to risky borrowers, and the Fed's supply of easy money, the housing bubble took shape. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were encouraged to purchase and securitize mortgages, while investors, buoyed by implicit government backing, rushed to provide funding. Money that could have been invested in more productive, less risky sectors of the economy was thereby malinvested in subprime mortgage loans.

The implicit guarantee from the Fed is quickly becoming explicit, as those institutions deemed "too big to fail" are bailed out at taxpayer expense. Wall Street made a killing during the housing bubble, reaping record profits. Now that the bubble has burst, these same firms are trying to dump their losses on the taxpayers. This approach requires more money creation, and therefore debasement of all dollars in circulation.

The Federal Reserve, a quasi-government entity, should not be creating money or determining interest rates, as this causes malinvestment and excessive debt to accumulate. Centrally planned, government manipulated economies always fail eventually. The collapse of communism and the failure of socialism should have made this apparent. Even the most educated, well-intentioned central planners cannot plan the market better than the market itself. Those that understand economics best, understand this reality.

In free markets, both success and failure are options. If government interventions prevent businesses, like Bear Stearns, from failing, then it is not truly a free market. As painful as it might be for Wall Street, banks, even big ones, must be allowed to fail.

The end game for this policy of monetary inflation is that the money in your bank account loses purchasing power. So, by keeping failing banks afloat, the Fed punishes those who have lived frugally and saved. The power to create money is a power that should never be granted to government. As we can plainly see today, the Fed has abused this power, and taxpayers are paying the price.

-Ron Paul

Easter 2008

For the second year in a row we drove up to Michigan for snow during the Easter weekend. Danielle, Lily and I had a good and full weekend. We visited family and praised God for Christ's death and resurrection. Enjoy the pictures.

Easter 2008