Archives for 2012

Works for Me Wednesday: Siri and the iPhone Reminder App

February 15, 2012 by Amy 10 Comments

I’m a diehard iPhone lover but there is one feature that I think has fallen flat. Siri. Just this morning I saw my cousin complaining on Facebook with another example of how Siri did not interpret her request even close to correctly. My problem is not so much that it doesn’t understand me but in the limited functions it can do. For example, I can’t tell it to do anything on Twitter or Facebook, or any other app for that matter. I could understand except Twitter is a built-in app now. It should at least be able to open and refresh my timeline.

I’ve found it’s pretty limited to calling and texting people, weather, music, directions and searching. Some of it is helpful but when it can’t understand what you’re saying, particularly when you’re requesting street addresses or names, it’s dreadfully useless.

However.

The one thing I constantly use Siri for is reminders. I didn’t even know I had a Reminders app until a few months ago. I was previously using my calendar to schedule things. These days, if it’s not on my calendar, it’s NOT happening. Funny enough, last week I saw Lexi had an upcoming dentist appointment. I started warning her to get prepared 3 days in advance. Finally, she said, “But they said they wouldn’t see me until May last time!” Well, just in case, I made the phone call and sure enough the appointment in my calendar was still in there after we had already taken a canceled appointment a few weeks back and I had forgotten to remove the original appointment.

The calendar is great and all but I schedule silly things like going to the pharmacy or calling a friend or leaving Amazon feedback I promised. It’s not really an appointment but I need to do it at some point. Reminders are great for this. You still can schedule them, on repeat if needed, and it still reminds you at a certain time but it’s not clouding your calendar with the rest of the REAL appointments.

However, I find the reminder interface a little confusing. It’s one of the few iPhone apps I say that about.

Enter Siri.

I find it MUCH easier to say, “Remind me take out the trash every Tuesday at 7am.” Bam! It’s done, repeating reminder and all.

Here’s a transcript for my lunch today:

So it’s not grammatically correct but at least the words are correct. It will show a pop-up notification on my screen at 12. When I’m done, I can check it off in my Reminders app. And if you know me, you know how much I love to do that!

Works for me!

This post is linked up to WeAreThatFamily.com

Top Ten Ways God Loves You

February 14, 2012 by Amy 5 Comments

photo credit: nellart

I put this list together for my eBook Entangled. I return to it in my mind when I need a reminder of His love. Perhaps you need a reminder this Valentine’s Day. Here is the printable list of all of them. And here are the Top 10:

1. He knows you intimately
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30
The LORD knows the thoughts of man. Psalm 94:11
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5

2. He thinks you’re beautiful
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. 1 Timothy 4:4
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31

3. He delights in you
The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful. Proverbs 12:22
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. Psalm 147:11

4. He will fight for you
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14

5. He forgives you
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.Ephesians 1:7

6. He wants the best for you
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

7. He sees and appreciates you
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness. Zephaniah 3:17
How amazing are your thoughts concerning me. Psalm 139:17

8. He protects you
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me. Psalm 50:15
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11

9. He wants to give you the desires of your heart
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. Psalm 145:19

10. He is jealous for you
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 2 Corinthians 11:2

Happy Valentine’s Day. I sincerely love you guys!

This post is linked to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday

Marriage, Fashion and Healing

February 13, 2012 by Amy 4 Comments

I couldn’t call this simply a weekend recap. So much stuff this weekend! If my last few weekends have been quiet and around-the-house type weekends, the last 3 days have been quite the opposite. Each day we had something pretty big and I can’t wait to tell you! Hang on, because this is a long one!!

MarriedLife Live

Friday night Scott and I attended the MarriedLife Live event at our church. It was less conference and more a night out for married couples in the church. We had a live band, dessert and coffee and we did hear from our family pastor. He talked about seasons of marriage and how some bad seasons tear couples apart and others are drawn together. To avoid the former, we should store up in the good times, just as Joseph did in Egypt, knowing a famine was coming. I felt like this was especially appropriate for us as the last year or two has generally been a good season for our marriage but I know the adoption will test us. Right now is the time to build up our marriage, not only when we’re trying to salvage it.

We also did an exercise where each of us had to fill out what we wanted each other to do and say at four times during the day: morning, saying goodbye for the day, saying hello and going to bed. I have to say it was eye-opening. We rarely do anything like that and really appreciated knowing what Scott expects and desires.

Be Red Hot

Saturday morning I attended the Be Red Hot Women’s conference at Dani’s church to support her as she led a break-out session. I was completely blessed by the main speaker Branda Polk. The conference was a diving board off the verse about not being lukewarm but either hot or cold. We want to be red hot in our faith.

One thing she hit on that I hope she doesn’t mind that I share is the thought that the Bible says we ought to do all things unto God. But how do my menial tasks mean anything to Him? Isn’t it only big people doing big things for God that He treasures? She likened it to our children picking dandelions and giving it to us as a gift of love. Practically, they are giving us a weed but because it is done unto us in love, it is a treasure. Isn’t that an awesome thought?

Dani rocked her fashion session. She started out speaking to the heart of the matter. Does God even want us to spend time on how we look? Yes! He cares about all things and the way we present ourselves on the outside can say something about what He’s done on the inside. It also says something about how we feel about the people around us. I know Scott always notices when I dress up more for work than I do him. That’s sending a message, true or not, that I care more for what they think than what he thinks. However, if our vanity and pride are keeping us occupied and unable to give like He requires, it’s a problem!

(top right photo, credit to Sherry Smith)

She also went over the top trends for the year, how she builds her closet and took time to dress up a few folks with accessories she had bought. I even got to help on stage for a hot second to share her Sneaky Jacket Trick. She did a fabulous job and I think everyone was ready for a full day conference just with Dani. I know if there is anything I know about styling, it is all from her instruction over the past 14 years we’ve been friends. Those blue shoes I have on in that pic are results of an email from Dani…"buy these and this is what you wear with it” (that yellow shirt is my one of my Old Navy shirts)!

Testimony

Fast forward through Saturday family time, Sunday church, dinner and nap and we headed to my parents’ and sister’s church to hear my sister give her testimony. One day I want to take the time and give you all the intricate details about what happened but the gist of it is this.

Heather has had a sleeping disorder her whole life. Without medication, she always wanted to sleep. Like, she would go to bed at 7 on a Friday night, get up at 1 the next afternoon and then could take a nap at 4. She finally was diagnosed at 20 and got some pills ($600 a month!) that would keep her awake all day. However, my mom would have to call her every single morning over and over and OVER to get her to answer the phone long enough for her to take the pills so she would wake up an hour or two later. It was exhausting and frustrating.

During the past few years, she had also started playing World of Warcraft video game and found herself addicted. Addicted to a video game? Yep! I remember having the girls’ family birthday here at the house the year before last and she came in with her laptop, hooked it up and was playing through the birthday party. She was playing every chance she got.

Well, her church did a 40 day fast last January and God called her to fast her video game. She did and as she described it, went through physical withdrawals. Towards the end of the 40 days, God was calling me to do the Daniel Fast (I mention Heather’s healing vaguely in the post). I had two different dreams about her just days before I started and I knew that I was to fast and pray for Heather. Heather had given me her laptop so she wouldn’t play it and I prayed over her laptop during the fast. Yes, I laid hands on a laptop! I can’t tell you the power I felt when I touched it. My heart broke and my spirit was completely burdened.

Three days before the end of her 40 days and Heather woke up on her own at 5:30am. The next day she woke up again. The next day was the end of the fast and God told Heather not to take her pills anymore. That same day, as I closed my fast, God told me that Heather was free from her video game if she chose to be. He wouldn’t force her, but if she wanted to walk away, she was free. It’s been 352 days now and she hasn’t take a pill and she is free from her addiction to the game. God be praised! It’s been amazing to watch her flourish in the last year and I’m so thankful for God’s healing and Heather’s decision to obey.

So, wow! Gold star if you read all that! My heart is so full from the weekend. God is awesome and my church, family and friends are more than I could ask.

A Superfluous Post

February 10, 2012 by Amy 2 Comments

I helped in Emma’s second grade class with word study this week by giving two groups some practice tests. I was shocked at the word list of the second group which was clearly one notch higher than the list Emma usually brings home. I tried coming up with sentences for each word as I do for Emma and distinctly remember my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Smith doing. I remember having to hear, see and write all of our spelling words. She said it helped all of us since we all had different learning styles. In any case, I was trying to come up with sentences and was doing pretty good with words like fluctuate, conservative and extravert. While I had a general idea of the meaning, I couldn’t come up with a sentence off-hand for “superfluous”. Superfluous. Seriously? For a third grader? I was telling Scott about this and he said, “I didn’t even know that was a word.” Exactly my point.

So how about a quick word of the day?

Superfluous means

A sentence might be

I have a lot of superfluous stuff on my desk this afternoon.

or

I am now regretting the superfluous Skinny Vanilla Latte I had this afternoon which is sure to cause some superfluous fat cells.

or

This word of the day post is superfluous.

or

Superfluous is a superfluous word.

Get it? Good. Now you are at least as smart as a third grader.

The Magic Machine

February 10, 2012 by Amy 11 Comments

I have to tell you about this thing I’ve dubbed The Magic Machine.

Two days ago my friend Dani and I were talking on the phone. Yes, the phone! She briefly mentioned that her girls were now waking up on their own to the alarm and getting dressed all on their own. Well, as you can imagine, we raced right over to the WalMarts Wednesday night and bought, not 1, but 2 alarms. The alarms were cute little $5 alarms that resembled a cell phone so of course each of the girls wanted their own. Fair enough. Scott and I have our own alarms.

So Wednesday night they were really into setting the time just right and wanted to get up 15 minutes earlier than I normally wake them, even on an early day. I was pretty skeptical. Are they really going to get up? And even if they do aren’t they just going to race to the computer and play?

Thursday morning rolled around and my alarm is set to 15 minutes before theirs. I half-sleep after I hit the snooze button and wait and listen for their alarm to go off. Seven minutes after theirs was set to go off, I walk in their room and Lexi pops up and says, “I’M UP!” Emma rolls over and says I was too tired to get up. We were still 7 minutes out from when I normally would wake them up so I just went back to bed. As I got back in bed, I saw their bedroom light turn on and then heard the chatter start. Then I heard their drawers. They were going to get dressed! So I just laid there listening to see what they would do. Out to the kitchen they went. I thought they might get themselves something to eat. I gave them a few more minutes but it was time to get serious about getting ready. I went out and they had packed their lunch. Their lunch! They also informed me they had not only gotten dressed but brushed their teeth and their hair. They even had shoes on! They pushed me back to bed. Like literally pushed me out of the kitchen telling me they wanted to do it by themselves. I disappeared for a few more minutes, came back out to start the car and then just had to give their hair some touch up and help them find their coats.

I was so excited about this yesterday I was going to tell you but then I thought, no, that’s just a fluke and when tomorrow rolls around and they don’t do this then it’s just silly I blogged about it.

But then they did it again today. All of it. Got dressed, got breakfast (a banana and grapes!), brushed each other’s hair, and packed their lunch.

The Magic Machine, indeed.

Adoption Update and On Parenting a Son

February 9, 2012 by Amy 22 Comments

The title is a little misleading because I don’t have much of an update. What should have taken 2 weeks tops has taken nearly 3 months. Our home study was completed in mid-November and we had hoped that by the end of December (2011) it would have been written up, sent it for revisions and then approved by the State. As of now, the home study hasn’t even been written. The latest I heard is it might get written and turned in this week but I haven’t heard confirmation.

Now, one part of me wants to rage against the machine. I mean, that’s just a really long time when it shouldn’t be a really long time. But the other part of me knows it is divine intervention and this is going just how it ought.

I think about the adoption often but if I think too much, I get really nervous. As in, terrified. What if he hurts my girls? What if we can’t control him? How will I handle 3 kids? Will we be able to bond? The list goes on. So I try not to think too deeply. Honestly, I just turn my attention to the fact that God has led us to it and then a peace comes over me. Simple as that. He’s got it.

Today was one of those days though that I started down that rabbit hole.

On Pinterest, I ran into this list of Mommy/Daughter rules. As I read through the list, I knew I could have written it. Painting nails, putting on makeup, dressing in my clothes, dancing. We’ve got this down. I know how to parent a girl. Well, in general. We’re actually going through a rough season so I don’t have this down. But I understand females in the way I know how to paint toenails and put on lip gloss.

But then I read this list of rules about parenting sons. And ya’ll. I’m clueless. Some of them made sense, of course. There’s not much more I love than watching a mom teach their son how to hold the door open for someone. But many others I had this quizzical look on my face.

Teach him words for how he feels? Do you know how many different words my girls have for how they feel? Lots!

Be a cheerleader for his life? My girls ARE cheerleaders.

Learn how to throw a football? We are in trouble, people.

The thing I know though is this: I didn’t read a manual on how to be a mother of girls. I know I’ll learn. And don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to have a son. A son! But I’m not going to lie. I feel like Jasmine on her carpet flying into a whole. new. world.

Works for Me Wednesday: Dishwashing Tip

February 8, 2012 by Amy 12 Comments

Why is it so many times I think of a great tip, it’s something Scott came up with? Hmm. In any case, he doesn’t have a blog (and barely reads mine, for the record) so I get to post all his great ideas.

Like many of you, I’m sure, I keep a hand towel by the sink. In the case where I have to hand wash dishes, I always spread the hand towel out on the counter, wash, rinse and then like a game of Jenga, place all the dishes on the little hand towel. For years. And I mean YEARS, if I was losing at my game of Jenga and really needed more drying space, I’d just get another hand towel out and lay it beside the other and keep going. This was fine and all but Scott made it a little better.

See, about a year or two ago when I finally figured out how to cook something besides spaghetti (thank you, Ree), we figured out that the best way our house worked (ie, not have dirty dishes lying around for a week) is if I started and emptied the dishwasher, he reloaded it and he washed any of the larger dishes/pots left. I take out the trash normally so don’t feel too bad for him. This is the part where I don’t mind feminism so much. In any case, because he normally was left with several pots to clean, rarely was the one hand towel enough.

So.

He started keeping a large beach towel in the adjacent laundry room. When it was time to do dishes, he folded it in half and used that as the drying towel. It’s GREAT.

It’s super absorbent, unlike many of my hand towels
It expands to take up the entire countertop if we need it
We can use it forever because it’s never getting dirty, just wet. I do wash it occasionally just to calm my germ fears.
I only have one hand towel out at a time.

Ya’ll. It works for me! Or him. Whatever.

This post is linked up to WeAreThatFamily.com

Top Ten Tuesday: Jesus Lays the Smack Down

February 7, 2012 by Amy 8 Comments

Fig Tree (credit)

I haven’t done much updating this time around, but I have stuck with the Bible in 90 Days reading schedule since November. We just crossed (ha) from the Old Testament to the New Testament over the weekend. And can I just say that Jesus is CRACKING. ME. UP. I know! It sounds so strange on the surface but seriously, Jesus told ’em like it was and boy howdy, sometimes I think he got pretty frustrated and it’s hilarious to read. Or maybe I’m just an overly sarcastic person and reading it that way. I don’t know, a few ladies in my reading group found one of them funny too so maybe you’ll agree. Read this and you decide.

I’ll say by introduction that in Matthew, we go through Jesus’ lineage, John the Baptist, Jesus’ birth, and His first teachings but it gets really interesting about Chapter 7 when we start seeing Him interact with the Pharisees and Sadducees, as well as his disciples. He doesn’t mince words.

1. He starts out easy on them in Matthew 7:5 "How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." I read that "You hypocrite" more like "You HYPOCRITE!" Can’t you feel his frustration at their hypocrisy? It’s a wonder He didn’t turn them into a pillar of salt that instant.

2. He does something similar in Matthew 22:29 when he says "You are in error because you do not know the Scripture or power of God." I find this funny because the Sadducees He was talking to certainly should have known the Scriptures but were incorrect in many of their beliefs. You know how when someone is lying and is getting everyone to believe them but then the one that knows the truth come in and says so and everyone’s like, "Oh". That’s what this is for me. Total smack-down.

3. Matthew 8:26 This is when Jesus and his disciples are on a boat and it’s about to capsize and Jesus is asleep downstairs. They go get him and his response? "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Basically I read that as "You guys are a bunch of scaredy cats!"

4. In Matthew 12:5 the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus about doing good on the Sabbath. In the middle of his response, Jesus says, "Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?" I love that "or haven’t you read…" I just imagine a teacher saying, "You would know that if you’d done your homework!"

5. In Mark 7:9 the Pharisees ask why his disciples didn’t wash their hands since it broke tradition of the elders and Jesus response? "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions." Bam! I feel some neck rolling with that "fine way".

6. In Matthew 16, Jesus was trying to talk in code about the Pharisees being like yeast. The disciples do not get it in the least and start discussing how they didn’t have any bread so Jesus responds, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?…How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread?" I can just imagine some eye rolling about here. FUNNY.

7. Matthew 16:23 "Get behind me Satan" Mm-mm. Power!

8. In Matthew 17:17 a demon-possessed boy is brought to Jesus that the disciples could not heal. His response? "You unbelieving and perverse generation…How long shall I put up with you?" I imagine a great big sigh right here.

9. In Matthew 21:19 Jesus is walking by a fig tree and gets aggravated because there is no fruit on it "May you never bear fruit again!" Hmph! Take that, tree! The best part is the tree really does shrivel up and die.

10. This has to be my favorite. In Matthew 15:15 Peter asks Jesus to explain a parable and Jesus’ response is simply, "Are you still so dull?"

OK, maybe it’s my sarcastic sense of humor but, if you read those passages in context I find Jesus to be quite entertaining. You can’t get past "are you still so dull?" without a giggle. If nothing else, I love how he exerts so much truth and power to put them in their place. Then again, that probably means he has to be asking why I’m so dull on the regular.

So what’s your conclusion? Does Jesus hit your funny bone?

Read more Top Ten Tuesday posts at ohAmanda.com