Earth Hour 8-9pm

If you haven't been to Google yet today, go! What a neat way to raise awareness for something. Google should do this more often with various charities. It worked for us! We'll be turning the lights out from 8-9pm tonight. Read more about Earth Hour by clicking here.

Ronald McDonald House

Last night we helped out at the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester. The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home for children under 18 and their families to stay while they're seeking medical treament at the hospital. What a wonderful organization! And little did I know that Rochester apparently isn't the only place where there is a house (I just realized that after searching for it on Google to provide the link). Instead of having Bible Study last night each couple made a crockpot of soup and made apple crisp for all families to enjoy. After serving the families we took a tour of the house. What a wonderful opportunity to learn more about this organization. They have game rooms, private kitchens, computer rooms you name it. I can't imagine dealing with or having a child that has to deal with a life-threatening illness, but I'm sure being in this community lifts their spirits. We were happy to provide a home-cooked meal for them and hope to do it more in the future.

How you can help:

Collect pop tabs - I'm sure you've seen those little houses before, this is a great way to give back very easily.

Look for a RMH in your area - Search for it here and see if there's one close by. Volunteer to serve dinner one night with your family or friends. It's fun, easy and very much appreciated.

Bring food/supplies - They ALWAYS need food to eat in the house and almost always need supplies too like leftover containers, plastic silverware, cups etc. Maybe call them to see what they need the most at this time. (I know the local Rochester house needs food right now)

Make crafts for the kids - You can make crafts or little holiday gifts for them and write encouraging messages. Contact the house and see how many you would need to make and just drop them off.

Just a few ideas that are simple but make a BIG difference for these kids and families.

Why you should be using RSS Feeds...

Ok don't ignore this post just because it seems boring and you think you won't understand it. I'm simply trying to make your life easier!

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. If you have Internet Explorer 7 or above there is a REALLY easy way to set up an RSS Feed and I highly recommend doing it. To put it simply, let's say you check this blog on a daily basis only to find that it's not updated. Well instead of wasting the time checking it, you can subscribe to an RSS Feed on this blog. Then you go to your "favorites" tab (yellow star in upper left hand corner) and click on Feeds. All of the feeds you're subscribed to are listed and the feeds that are bold have new information, therefore you know not to check the others. This works well for news sites, blogs and almost anything else you check regularly. To subscribe to a feed you just need to click on the little orange button right in between the "home" and "print" buttons on Internet Explorer. Then just click subscribe and it will be in your "favorites" tab as I mentioned above. If the little orange button isn't orange, it means there is no feed on that site. You can click here to create your own feed on ANY site if there isn't one. Some of you may already know about this but I just discovered it myself and am loving it. Shoot, it also means I'll get less hits :)

Here's a screen shot, I've circled RSS stuff in yellow. Unfortunately none of my feeds are new so none are bold but this just shows what everything looks like. Click on the pic to see it closer.