Arntsen Family Blog

Just thinking…

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:16:10 +0000

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged anything. I guess I didn’t catch on to it so quickly.

Well, I was going to post the following short bit of info as my Facebook status but apparently there is now a character limit (maybe that has always been there, but it seems like I’ve posted much longer status updates in the past). So, anyway, this was my thought for today…

So, apparently this was too long for my status update so I had to put it in a note…

BibleGateway’s Verse of the Day today is Phil 2:3-4: “Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. ” MSG — I like this version too: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” NLT — this is such a great reminder to always be asking myself what my motive is for my actions. Is it to please God or to impress others?

Parenting lessons learned

Melanie — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:23:36 +0000

So I am sometimes daily wishing, “if only my girls were little again.” Now, at 8 and 10 they certainly aren’t grown up by any means, but I really miss those cute baby/toddler years I had with them. Well, today, God brought me back to one. I ended up in a situation with Anna (age 10) that was very reminiscent of all the times when she was learning to walk and she would crash into something and fall to the floor. It is in that split second of your mind as a parent that you choose between two paths. Path A is to help them brush it off. You say, “uh oh, jump up! You’re okay!” and distract them right into another activity where they inevitably forget the little bump. Path B though is when you let it race through your head how much that must have hurt given the sound of the “thud” when she hit the ground. You let your body language linger with that thought for one moment too long, she senses it and her tears and panic set in. Well, this morning, I chose Path B with Anna. The girls both leave for the bus with time to spare in the morning. I always have the front door open so I can hear if they need me (we aren’t too far from the corner) or if they run back to get something they forgot. Anna has had to run back frequently this year. Today was no different. She forgot to have me sign something so she ran back for that. Not two minutes after leaving again, she reappeared at the door (after having sprinted to the corner and back home again). I was shocked to see her again and she was completely out of breath. She came back to get her water bottle. I let my surprise and concern show and asked if she was okay. Immediately, I could see the wheels turning in her head…”okay? hmmm, am I okay? now that I think about it I’m not, my stomach is upset and I’m hot and shaky, and mom seems concerned…” I opted to drive her back down to the bus and as it pulled away, I could see her face in the window, crying and trying to tell me something. I didn’t even get back in the house before she had used a friend’s cell phone to call me. She didn’t feel well and wanted me to pick her up at school. I tried to get her calmed down and by the time I saw her at school, I was pretty certain she was okay. She still protested that her stomach was upset though so I brought her home. After all, it was that split second decision I made to either encourage or be concerned…

Apples

Melanie — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:03:53 +0000

So, I was taking a peek at woot.com today. It’s a site that Jon and I like. It has one item for sale everyday usually at a really great price. They also have t-shirts that are sometimes funny (maybe you’ve seen Jon’s Titanic shirt exclaiming “Iceberg [lettuce] ahead!” or his newest, and my favorite, Mr. Spork shirt (yes, I meant to type Spork). Anyway, they had the following “10 Big Announcements from Apple.”

http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=6148

It’s funny because Jon and I have always been pro-PC and pretty much anti-Apple. I don’t have much that is current to base my preference on other than what I’ve heard from people who have used Apples and bad experiences with using them in high school (how long ago was that? Yikes!). Now that Jon is at a company that works with both though, he has definitely moved closer to the middle between the two. I still consider myself though to be a far-rightwing(??)-PCer so of course the list cracked me up and I had to blog about it. I saw one of the latest Apple v PC commercials last night and it had PC bleeping out the word Vista anytime that Apple spoke it. I was really afraid of Vista when it came out. Jon told me how big and bloated and awful it would be. His mom bought herself a new laptop and it came with Vista and I was kind of freaked out by it. I am not really a timid computer user either. I love to get in and play around and figure out how to do things on my computer. Well, then, in June we found a really great deal on a laptop for me (I have been waiting to be able to afford one for 2 years). Of course, it came with Vista. The deal was good enough that I would have to be okay with that. So, now it’s about 5 months later and I LOVE it! I don’t have any trouble with it crashing (”knock on wood”) ;-) and it has some fun features - the bubbles screen saver is cool too! I do admit that when I’m in a hurry and it’s asking me if I really, really want to do the thing I already told it 3 times I wanted to, I get impatient. But, it isn’t too bad anymore.

So, this PC is signing off for now.

Protected: Library

AllyV — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:37:46 +0000

Protected: Sports!

AnnaKat — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:22:31 +0000

Trying to blog

Melanie — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:08:41 +0000

Okay, so I’m still trying to figure this out. I know it shouldn’t be this complicated, but that’s definitely our family. If there is something easy, we will find the way to OVERCOMPLICATE it! ;-) Plus, we’re trying to get a page set up for each of the four of us. So…

Stuff

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:07:30 +0000

Trophy winners!

We are getting ready to start promoting our 3rd Annual Raingutter Regatta in Awana. I can’t believe how fast the time is flying. We hold it in November and that is almost here already! Yikes! I’m trying to get this picture on the Awana home page on our church’s website (it’s www.oursaviorsbaptist.org btw).

Melanie’s First Blog

admin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:12:35 +0000

Well, I am writing to test out our first blog. Jon is having fun “building” our new website including this blog. I of course, have a picture in my mind of how I want this to be working when it’s all done and can’t believe it’s taking so long to get there!! What’s “so long” you say? Longer than instantly of course!!

The Dad

TheDad — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:04:14 +0000

I am Jon and I’m testing out the blog.

The Blog to Start All Blogs

admin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:00:14 +0000

So, here we go! We’ve got the blog page setup with this nifty Wordpress.com blog page and it’s sweet. I’m stoked on it. We plan to setup individual blogs so that we can independently post our family’s happenings and our thoughts on different things. So, please check back soon to see if we’ve got the ball rolling!

Jon and Melanie