Category Archives: CARES

Mailboxes

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This week we spent 3 afternoons passing out sweets at our apartment complex mailboxes – ice cream on Tuesday, brownies Wednesday, and cookies Thursday. Imagine us in BRIGHT ORANGE shirts standing there as you walk over after work to pick up your mail. Here’s what we found:

  • Each day, more than half of the people we talked to took something. On ice cream day (individually wrapped ice cream sandwiches, dipped cones, etc) and brownie day, the ratio was 2:1 or greater.
  • Each day we had a few people who didn’t want to talk to us, either because they were already involved in a cell phone conversation or just thought we were weird. They went straight to their mailboxes and never made eye contact.
  • A few people had a vague idea of who we are and asked for more details, which we were happy to provide.
  • Many people were surprised to see us and didn’t seem familiar with CARES, which makes me wonder whether they get our event calendars on their door, whether they read them, and whether the calendars are an effective tool.
  • A few of our regulars came and hung out with us for a while, which was lots of fun. We really have made some good friends through CARES!
  • We met several people on their way to/from the gym or the running trail. Some of them turned down our goodies. Others figured they would burn off the calories and took a cookie as a reward. CARES does a lot of things for residents, but helping them lose weight isn’t one of them. =)
  • One couple felt sorry for us out in the May heat and brought us bottled water, which was extremely nice of them.

We enjoyed the chance to tell lots of new people about CARES and invite them to our breakfast on Saturday. In future months we want to find a better balance of “you come to us” like pancake breakfasts and “we come to you” events like this.

Pizza Pizza

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Tonight was CARES Pizza Night, and we had over 30 people show up! At one point early in the evening, it was so full that a small line developed, and residents who didn’t know each other sat at the same table and talked! We were very excited to have such a great turnout. I actually asked God to make sure the pizza lasted until the end because I was worried about running out. It wasn’t exactly a feeding-the-5000-type miracle, but we had enough leftover pizza to let residents take some home at the end. =)

Then, after I saw the poor Mavs get sent to the golf course for the summer, the Stars won in OT to take a 3-0 series lead against San Jose. I want to go on the record and predict that the Stanley Cup Finals will be Dallas against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and OH BABY what a series that could be!

I’m on a 3-day break officially, although I did go in Tuesday afternoon to teach a new guy how to revise the aircraft manual that I’ve been maintaining. I was a bit sick on Sunday and Monday, so I took it easy at home, watching movies and playing PS3. I’m feeling better now, though. Sleep does wonders!

Also notice my new poll at right! In the last poll on random money dropped in your lap, 8 of 18 respondents (44.4 percent) said you would pay bills with it, followed by saving it (about 4), going on vacation (3), buying something fun (2), and investing it (1), and giving it to charity (0).

Babymooning

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Before Jenny gets too uncomfortable, we are planning a “babymoon” trip just to get away and relax while we can. After much debate, we decided on a cruise up the West Coast in mid-April. We got a fantastic deal on Holland America for a 4-night cruise from San Diego to Vancouver with a stop for tea in Victoria. Check back in a few weeks for pictures.

Last night was CARES Poker Night. Our first poker night was a flop, with only one resident attending. We decided to try one more time, moving the event from Friday night to Tuesday night and adding a prize for the winner. It was so windy Tuesday that we couldn’t put up our sandwich board signs to advertise the event, and I was afraid we might not have anyone. However, we were happy to find that several people came, most of whom I barely knew, and we had a great time. Some came just for pizza, others just for poker. Jenny spent some time visiting with a mother of two young girls while her husband and I played. After teetering on the verge of elimination near the end, I got lucky on a few hands and emerged victorious. I might be tempted to gloat if I actually knew what I was doing, but this victory was definitely more luck than skill! Since I was ineligible for the prize, the runner-up took home the free Chipotle Burrito Bucks. Each event is a bit of a mystery. We never know who will come, how many, whether we have enough food, or even what to expect if it’s a new event for us. We can only make educated guesses and pray each event goes well.

March Already?

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Wow, it’s already March! Jenny is at 18 weeks now, so check the Baby Box page for the latest in his development. And don’t forget to vote for his name. =) I had an unexpectedly busy weekend, working three overtime shifts on the assistant desk at work, a nice surprise. Jenny and Lisa went to Canton on Sunday, where pregnant Lisa apparently devoured an entire store’s supply of fried pies.

We had three CARES events last week. First was Coffee and Pie Night, where we provided 4 different kinds of pie and had great conversations with several of our residents. Our eagerly awaited International Potluck Dinner, a resident’s suggestion, turned out to be a flop when not one person brought a dish and only a few came to eat what we had brought. But we made up for it on Saturday with brunch, aided by an army of volunteers from the Thrive class at IBC. They did a great job cooking and hanging out with the residents and were a huge help. We hope they’ll come back to future events. Around 35 people came, our best turnout in some time. I posted our March events calendar on the CARES page.

Our project for this week is going through our stuff and finding as many items as possible to donate to Jenny’s mom’s upcoming garage sale. BB’s room is currently full of all kinds of stuff – some junk, some good things in need of a good home, such as a nice TV. I also have recurrent training at work Wed-Fri, which means I’m working 7:00-4:00 each day. This might be the last chance Jenny and I have to carpool to Southwest. It’s weird to think that we’re almost at the halfway mark, and in about 5 months Jenny should be retired and home with the baby. We have a lot of work to do!

Another Technological Milestone

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After thinking about, debating, researching, and waiting a couple of years, we finally decided to take the high-def plunge and get an HDTV. Yep, and not a reasonably-sized one that would fit on a kitchen countertop, either – a big-screen one that two poor delivery people will have to haul up to our third-floor apartment. After years of spending our tax refund on practical things like paying off cars, this year (while we still only have two mouths to feed and still have two incomes) we’re “pre-spending” the refund on something fun that we’ve wanted for a long time. So our CPA had better come up with some cash! We got a fantastic deal on a very highly rated TV on Amazon, and it should arrive in the next couple of weeks. Come over and party with us once we get it set up!

We had CARES poker night tonight. Although only one resident came, we had a good time, and I now have bragging rights as the reigning Landings at La Villita Poker Champion. That and $5 might barely buy me a venti cappuccino at Starbucks, but I’ll enjoy it until our next poker night if we do it again. Tomorrow morning is our popular Pancake Breakfast, and my mom is coming to help b/c she rocks! Then we’re going to meet Lacy Rexroad IV, who entered this world Friday morning. Then after Jenny attends Baby Andrews’s baby shower, we plan to take a bunch of garage sale stuff down to Jenny’s parents’ house. Our garage will soon be empty and off our monthly invoice!

Machine Gun News…with Bullet Points!

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  • The Boxes now have Toll Tags. I hate toll roads and try to avoid them if at all possible. But if I have to use them, I hate the payment process even more – either a bill in the mail for $1.25 or disdainfully tossing in a handful of coins every couple of miles. So I joined the 21st century and stuck the tags on our windshields.
  • I successfully sold my second item on Craiglist – the massive filing cabinet that I refused to make one of my poor friends drag up the stairs to our third-floor apartment. Now I have a well-used but cheap cheap Sony stereo cabinet for sale…
  • Last night we finally had some residents over for dinner! We wanted to get started with that much sooner, but it takes time to build the relationships. This was a really nice engaged couple, and we had a great time. Jenny made chicken cordon bleu.
  • Thursday night we had our monthly CARES meeting with our area director and the other IBC-connected teams. The president of Apartment Life was there to share some news and encourage us. He’s one of the most positive and encouraging people I’ve ever met. His enthusiasm and passion for God is infectious. He said our job boils down to one thing: making God look good. I liked that.