For those of you that have been following Cary and Amanda Rasberry's story over the last couple of years, if you're at all like me, you've thought to yourself that you wish you could do SOMETHING to help. Good news: there's a very easy way to do just that.

Medical Trust Fund for Cary Rasberry (link opens in a new window- includes PayPal donation link.)

A medical trust fund has been set up to help Cary with his incredibly overwhelming financial burden due to his medical bills from extensive hospitalizations and surgeries. One of our most important blessings as Christians is the ability and duty to help one another in times of need. I hope that while you're giving to your family and friends during the holiday season, you'll also think of the Rasberrys. This precious family has been through so much.

Thanks. :)

**EDIT: The link has been updated, for those of you that let me know the link was broken! It works now!**

Did you go to FC? If so, you're like me and get the seemingly weekly envelopes with an envelope inside... sometimes bearing address labels, sometimes bearing a notepad, but ALWAYS bearing a lengthly letter with a plea for financial support. And if you're like me, you probably don't even read it, and send it straight to the shredder. Sometimes the address labels too, if you're feeling grumpy.

Don't get me wrong. I loved FC. Those were two of the best years of my life, and I met a LOT of people that I will be friends with till we die or Jesus comes, whichever happens first. But my thoughts on getting those "donation, please!" letters range from, "you already took my money!!" to "I can give you $20, but that's not going to help anyone, and then you'll call and ask for more."

However, (bold because it's an important however) I just found out something that has changed my mind. Buddy Payne came to visit here a couple weeks ago, and spent some time with my parents talking about his new business plan and all the things he's been doing to try to raise money for FC. Whether or not you like the guy, the man is a genius and is on FIRE for that college. What I found out though that changed my mind was that a lot of the grants FC can try to get are based at least in part on percentage of donating alumni. Doesn't matter how much the alumni give, per se, it matters what percent give. If everyone who attended FC sent in JUST A DOLLAR a year, it would position FC to be able to get lots of *other* money that doesn't come out of your pocket. I didn't previously know this, and I can tell you that from now on, I'll be sure to send even just a little each year so that my tiny contributing factor gets counted. When it comes down to it, I DID have a great experience there and want others to be able to share that too, so I can send my drop in the bucket and help out. Someone did that for me, after all.

And for the record, YES, I know that not everyone likes, agrees with, is friendly toward, or even knows about FC. And that's just fine. But I'm just spreading the word for people like me who didn't know there was an easy way to help out.

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And more importantly, happy 30th birthday to my first sister! I'd write more but I can't stack posts anymore and wanted to leave this one public. :-P
But I love her lots anyway. :D

Came across this a few days ago, and thought I'd share:

"People who are only a few pounds overweight and sedentary have an increased risk for heart failure, according to a study of doctors published in the journal Circulation. The 20-year study of more than 21,000 American doctors measured the influence of being overweight and inactive on development of heart failure, the progressive loss of the organ's ability to pump blood.
Adjusting for other risk factors, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the study found a 49 percent increase in heart failure in overweight men compared with those at a recommended weight.
Men who engaged in physical activity one to three times a week had an 18 percent reduction in heart failure risk; those active five to seven times a week had a 36 percent reduction."

Interestingly enough, another article I've been reading basically shows that scientifically studied odds are that if you're told "change your habits or die," it's nine to one you WON'T change.

What does this say about us when it comes to taking care of ourselves?

I've kept my weblog public for a really long time because I don't like the idea of the world having to be so paranoid about their "privacy" and such. But sadly... sometimes I think it's better to protect your privacy and the privacy of those around you. Unfortunately the world is just not ideal.

I'll leave a few of my entries public from time to time, but most will be private from now on, so if you'd like to be on my friends list and you're not already please let me know.

Also, for those of you who use first and last names for your friend list, please don't. It completely destroys internet privacy when your name shows up on google.

Oh, and since I don't know how often I'll make it back to this public post, it might be easier (if you're gold) to send me a message instead of leaving a comment.

Thanks! :)