Sharathon

HI!

Thanks so much for your help during our Fall Sharathon! Your gifts mean so much to us at WCQR, and allow us to continue to be an encouragement to you and your family. What an amazing partnership!

This Fall's Sharathon ends on Friday at 8pm. If you haven't already done so, we ask that you prayerfully consider a gift (of any size.) We all have different gifts, different budgets, different families, but it's for one common goal...to keep WCQR on the air! Awesome!

You can make a pledge at our website... www.wcqr.org

Plus, keep up with all the action by streaming our studio webcam. Now you get to see what happens behind the music...in REAL TIME! Watch for my fantabulous lip synching, and for Tiger Brooks' cuttin' a rug. That man can dance! LOL!

Blessings!
Chalmer

9 to 5...or 6 or 7

My sister is a working mom.

She has a bounding little "almost" two year old who is cute as a button and full of energy (not that i'm biased..no, not Uncle Chalmer...) Anyway, having to enter the working world because of the financial strain that many families face in this day and age has led to thoughts of what to do about child care...try and find a family member to do it? A day care?

Many companies have been unbending when it comes to family, until now...and that's why Working Mother magazine released its annual list of the top 100 places to work.

Taking your best interests into mind, the magazine compiled the list by using a 550 question survey.

The magazine used five main criteria as the basis for its judgments: flexibility, leave time for new parents, child care, elder care and the number of women occupying top jobs.

The top 10 companies that best satisfied the five criteria were:

Abbott Laboratories

Bon Secours Richmond Health System

Ernst & Young LLP

HSBC USA Inc.

IBM Corp.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Patagonia Inc.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP

Principal Financial Group

S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.


Find the full list here!

CH

Connection

I had a chance to read this from the Upper Room Devotional Website: www.upperroom.org

I'd been pretty smug throughout the Bible study. The study dealt with patterns of destructive behavior that continue in families from generation to generation. Most of the lessons centered on the sins of abuse and prejudice. By God's grace, I have been spared those difficulties.

Months later, however, the Holy Spirit revealed a sin that I was guilty of passing down to my children. As I listened to a heated discussion between my daughters, I realized with a heavy heart that their sharp words were behavior they had learned from me. I had always prided myself on speaking the truth, but all too often, my words were not seasoned with grace. I began to pray for lips "anointed with grace."

Breaking lifelong patterns of behavior doesn't happen overnight. I've practiced speaking kind words, and God has poured more grace onto my lips. As a result, I have had new opportunities to witness. Looking back, I saw this harmful behavior for what it was.

God is bigger than our sin, and destructive patterns of behavior do not have to continue forever. Whatever cycles of sin we have perpetuated, we can also break. We can change. Help is only a prayer away.

Your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever.
-Psalm 45:2 (NIV)

Have a great weekend!
CH

Makes Cents

I wish I could say I knew it all...but I don't. Especially when it comes to finances, I get confused. My math all of a sudden doesn't make sense and there are sooooo many things beyond the checkbook that we are all supposed to "know." I have a friend who says she is in the same category. She calls it," The Financially Illiterate." I'm a card carrying member.

If finances seem to boggle your mind and you wish someone would lay out so many of the things you are supposed to know in a simple format. Your wish has come true!!

I read an article today called "46 Things I Wish My Mom Had Taught Me About Money." It is fantastic! It is extensive, so you might want to print it out instead of reading it on screen. However, it's got so much information on the everything from the basics to education to investing and debt in easy to follow tidbits. It could be a breakthrough for your family. I hope it is.

Plus, not to ruin it, but the finally tip will definitely help put everything in perspective...it says:

"Money is Important, but It Ain’t Everything."

CH

New

Sometimes you need a change...

So, in honor of September 20th and the chilly weather...TADA!

The blog display has a new look. Hope you like it!

CH

Ring, Ring Goes the Bell

This woman is dedicated to answering her deepest longing question...

If a bell rings in a shopping mall parking lot, will anyone respond?

Brenda Hutchinson is driving around the country in her two-door Honda Civic with a large bell to find out. It is a 250-pound cast iron bell [pictured.] In the lobby of our church, we have one that looks a lot like this one. I think that is special.

Brenda is setting up the bell in different cities and asking passersby to ring it. Why? No real reason except the ringing, she says.

The Journey is called The Bell Project, and will finish at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Brenda will then donate the bell to the museum during the opening of their new Listen: Making Sense of Sound project.

Find out more about the acoustic cross country adventure, including photos and videos, in The Bell Project blog.

CH

Doing a Them a Flavor

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream has winnowed down more than 40,000 suggestions for a new flavor to five finalists!!!

The finalists get an expense-paid trip to the ice cream maker's plant, where they will whip up their concoctions for the company's flavor gurus in the Oct. 4-5 finals.

Some of the final flavors are:

Italian Renaissance-- amaretto ice cream, cherry chunks and sliced almonds

Wackie Chan-- sweet cream and ginger-flavored ice cream, with chocolate-covered fortune cookie bits and fudge swirl

"ApricotAbra"-- apricot chunks, dark chocolate, vanilla ice cream and tart apricot preserves.

Find full descriptions and the other finalists at www.benjerrys.com

See you at the Grocery Store,

CH

Appetizing

I haven't been able to stop laughing about this all weekend!

We had been out with our dogs all day, and decided to meet a bunch of friends for dinner.

Since we still had the dogs with us, one of our friends checked on dog-friendly establishments. So, the restaurant was kind enough to let us sit out on the patio with dogs . Well, the conversation was going great with lots of laughs and catching up. And the dogs...the dogs were being so good!

Because of that, we decided to reward them with a treat. So, my wife, Meredith, reaches and gets a couple of gingerbread man shaped dog biscuits. She hands one to me and to my mom.

The things is, we had been passing around appetizers too! Before we knew it, we heard my mom say, "Oh, thank you, dear." And with one fell swoop, my mom had her mouth wide open with the little dog biscuit about to go down the hatch...

NO!! WAIT!! THAT'S A DOG BISCUIT!!!!

Bless the Lord, it worked. The whole restaurant might've known what she was going to eat, but we spared her the doggie delight.

CH

THAT'S DYNAMITE NEWS!

Since John Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) and his wife (Kirsten) will be having their first child. (WE should build tem a cake or something...LOL!)

I wonder if they'll use a generational pass down name ?

My parents did...I'm the 3rd!

Now, I know that there's a lot that goes into naming your child, but there seems to be a trend lately of parents choosing names for their children that may be considered more traditional. As a matter of fact, at east 8 of the the top 20 names in 2005 were also in the Top 20 names in 1885!! Some of those are Emma, John, James, and Elizabeth.

Find the lists on the September 13th posting to senselist.com

CH

Class!

There are a lot of pressures on educators to get everything in and balance the expectations from school board and parents...My family knows first hand. My wife is a teacher.

However, sometimes it can seem after all you do in a day and with all the activites after school, you come home and your kids still homework to do! Or when you pick them up, their backpack weighs 400 pounds, and is loaded with all their books.

I gotta admit that I was shocked when I read this...BUT...The nation's leader on homework research says that Elementary school students get no academic benefit from homework -- except reading -- For High school students there is no academic benefit after two hours a night; for middle-schoolers, 1 1/2 hours.

More at www.washingtonpost.com

Wish they had said that when I was in school,
CH

International Chocolate Day

This is a day that should resound in the hearts (because Dark Chocolate is good for you) and the stomachs of all around the world! Yes, you read the headline correctly, it is International Chocolate Day! A tribute is in order. I did not write this poem on my own, but it is a fitting excerpt for celebration of the day! Yay, Chocolate!

INTERNATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY

It's international Chocolate Day!

The world will take a holiday,

The futures bright, the flags unfurled,

Our eyes are shining our tongues awhirl

The little ones have ceased their whining,

Come celebrate the perfect timing,

In every dwelling there's people dining

On lovely chocolate!

In shops the shelves are stacked up high

With crates in ships endless supply,

The restaurants' serving chocolate dips,

With fish they're serving chocolate chips,

It's all the people's answered wishes,

Just to consume this bean delicious,

Piled high on spoons, in bowls and dishes

This lovely chocolate!

It's International Chocolate Day!

The multitudes have had their say,

All mankind has been included,

The future's bright, no one's excluded.

We'll face tomorrow with Divine insight,

And spread our love where nations fight,

With every nibble every bite

Of lovely chocolate!

--David Williams

Since it's INTERNATIONAL Chocolate day, I would advise going to try some international varieties of Chocolate. German chocolate is really great, and I am told from an anonymous source that there is great international chocolate to be found in that shopping center just down (heading into Johnson City) from Ingles in Boones Creek. There is a European Market that sells it.

Or visit www.chocolatebar.com
(One of the best chocolate bars I have ever tasted.)

CH

Oasis

:) Ah.......

I'm sitting in a spot that I absolutely love. A coffee shop. The aroma...Free Wi-Fi...an Americano...jazz music...and sitting by my wife.

For me, it dosn't get much better than this. It's relaxation to a T. Nice.

With that said, let me throw in a shameless plug for where I am. Next time you are near ETSU and have a hankering for a great place to go. The new Oasis Coffee House is well worth it.

Ciao!
Chalmer

After...

Didn't really want to write about anything yesterday. I figured you might have had enough reminders. However, it turned out to be a great reflection time for me. I found a neat story about a woman who found her biological parents. As an adopted child, it always strikes a chord when that happens.

My sister has had phenominal success in finding her birth parents, and at the same time, giving our parents the love, attention, and thanks that they certainly deserve for giving us the chance at life.

Back to that story...Turns out this lady found out her biological father was a 9-11 hero. He was on Flight 93 and was one of the group leaders as those courageous people tried to take back their plane. However, hope still remains (I like that part.) She has found friendship and a close relationship with her biological mother and that open door to more family.

It's a neat story. It was in the Johnson City Press yesterday, if you'd like to read it.

CH

Splash!

The Legion Street Pool in Johnson City went to the dogs for the past few nights...literally. Meredith and I decided to join in the fun with the pooches.

Last night, we took Kalla and Alex to the annual Dog Swim to benefit the new Johnson City Dog Park being built at Willow Springs Park (just off the Old Jonesborough Highway.) It was so much fun! The dogs loved it because they were able to run around with their new buddies without leashes and get in the water to cool off, retrieve tennis balls or frisbees. There were so many families there! The place was packed from 6 til about 7:30.

Kalla had a big time, and was so funny. Meredith took her to get into the big pool, but she wouldn't get in!!! It was a alittle baffling at first. We know that she loves to swim, and get wet. She loves to go to Sycamore Shoals and swim against the river current.

However, last night, she was running around the edge barking and whining because she was afraid the other dogs in the pool were in danger by being in the pool. If she would learn to just jump in, she would make a great lifeguard. We finally got her into the kiddie pool. We figured she just liked being able to touch the bottom. It was 1ft. deep, and she went to town!

Alex, on the other hand, just ran around visting (and getting treats from Valerie--Natural Pet Supply--Thanks, Valerie!) He thinks that anything wet is a BATH. He doesn't like baths. We did put him in the kiddie pool. He stayed in for a minute...maybe.

We stayed til about dark, packed up, and headed home with two happy, but tuckered out Corgis.

Chalmer

Bowling

Just the mere mention of that word sends shivers up my spine. I'm not scared of it...necessarily. Rather, it's a strict fear of how horrendous I am at the game. I play lots of games and sports. I like Soccer, football, too. I even love a great board game (anything Cranium brand.) However, bowling is the one thing that I have determined that I will not ever be able to accomplish well. Thus, I lead to my story from yesterday:

We had headed to Kingsport to make a McAlister's tea run. Before tea, we were walking around the shops there. We went into Jacob's Toy Box (a toy shoppe) and ended up finding a few games that we thought about purchasing. However, what we decided on was a set of BOWLING DICE. After that, we went to McAlister's, got some tea, and sat down to play.

The dice are pretty neat, but plainly colored. They are black and white with Bowling things on them...pins, Xs blanks, and slashes. The thing is, I can roll Monopoly with the best of 'em (uh...okay, pretty well.) So, I thought, "Yes! It has nothing to do with bowling, except the scoring. I might be able to do well here and even win!"

Well, I started out okay. A couple of strikes in a row! Then it all went downhill from there!!! Meredith ended up rolling something like 5 or 6 strikes in a row...while I'm rolling 3 pins, 2 pins...AARG!! Bowling wins again!!! Meredith beat me three games in a row!!! When it comes to bowling, I just can't win for losing.

Wish I were a Turkey :)
CH