Sarah Joy Albrecht

There are two young sisters who are dear friends of mine, as is their mother. This morning, I collected a few things I had been saving for them and put them in a sweet Victorian Valentine note card and sent them in a mail. I wanted to remember this one part of the note even for my own encouragement, so I’m making an entry in my blog with the excerpt. I hope that it is of encouragement to you, too!

This month, I’m sure you will have fun at school making Valentines and thinking about love and what it means.

The Bible says in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” Who is the “He” referring to?

1 John 4 and 1 Corinthians 13 are two places in the Bible that talk a lot about love. We learn from reading them that unless we have love for people – unconditional love, as Jesus loved us – that even the nicest things we do for them are meaningless.

We can show love to everyone, even people who are mean, because we remember that God loved us even when were were His enemy.

Pretty cool, huh?

I hope you girls are having a lovely day!

Much love,
Your Friend,
Sarah Joy Albrecht

At some point in our lives, we’re all either trying hard to forgive or counseling someone who is struggling to forgive. The result of unforgiveness? Bitterness.

Bitterness damages our relationships with others, and with God. Not to mention that bitterness makes those in its wake pretty miserable.

What does carrying the burden of bitterness say about one who has been forgiven of ALL their sin?

There is a short and excellent book entitled How to Be Free from Bitterness by Jim Wilson that I want to share with you. While you could spend a few $$ for a pretty version at Amazon or Canon Press, the text of the book is now available free online at:

http://www.mountzion.org/fgb/Summer03/FgbS5-03.html

Do you have a friend that only talks to you about how they have been wronged? Maybe you could gently share this book with them after reading it yourself.

Remember… as we think of having a clean slate and starting over at the beginning of this new year, we can make resolutions to diet, stay organized, read to our kids, be more disciplined with our free time, and so on and so forth. But, these things only produce a behavioral change. A change of heart will change your life from the inside out. You can quote me on that ;-)

Coatesville’s Ash Park, a few streets over from my house, is featured as Rip Hamilton’s hometown court in NBA Street Vol. 4: Homecourt. The Electronic Arts game for the XBox360 and PlayStation 3 will be in stores mid-February.
Continue reading “Coatesville’s Ash Park Featured in NBA Street 4: Homecourt”

In effort to save money, I buy the store-brands of pain medication containing Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and Ibuprofen (Motrin).

When I called the pediatrician on behalf of one of our daughters this morning, he asked about the dose of Tylenol she was given. I had given her one and one half teaspoons, but it turned out that she should have been given two teaspoons based on her weight.

The problem is that store-brand medicines often label dosage by age and not by weight, so it’s guesswork to figure out how much to give.

As a result, I looked up dosage charts online. The most detailed charts seem to be at www.askdrsears.com.

(I will be printing these and taping them inside my cupboard door. ;-) )

To save you the search if you find yourself in the same predicament, I have listed the links are listed below. Both links orient you directly to the charts, but there is also pertinent information above and below the charts that can be read by scrolling up or down:

Ibuprofen Chart
(Found in these and other brands: Motrin, Advil, Pediacare Fever, Children’s ElixSure)

Acetaminophen Chart
(Found in these and other brands: Tylenol, Feverall Suppositories , Tempra, ElixSure IB)

Every now and then, Tom arranges a date night with a surprise destination. Last night’s date almost didn’t happen – Tom got stuck in traffic and we’d miss the beginning of the dinner if he had to come home first to get me. Tom called and said, “Can you get a ride to dinner and I can meet you there?”

And I said, “Um, the destination was a surprise – I have no idea where we are having dinner.”

He laughed. “In Downingtown. It’s at the Victory.” Sweet. Just ten minutes away. His mom, who already had four of our children, picked me up and dropped me off at the Victory with Leah.

The food and beer combinations were out of this world. Continue reading “What did YOU have for dinner last night?”

A tip for mommies during cold season:

While you’re waiting for the Tylenol to kick in, put your child in a warm bath with lots of bath toys. (Bubbles would work, too – less stuff to pick up after bath time.)

The warmth is soothing, the moisture helps with stuffy noses, and playing with toys and/or bubbles are quite the distraction.

This method worked well this morning for Tabitha, who woke up screaming because her ear hurt. I gave her Tylenol. “It still hurts!”, she said, expecting instant results. So I put her in a warm bath filled with toys. By the time the water was getting cold and it was time to get out, I asked her how her ear was doing. She said it felt great!