I’m an online banker. Well, I’m an online everything-er. Yesterday I was unplugged and it actually didn’t really phase me. I love being a hermit, so a whole day with no telephone, no email, no music, (and obviously not TV because I don’t watch it anyway) was really a dream. The thing I missed though was being able to hop on my laptop for info. I always check out the weather, pull up a quick recipe, look up word pronunciations (I know, I’m a nerd), or just get random info whenever my random minds wants. For example, I was going to hop on and see if I could diagnose myself for having a sore throat for over a month…then remembered–no internet. Oh–what will the weather be like on Saturday for the Multnomah picnic?–no internet. Oh–I wonder if Dr. Wecks emailed me back about my grade?–no internet. So I did definitely have to stop and remind myself often, but all in all it was a very pleasent day (and I got so much done!).
We did do our hike, although it is now confirmed that Dutch does NOT like hiking. That is, he loves hiking, as long as he’s the one hiking. He doesn’t like being stuffed into a backpack. So, our hike was significantly truncated because about 1/2 through we had to let him hike on his own. That meant going as fast as his little 16-month-old legs could carry him. It went something like this: step step step (stop to pick up a stick and wave it around) step step step (stop to pick up a bug, mom grabs it before it goes in the mouth) step step step-TRIP, BOOM, WAHHHHHHH!!!!! (tears, hugs, scraped hands…sniffs, whining to be put down) step step step (veers over toward cliff, daddy scoops him up and plops him in middle of trail). Anyway, you get the picture. But it was fun nonetheless. We just need to plan to hike one mile in three hours. 
So, all in all the day was great, but now I’m back online and therefore checked our account because we got our big whopping $152 check for tutoring (this is what we’re living on!). Right above the $152 deposit, I noticed a $900 US Federal Tax Refund deposit–there it was, the Economic Stimulus check promised. After getting over my frustration (we were supposed to receive $1500 because our income was low enough to qualify for the max amount–I’m still frustrated over that one), I thanked God for the well-timed help.
So I’ve been researching and reading about how people plan to spend their extra dough. The Oregon kicker that we all received in December was a good indicator. I read that the two areas where they saw a sharp incline in spending were *surprise*: Lottery and Casinos. (insert me shaking my head here) Yes, here we are, stewards of God’s resources, and we spend a little extra money gambling. I also read a little online and found that on average, Americans have $9,300 in credit card debt. AGH!!!! Is that terrifying to anyone but me?
So, it’s a free country and you’re free to whatever you like with your economic stimulus check. But I’d suggest, as a LiveDifferent Challenge, that if we have undesirable debt, we use our checks to pay back what we owe, so that we own no man anything. Jeff and I have mortgages, which we feel like is smart debt, but we also have just recently taken out school loans, and already I feel like they whisper my name and haunt me. For us right now, seeing that our income for the next three weeks is that $152 tutoring check … we may need to use some of our stimulus check for luxuries like, um, gas. But let’s live in a way that’s different from the world, where we pay back what we owe, where we deny ourselves something unless we can pay for it. It’s a small thing, but it’s part of stewardship. It’s payback time. Deal?