Day #13 my craft room

ever since the kids married and moved out of the house i have had dreams of a craft room.  so when a room became available i moved every craft related item into that room.  some of it had been tucked in other closets, under the bed, everywhere!

mostly i keep it somewhat organized, but when i get into a crafting frenzy it can get quite messy!  this is what my craft supplies looks like right now

these are the storage units i've chosen from ikea to get this room in order

2 of these, one on either side of the one below

there will also be a smaller version of the above shelving unit on another wall to hold toys that i don't want the boys to have free access to all of the time.

also, this room will be used as a guest room.  we are going this weekend to buy a futon with a comfy mattress to put in this room.

but it will probably be fall before i get to ikea as its down south of boston and we currently have no travel plans.

Day #11 cell phone addiction

(typo in that one, what, no spell check?)

i am not addicted to my cell phone.  i think i have a healthy relationship with it.  it is my only phone.  no land line, so i try to keep it charged and in a location where i can find it.  i take it with me to work and i keep it on silent in my pocket.  at home its on the kitchen counter.  i have tons of minutes and unlimited texting.  i have no data. i don't use it to take pictures.  it is a means of communication when necessary.  

i feel bad for children growing up with parents whose attention is shared with the world and not just given to them.

i feel bad for the people who are impacted when people text while driving.  even just looking at a text is a distraction and a deadly one at that.  i get scared because i can't be sure that my own family members don't do this.  i know that my husband and i don't.

i feel angry because people look down at their phones screen rather than look around them and notice what is going on right there.  

the more people are connected to each other through technology, the less they really know each other or even care.  

Day #11 busy bags

since i am firmly entrenched in baby/toddler/preschool land for quite a while, i decided it was time to start getting my resources together

busy bags?  never heard of such a thing.  back in the day i just had a cabinet full of stuff to pull out to keep them busy.  organizing it into bags that you can just grab quickly---awesome!  why didn't i think of that?

so i made a trip to dollar tree and walmart and between that and stuff i had laying around the house i came up with nine bags this week.  five are pictured above

from top left:  pool noodles cut into 1" chunks and a shoestring
                     painted clothespins and foam sheets
                     big buttons to sort and put into the slot in the cups
                     egg carton sorter color sorter with poms
                     pipe cleaners with a cool whip container (holes drilled in top)

i also made:  melissa and doug "colorforms"  i found at tjmaxx
                    a bag with 4 four wheeler vehicles
                    a bag with 4 dinosaurs
                    color, numbers, shapes flash cards disney & pooh

i used zip lock bags of varying sizes (dollar tree even has the 2 gallon ones!) and for now i put them all in a box and they are going to ethan's house.

you see, ethan is not quite two years old and he has a little brother who is four months old.  ethan needs occupying while momma feeds calvin because he is acting out for attention.

i love this idea and the idea of making them educational.  i'm planning on making lots more and keeping them available for all of my children to borrow.
                   

Day #10 modesty follow up

i've actually had a lot of anxiety over yesterdays post. mostly because i don't want anyone to think i'm judging anyone else by having the opinion that i do.

that really bothers me.

someone commented that churches won't touch that subject. that is true.  and then there are others who stress it tooo much.

someone else asked how do we teach the young girls modesty?  that is a tough one.  not a tough one to answer, but a tough one to implement.

because, like all good things, it takes effort and commitment.

little girls are influenced through peer pressure and the media.  every effort has to be made to lessen this exposure.  it seems that a popular opinion is that children need to have tons of friends with no worries about all of that negative influence that comes from that.  a few carefully chosen friends are a much better influence on your childs life.  

and i'm just gonna say it:  tv is the devil.  no one can rightly argue that statement.

as mothers we need to be godly examples for our children.  it's not easy, but its only going to be through consistency and faithful adherence to the word of God as the ultimate authority that our children will respect us enough to trust that our guidelines for their lives are fair and good for them.

you have to make sure that your children respect you more than they respect their peers.  THAT is hard work, but the payoff is awesome!

i have a daughter.  she is 25.  i have never had a problem with her trusting my judgement on how she should dress.  i do have to say that she was homeschooled & we do have television.  but i must have been doing something else right because she did not rebel against my teaching.  i know it was the constant prayer and the fact that i was never afraid to go against what the rest of the world was doing.

as far as clothing went i had a few rules.  pretty simple. shorts had to at least come to your fingertips, shirts could show no belly when your hands were held above your head.  no cleavage should show, and the waist of your pants should not be too low. two piece bathing suits were fine as long as they still covered your belly. bikinis are less material than underwear-definitely not appropriate for a young woman who respects herself.

our daughters and granddaughters need to be constantly taught that they are priceless and therefore should not walk around in the world advertising that they are cheap.

these are tough words.  i know.  but if we (meaning my audience here, which is "older" women of the church of God) are going to take our responsibility to teach the younger women seriously, then tough words are required.

most of this has been geared toward girls.  but boys have responsibilities also to dress appropriately.
i also have two sons and i like to think i did a good job of sheltering them from the worldly "norms" of society, to respect woman and not fall for their "false advertising".

Day #9 is modesty dead?

i sure hope not.  but i don't see tons of signs that it isn't.

this post is prompted by seeing short shorts in church yesterday.  i was not a happy camper. but seeing as i wrote a post about judging others yesterday, i'm trying real hard to just pray that those who dress immodestly are doing it out of ignorance and not pride.

i don't want to see cleavage, thighs, bellies, backs, etc. male or female.  i only want to see arms and legs (knee down)  anything else, to me, is immodest dress.  ESPECIALLY IN CHURCH!!!!!

now don't get me wrong, i am not a legalistic, dress code for church kind of person.  skirt, dress, slacks, shorts (appropriate length) are all ok with me.  jeans are awesome as long as they are not skin tight.

and this doesn't just apply to church time for me.  it is my opinion that it is a prideful heart that provokes a woman to wear revealing clothing.  and short shorts are revealing.  two piece bathing suits are revealing.  what are they advertising?  not a good thing.

i expected modest dress from my daughter and she was fine with that and she still is.  i think that dressing modestly shows that you respect yourself and those around you.

i'm just going to go ahead and say it:   sexual sin and immodest dress go hand in hand.
i could say much more and quote scripture, but i'm just going to leave it at that.

Day #8 not being judgemental

not be judgemental?

is it even possible?

even when we think we are not.

we are.

i do it all the time.

i judge people by the car they drive:  crappy old clunker must be a welfare mom on her way to walmart.     brand new lexus must be a snooty rich lady on her way to get her nails done.

i judge people by what they are wearing (i'd hate to think what my attire speaks to others, ugh)

i judge people by what they do and what they don't do

i judge people by all sorts of standards.

i think its human nature to draw conclusions about people when you don't know much about them.

doesn't make it right and it's totally unproductive.

i personally have been working on it.

my being judgemental, that is.

when you stop to realize that everyone else is just like me. with a story.  good or bad or somewhere in between.

everybody comes from somewhere and everybody is going somewhere.

why are we here?

i've found that answer for myself.  isn't it my obligation to help someone else discover that answer?

and how can i do that if i don't get past the facades of life?

my first step on this journey?

prayer.

instead of my first reaction to someone being to judge them.  i pray for them.  i lift them up to God and ask for a blessing for them.

whether it's a coworker, or someone you pass in walmart regularly (that happens a lot here in maine!), or a stranger walking down the road.

pray for them.

it's like giving them a gift

and receiving one yourself

Day #7 What I do

I work for Downeast Horizons.  www.dehi.org   it is an agency that supports adults and children with developmental disabilities. i work in the adult program.  ten hours a week i work with a young man who has autism and lives on his own.  i help him with meal planning/shopping, keeping his apartment under control, transporting to appointments and recreation.  basically my job is to make sure that he has what he needs to live safely in the community. it can be stressful at times and then other times its just like hanging out with someone for the day.  it is satisfying and you never feel like you wasted time or were doing something useless.  i used to feel like that when i worked in the supermarket.

15 hours a week i work in an evening program.  the group varies in size from 8-16 adults with 3 staff.  their ages vary from 25 to 60.  we work with the program participants on meal planning/prep, healthy habits, exercise, safety, in addition to community inclusion activities and recreational activities.  we also do arts and crafts, bingo, karaoke (my absolute favorite) and movies.  this is a fun group and i enjoy it a lot.

The company i work for is always hiring.  we are continually growing and it is hard to find good, dedicated employees.  it's not just a job.  you have to really want to do this type of work or you won't last long.  the majority of the adults have downs syndrome.  in the younger generations it is autism.  there are very few young people with downs due to abortion.  so sad.  the children's programs are growing quickly because autism has become so prevalent.  its a bit scary when you think about it.  we need to find out what it is in our environment that is causing this!

There is a huge wave of young people growing out of the children's program and needing services as adults. these young people need support staff in order to live in and be safe in the community.  this field is set to grow tremendously.  the agency i work for provides the training you need and has very flexible schedules.  No matter what part of the country you live in it must be a similar situation.  I would highly recommend this field of employment to anyone who is looking to not only earn a living but do it in a rewarding and fulfilling way.