WFMW: aboratum and public garden locator

I live in a city surrounded by cities. I'm a country girl at heart and love pretty scenery. However, to get that I have to go to a specific place. We have an aroboretum near my house that I love. You have to pay to go in but a year pass is $40.00. It's one of the best $40.00 I've ever spent.

I love going, especially during the spring because everything is in bloom.

Recently I discovered that Better Homes and Gardens has a local Garden and Arboretum locator. You can search for each state and even some parts of Canada. I found out that I have SEVEN gardens/arboretums within reasonable driving distance from me. 7! So, if I ever get bored with the arboretum I do go to I have plenty of options!

The arboretum and garden locator works for me! Check out Works for Me Wednesday for more tips!

1,000 gifts list 350-360

350) Palmer style cursive

351) old typewriters

352) history

353) pajama days

354) planted flowers, still alive!

355) birthday pies

356) unread books

357) swollen, pregnant bellies

358) misty May mornings

359) mama and papa goose with little gooslings

360) boyfriend in jeans

"You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you." Sarah Ban Breathnach

WFMW: page protectors

I like page protectors. I use them quite often.

When I'm in school I use a page protector to hold my class syllabus and any other imprtant pieces of paper for my class.

I've put pictures in page protectors so that I can put them on my bulliten board without punching holes on them.

We use them at work all the time as a make-shift white erase board. It works exceptionally well. We use it a lot for tracing, placing the sheet on the inside of the page protector and having the kids trace over the top. It works much better than laminating because for some reason the ink seems to stay in the lamination. It doesn't seem to stain the page protector.

I know people who print out their recipes and place them in sheet protectors in a binder. That way when they cook they don't have to worry about keeping the book open and they don't have to worry about their recipes being ruined.

So, tell me, what do you use page protectors for?

Check out more helpful tips at Works for Me Wednesday!

WFMW: watercolor pencils

Our kids do art at school about once or twice a month. This month the teacher had them coloring a picture of poppies with colored pencils. The twist is that they are actually watercolor colored pencils. You use them just like you would a normal colored pencil, then you take a paintbrush, dip it in water and paint over the area. The water turns the colored pencil into paint! It's really quite neat.

We used the crayola version at school. I looked EVERYWHERE here and couldn't find them.

However, Michael's, or Hobby Lobby has their own version. I got 24 watercolor pencils for about five bucks. And, since they give out 40% and 50% off coupons that makes it pretty darn affordable.

I wouldn't suggest trying to do a background with them but for something detailed, like flowers, getting really nice detail is great. The pictures that our kids colored/painted were off Iclandic Poppies printed out in grayscale. She had them trace the lines with a regular black colored pencil and then color and shade with the water color pencils. It turned out looking REALLY nice.

Watercolor pencils work for me! Check out We Are THAT Family for more tips!

Seperate, assimilate, or infiltrate?

This past Mother's Day our sermon at church was excellent. Not very motherly, however they did give a gift card to the mom with the most kids in each service, the winner at my service had eleven kids.


Our pastor talked about a christian's purpose in the world. He summed it up with three words.


1) separate


Christians are not to separate themselves from those who are not christians. We're not supposed to stand back and watch people live their life with our hands in front of us making an "x" and saying, "bad people! BAD!"


2) assimilate


Christians aren't supposed to assimilate to the worldly culture. He used the example of Daniel being taken to Babylon. Daniel was taken because he was smart and handsome. He had it all. He was told to eat food that he wasn't willing to, so he didn't. And God blessed him for it.


When he taken captive he was trained in magic, soothsaying, and astronomy (Daniel, Chapter 2). However, he didn't change his beliefs. He was steadfast. He KNEW that his God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the only true God. So when the king sent out to the decree to kill all the wise men Daniel asked him to wait. He got together with his buddies, they prayed about it, and God revealed to Daniel what Nebuchadnezzar's dream was, as well as the meaning. When Daniel went to the King he told him plain and simple,


"The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king.


28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these:


29 As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be.


30 But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart."


Daniel was taken away from his home. His family, his community and support groups. He could have gone through his training and not stuck to what he knew what was true. But he didn't. He could have assimilated. He could have decided, "You know, I was taken captive, I'm never going to return home, I might as well just do what I have to do to make life easy on myself." But he didn't. He refused to assimilate.


So, if you don't separate and you don't assimilate what do you do? Exactly what Daniel did.


3) infiltrate

I realize that that sounds sort of sneaky and awful, infiltrate, as though we are sneaking in the enemy camp and learning all their secrets. That's not the mental picture that should be coming across. However, the idea of Christians being in the world not just in churches or Bible study is true. I’m not suggesting that we should live our life incognito, living as though we don’t know the Truth. I mean we should be a part of life. An awesome example that I can think of is Triple X church, a ministry that sets up a booth inside the porn conventions and passes out Bibles. They don’t stand outside screaming that the people involved in that lifestyle are going to hell. They get in there. They meet people. They are open and honest and upfront and gentle. A light shining on a hill. The salt of the earth. You can't be a light if there's no darkness. Community is vital to keeping your relationship with Christ healthy, but if all you ever do is hang out with christian people you're missing the point. Jesus came and hung out with the tax collectors, prostitutes, and *shudder* sinful people. He also called us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our goal is not to find people who aren't christians and wow them with our holy lifestyle. lifestyle according to God's standards, not the worlds, and hopefully, hopefully by doing that we will be a light. We're not going to win anyone to Christ by standing on a pedestal but if we are real people, with real love and care and concern (and yes, you can be loving without watering down the Truth) with real problems and difficulties, we can hope that instead of seeing us, people will see He who is within us.


It's a beautiful balance, to be able to infiltrate without being so stand-offish that we scare people off but strong enough to not assimilate. I know I'm not always there, but I'm working on it.


So what about you? How do you live your life? Do you separate, assimilate, or infiltrate?

What every teacher should have to do

I work with kids with special needs. They have a special place in my heart. I may not be a teacher but I am an educator. It breaks my heart to see teachers, those who have invested their life in helping children, be unwilling to help kids with special needs.

Our class participates with the rest of the general ed classes during p.e. This week one of the p.e. activities was a game similar to hot potato. We were supposed to break the kids up into groups of four or five and we had that. The teacher that was in charge of the activity came over and wanted to add more kids to our group when we already had the largest group. We told her that we already had six kids and she pointed at one of our more severe students and said, "Yeah, but I'm not counting him. He has issues." Then she walked away!

I was flabbergasted. I could not believe that an adult, one in a prominent position, would point a child out in such a demeaning matter and in front of ALL the other kids. Yes, that little boy does have issues. But guess what, he's still a child. He is still a student. He MATTERS. He may not be able to do everything that the other kids do but that's why we as aides are there.

Another thing that I have noticed is that regular ed teachers like to separate our kids from the rest. Whenever we break into groups they like to keep our kids together instead of putting one child in with a group of regular ed kids. Doing this would serve two purposes, it would allow our kids to socialize and it allows regular education kids to interact with those with disabilities, making it less scary and foreign for both parties involved.

I really, truly, believe that before you can be certified to teach you should be required to spend time working in a classroom with kids who have special needs. I don't mean just a couple of hours. I mean a couple of weeks. Children with special needs are just like those that aren't; They are all different. You can have a class that has a child who has very slight learning disabilities working alongside a child that is non verbal.

I understand that working with children with special needs is a calling, however, just because you become a general education teacher does not mean that you will not be in contact with children who have special needs. You may be asked to have a child mainstream in your class. You may have a child in your class who has not been diagnosed.

No child, no matter how big their "issues" should be pointed out and told that they don't count, especially when it is a teacher doing the pointing. I truly believe that if more was taught about special education to all teachers that a) some people might find a new calling in life and b) our schools would improve because our teachers would have been educated about a population they might not always be in contact with.

Every child counts. And for those of us that work with those with disabilities, it is up to us to educate others so that children the world over will be accepted and values, disability or no disability.