Well, it always turns out that it's actually not so bad. I just need to keep reading, and I usually come to really like that chapter just as much, if not more, as the first one. ​

God certainly put me here for a reason and introduced me to dozens of people along this journey that I wouldn't have had the chance to meet otherwise. I am filled with gratitude for the influence each one of them has had on molding me into the person I am today; a better version of me than I was before I started this position. To each of you, thank ​you. ​

To my fellow staff members: Through the ups and downs and the wading through uncharted waters together, we formed friendships and respect for each other. We overcame challenges as we grew individually and as a team. I had the opportunity to work for the best boss ever (wait... I'm not sure I can say that; my next boss is my husband!), but regardless, I gained a lifelong friend. ​

To the residents, the bravest moms I know: You are stepping away from pretty much everything you have known your entire life in hopes of giving yourself and your child a brighter future. Whenever you're feeling like life is giving you too much to handle, remember that God is in control. He's got a much bigger picture in store for you than you can see right now. You have taught me so much, instilled a new self-confidence in me, and offered a perspective to life I'm blessed to now know. ​

​To the future moms to reside at New Beginnings: Whatever life you want to live, you CAN live it. No matter how unattainable it may seem right now, there are people who want to help you succeed

Wherever life may lead all of you, approach each new chapter with excitement! Live your life with a purpose and above all, keep your faith in Christ Jesus and embrace our Father's plan for your life! ​

​This is so true! If someone says something nice to you, do you find yourself reflecting on that comment from time to time and having it bringing a renewed smile to your face? I know I do. 

​Acts of kindness can be so small, but mean so much. A compliment or warm smile is absolutely free to give, although for some of us, the ability to hand one out may take some refining. It may seem silly at first, but be intentional about the kindness you show others. If this is not something that comes naturally to you, start each week or day by detailing out what you will do for someone else- and then make sure you follow through. Once you get in the habit of doing small things for others, you’ll find the opportunity arise more and more often, and it will start to come naturally to you. In the end, you may even find these small kindnesses making their way back to you. 

We are always looking for new ways to spread kindness! What are some ways that you have surprised others with a random act of kindness? Find some great ideas for families by clicking on the button below. ​

Before you become a first-time parent, you expect to feel overwhelming amounts of LOVE! JOY! HAPPINESS! EXCITEMENT! ADVENTURE! And you’re right to feel those things. However, if you are now a mom or dad to a precious little one (or several!), you know that other feelings come along with parenthood.

Guilt.
Insecurity.
Failure.

And those nagging voices in your head…
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Do I read to them enough?
Do I play with them enough?
Do I encourage and praise them enough?
Should I be more flexible with their sleeping schedules? Or are they staying up too late the way it is?
Am I too strict with their diet? Or did I just give them WAY too much sugar?
Is it bad that I’m letting them watch (yet another) show so that I can have a little quiet time?
Was that punishment too harsh?... or too lenient?
Do I yell at my kids too much?
Do they KNOW that I love them?
We’re late to school again. How is everyone else ALWAYS on time?!
I forgot to make sure my kids did their homework.

I fail every single day as a mother, but guess what? Christ’s love never fails us! He takes all of my imperfections and covers them with His cleansing blood. When the feelings of mommy-guilt consume me, there is nothing more comforting than the words Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

​Grace. Thank you, Lord, for the grace you have shown me as a mother. Thank you for the forgiveness you’ve given me when I fall short, and for helping my children forgive my daily shortcomings to them.

Grace. It’s all we need to remember when we feel like the mom next to us at the school pick-up has it all together perfectly. Her daily mess-ups with her kids are covered by God’s grace, too, and maybe that’s the reason why I don’t see them.

Grace. The more weaknesses we have, the more of God’s grace we receive.

Grace. I knew there was a reason we gave our first-born this middle name; it’s a reminder of what I need each and every day to survive this thing we call parenting. May God’s grace also cover you as you navigate this winding road, and remember that you are not alone.

Beth Shiels is married to her husband, Zach, and together they have three charismatic daughters, with a fourth baby arriving in December. Beth splits her time between staying at home with her children, working at New Beginnings, and assisting in Zach's chiropractic clinic. She loves this crazy busy life Gods has blessed her with and is thankful to have the opportunity to share His love with the moms and babies at New Beginnings.     

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Take a minute to think of all of the volunteers you encounter on a regular basis.

​Here are a few places that come to my mind where I see volunteers in action:

* In schools, tutoring and mentoring young people
* Working as volunteer firefighters
* Coaching a youth basketball team or leading a scout group
* Raking leaves for the elderly couple next door
* Baby-sitting the kids while Mom and Dad are at work
* Filling positions in your church, such as teaching Sunday School, working as the secretary, or accompanying services as the organist
* Building houses for families in need
* Cleaning parks and highways
* Educating on health and safety

What other ways do you see volunteers serving faithfully around you? There are hundreds of volunteer opportunities around, and you may not even realize that some of the people you interact with daily are volunteers – 62.6 million Americans volunteered in their communities in 2013!

Now take a minute to imagine a day when no volunteers show up….

It’s a scary thought! We NEED volunteers, but the truth is, the number of volunteers has been declining over recent years. What challenges would you face if volunteers were not giving their time freely to benefit the lives of others? You may not realize it, but the impact of volunteers on our nation is pretty huge. The Corporation for National & Community Service stated that in 2013, volunteers gave almost 7.7 billion hours of service to their communities, which they estimated to be worth about 173 billion dollars! 

​Maybe you already are a volunteer in some form, which is awesome! If you aren’t, we encourage you to consider it because volunteering can: 

* Provide physical and social activity
* Offer educational and professional experience
* Reduce stress
* Provide a sense of purpose
* Strengthen your community
* Increase your problem-solving skills
* Improve physical and mental health
* In adults age 70 and over, you may experience lower rates of mortality, lower decline in functional ability and lower rates of depression 

Volunteers are needed in almost every non-profit organization, and New Beginnings has been blessed by having faithful volunteers as part of our staff. We encourage you to get involved in your community by
volunteering your time to a cause you believe in and support. If that leads you to volunteering at New Beginnings- great! We would love to have you. But we also believe that there are several other places that need volunteers, and we would love to see you become involved at a place that suits your talents and interests.

Click here for some tips to help you start volunteering.

Finally, we want to give a huge thank you to our New Beginnings volunteers, who have put in hundreds of hours already this year! Our volunteers have helped with cleaning and painting our new building when we moved last fall, organized and collected donations, worked at our fundraiser events, mentored and tutored moms, helped fill staff hours in the home, performed home and vehicle maintenance, and much more. We would not survive without the generosity and support of our volunteers. THANK YOU!
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If you are interested in donating your time to New Beginnings, please email [email protected] or call (414)376-0595.

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​Beth Shiels is the Assistant Home Manager at New Beginnings. She has been married to her husband, Zach, for seven years and they have three charismatic daughters, with a fourth baby arriving in December. Beth splits her time between staying at home with her children, working at New Beginnings, and assisting in Zach's chiropractic clinic. She loves this crazy busy life God has blessed her with and is thankful to have the opportunity to share His love with the moms and babies at New Beginnings.  ​

​While I was driving into work one morning, the radio deejays were discussing a new study that piqued my interest. The study reported that one of the biggest stressors for moms today is striving to create the “perfect life” for their children. Moms aim to get their kids involved in several activities to help them excel and truly “shine” among their peers – at the average cost of $1400 per year per child for activity fees. This puts many families into financial stress, some even into debt.

As children belonging to our heavenly Father, our kids already possess all that they need to succeed – the promise of eternal life in heaven. What a comfort it is to know this! The most beneficial things we can do as parents to create a “perfect life” for our children are to teach them about God’s Word, lead by example how to love others, and serve God and others before ourselves. That doesn’t cost a penny!
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Through our nightly Bible stories and devotions at New Beginnings, we are trying to equip our resident moms for doing just this. After they leave our program, our prayer is that they share the love of God that they learned about here with their child(ren) and teach them to grow in God’s grace, letting their light as His children shine to all people. ​

“The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.” - Psalm 85:12

During our Thursday evening group sessions at New Beginnings, we explore a variety of topics to expand our residents’ life skills. These sessions have been presented by staff, a local church or community member, or a Wisconsin Lutheran College student. We have learned about fire safety from a Milwaukee Fire Department firefighter, self-breast exams and women’s health from a senior WLC nursing student, how to submit a FAFSA form and scholarship essays from TEAM UP Milwaukee, discussed religious topics with a WLC campus pastor, held game nights and much more!

On a beautiful evening in June, we held a group session outside our home to beautify the landscaping and learn a little about gardening. At the time, we only had one resident, who had never planted anything before. She learned a lot that night and I think she might have even liked it a little bit. She helped plant geraniums and impatiens to add some color, and we also planted bell peppers, tomatoes, basil seeds and cilantro to enjoy later in the season.

After a summer of faithfully watering our plants and giving them lots of love, we had a bountiful harvest of basil and tomatoes. The peppers and cilantro did not do as well, but we are still learning!

As our tomatoes ripened and we watched as our basil leaves got bigger and bigger, we knew it was time to do something with all of it. We were very thankful for our amazing crop, but didn’t want to see it go to waste. We were able to make use of our earlier planting efforts for another educational group session: How to Use Basil. If you haven’t used basil for much before, there are countless possibilities! You can dry it to use throughout the winter months in pasta, dressings, sauces, soups, and more. You can make and freeze pesto to thaw later and enjoy on sandwiches or pasta. You can make Margherita pizza, caprese salad, fruit salads, flavor your water, basil-infused olive oil, basil butter, and the list goes on… Okay, so maybe there aren’t a “basil-ion” ways to use basil as the title suggests, but I would reckon at least 100!

We decided to focus on two uses of basil for our group session: making bruschetta and drying basil. Some residents had never had bruschetta before, while others had eaten it, but had never made it, so it was a great experience for all! Residents helped with cutting up the tomatoes, basil, and bread, and adding seasonings. It was smelling delicious in our kitchen! We let the flavors mingle together for a bit while we headed to our dining room table to dry the basil.

Drying the basil was a new process for most of us, but it went fast with five sets of hands working on it! It made me look forward to the day when my girls are all old enough that I can set up an assembly line at home to do this – it would go much faster than me doing it by myself!

After drying, bunching, and hanging the basil in our kitchen, our bruschetta was ready. We scooped it up onto some warm toast and indulged. It always tastes better when it’s homegrown, right? Everyone enjoyed this fresh, tasty treat and we hope that the residents are now confident to make it on their own sometime.

Our hanging basil is getting nice and dry now and will be ready to crush in a couple days. I think some empty baby food jars will be the perfect containers to hold the basil for each resident to enjoy in the coming months. 

Growing your own herbs and vegetables is a truly rewarding experience, and we look forward to doing it again next year. Maybe then we can try the other 98 ways to use basil! We hope you are able to enjoy our bruschetta recipe and method of drying basil. We want to know: What’s your favorite way to use basil? Please tell us and we might try out your recipe next!

Garden Fresh Bruschetta
(Recipe adapted from tasteofhome.com)

* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
* 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
* 4 T. olive oil, divided
* 3-4 T. fresh basil, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 14 slices French bread (3/4 inch thick)

** In a small skillet, heat 2 T. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and fry about one minute, just until lightly browned.
** In a large bowl, combine the garlic, tomatoes, onion, 2 T. olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Let stand for 20-30 minutes.
** Drizzle French bread slices with olive oil; sprinkle lightly with additional salt and pepper. Broil in oven for about 1-2 minutes until lightly browned – watch carefully!
** Spoon about 2 tablespoons of bruschetta onto each piece of toast.

Yield: 14 servings.


Drying Fresh Basil
(Method from preservingyourharvest.com)

METHOD:
1. Gather your basil harvest in the morning hours after the sun has dried away the dew of the night. Cut approximately 1/4” down the stem on each leaf.
2. Gather the sprigs into loose bundles and secure the stems with rubber bands to assure that the bundles stay together as they dry.
3. Hang upside down in a warm, dry place such as an attic or porch until the leaves are brittle to the touch, approximately 2 weeks.
5. Gather the dried bundles and place on a sheet of wax paper.
6. Crumble the dried leaves and separate out all of the tough stems onto the wax paper.
7. Store in an air tight container in the pantry for use in cooking.

STORAGE:
These air tight jars can be stored in a dry, dark place such as your pantry or cupboard, or even your freezer, with proper care.

USES:
Dried basil can be used in sauces, gravies, dressings and many other recipes that require fresh basil.