On March 23rd, we were able to have a bible study with Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Pastor Wayne Shevy, who works in the campus ministry office. Together, we studied Isaiah 46:7, which reads “They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer; it cannot save them from their troubles.” Considering the subject matter, one of our most important topics of discussion was all the things that can be idols in our life, whether clothes, food, money, fame, or earthly relationships, just to name a few. The 6 D’s of Temptation We also learned about the 6 D’s of temptation: ways idols can creep into our lives. Whether through disguise, doubt, disagreement, deceit, desire, or destruction. Temptation can have harmful, even devastating, effects on our lives. Worse, there are many times where sin does not even look all that bad at first. However, the worst fact about idols is that when we fall prey to them, we risk our soul for something that can’t even help us when things really go wrong. The most important thing we learned, however, was that God is far better than any idol, and He can deliver us from temptation to worship them. God can rescue us from the slavery sin brings, which one of the most important things to remember about our relationship with Him. Group Night is held at New Beginnings. Every Thursday, we meet as a group to discuss important life skills and educational topics. Discussions are led by community volunteers and can cover a broad range of topics.
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On March 9th, I was not only present at Group Night; I was blessed with the opportunity to lead Group Night! As a black belt in karate and two-year taekwondo practitioner, I have a passion for martial arts and self-defense, so I was excited to work directly with the residents. The class I conducted had three basic components: Essential Techniques, Common Holds Used by Attackers, and Key Concepts. They are broken down below. Essential Techniques You’ve heard of most of these before, but that’s because they’re essential and effective.
Common Techniques Used by Attackers Another key component of self-defense is knowing how to defend against attacks that aggressors are likely to use.
Key Concepts Now that you know what to do in order to defend yourself against an attacker, here’s an explanation of why it works.
Group Night is held at New Beginnings. Every Thursday, we meet as a group to discuss important life skills and educational topics. Discussions are led by community volunteers and can cover a broad range of topics.
Ways to encourage cognitive growth. Read books aloud to your baby and recite nursery rhymes, choose books that have brightly colored pictures that show common objects, point and make noises – say the animal sounds to go along with the animal pictures. Babies enjoy cloth books with different textures, and flaps. Have meaningful conversations with your baby, react to their coos and smiles, they are expecting you to respond. Provide lots of fun bath toys. Give your baby toys that let him push a button to make something happen, or activities like shaking or banging objects. Your baby wants to see the results of his actions, this helps him learn the “if-then” reasoning. As you can see, babies are not only growing physically during their first years of life, but also cognitively (mentally). It’s never too early to help your baby become all that they can be. Karen O'Leary is the the Program Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling.
Strategy #1: Use school time wisely. If you have free time during school, use that time to try and get some homework done or even study for an upcoming test. These things may or may not work for you but it wouldn’t hurt to try. Good luck! Meosha is a former resident here at New Beginnings. She joined our family in January of 2016. She has a beautiful little girl for whom she is striving to make a better life for. How can we correctly install and use car and booster seats to keep our kids safe? Did you know that studies show that car seat use reduces the risk of death to infants by 71% and to toddlers (1-4 yrs.) by 54% in passenger vehicles? Booster seats reduce the risk for serious injury by 45% for children aged 4-8 yrs. when compared to seat belts alone. As far as rear-facing vs. front- facing car seats go, each car seat has its own height and weight requirements – so you will need to check, however, most car seats allow children to sit rear-facing up to 40 lbs. The height limit for most rear- facing seats is that there must be a least 1 inch of room between the top of the child’s head and top of the car seat. When your child reaches the height or weight limit it is time to switch from a rear-facing to forward-facing car seat. Car seats expire, and when they do, they are no longer safe. Most manufacturers place an expiration date of 6 years on their car seats. Since car seats are expensive, people often pass them on or donate them without realizing this. Always check the expiration date before using them, and realize that if a car seat has even been in a minor accident it is no longer usable, and should be replaced. Don’t accept a donated car seat if you are not 100% sure of its history. I heard someone say, “You take your child to the doctor and dentist for preventative care. Well, meeting the requirements and new guidelines for car seats is preventative care too.” A car seat is one of the most important purchases you will make for your child. For parents that are concerned that they haven’t installed their child’s car seat correctly go to www.seatcheck.org then, click onto Parents Central | Keeping Kids Safe| NHTSA. Under EXPLORE (on the bottom of the page), go onto Inspection Station Locator, put your zip code in and it will show you on a map where to go for help to install or check your car seat. Karen O'Leary is an Assistant Home Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling. As a former daycare teacher, I learned so many things about the growth and development of a child. I helped out in the infant room where we took care of babies just 6 weeks old. I worked my way up room by room and age by age. I attended school toward my degree and I also took day classes to keep up with the research and development of care and procedures. I worked my way up to the school age classroom where I did the after school program and summer school program. It was a wonderful experience for me and I loved to see the children grow and learn. What I missed during my years at the daycare was the opportunity to share God’s Word and His Love with the children there. We were so focused on their physical well-being and because it was a public daycare, we were not allowed to focus on the children’s spiritual well-being.
While it is most important to know that the children are growing in faith, I would like to share some ideas on how to help their physical development. Working in the daycare field helped me put a lot of these tips and tricks into practice and it was fun to see the children learning through play. There are endless ideas out there on helping your children develop specific skills. Everything from fine motor skills like putting puzzle pieces in place to large motor skills like running and jumping should be considered. You can find various websites for specific skills but you are welcome to check out a website I found that has many different tips and ideas to help your child grow and develop physically and mentally. There are many different links on The Imagination Tree webpage so have some fun and try a few of these out with your little ones! If you don’t have little ones of your own, share this page with other young moms or use these ideas for grandchildren, friends, nieces and nephews. The children will have fun and you will know that you helped with their growth! God’s Blessings on your journey with His precious little ones! May they grow strong in faith and body. Christina Pritzlaff is married with two children. She has completed Early Childhood 1 & 2 classes, Infant Toddler classes, and completed the coursework for her Associates degree in Child Development. Christina splits her time between spending time with her family and working at New Beginnings. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her children, camping, fishing, reading, and doing counted cross-stitch. How can I help my baby become a good sleeper? What can I do to help my baby fall asleep? What sleep strategies can I try? Getting your baby to sleep can be a challenge and it is often the number one concern of parents. Even though there isn’t any sure way to get your baby to sleep, there are some things you can do to ease your mind and help the process along.
After 3 months, babies will sleep 13 to 15 hours a day, some more or less than others. Babies will also need naps from 2 to 4 times a day, so just remember not to let your baby nap too close to bedtime. Between 3 to 18 months, the baby learns to soothe himself to sleep. Place your baby down to sleep when he is drowsy but awake. Babies need to be able to fall asleep independently so that they can self- soothe when they wake in the middle of the night. Once your baby sleeps through the night, you can put him to sleep in his own room.
Just remember, babies don’t naturally take to sleeping through the night. Consistency is key. Sleep is a learned skill and it isn’t learned overnight. Karen O'Leary is an Assistant Home Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling. 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! If you are interested in donating your time to New Beginnings, please email [email protected] or call (414)376-0595. 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. At New Beginnings, time management contributes to resident success in the program. Staff, also, works to maintain strong time management skills in an effort to further the mission of our ministry every day. Sometimes trying to accomplish multiple tasks in one day leads us to want to throw our hands up in the air and yell, “This is too much!” We can rest assured that everything will get done one day at a time, but in the meantime, here are some tips on time management. One of our former Resident Support Interns, Deanna Mose, compiled some important tips on how to manage time effectively. Thanks Deanna! Managing time is something that does not come naturally to us. It is easy to feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done. Time management skills, however, can be learned and improved. Here are some tips for how to manage time well:
Overcome Procrastination. Schedule. Avoid Perfectionism.
This blog post was written by our former Resident Support Staff Intern, Deanna Mose. Deanna currently attends Wisconsin Lutheran College. She helped New Beginnings with a variety of projects including light office work, assisting with our Change for Life fundraiser, interacting with residents, doing research on generational poverty, and writing blog articles. “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. |
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