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HEART TO HEART NEWSLETTER
ENCOURAGEMENT TO WOMEN
Compiled especially for you with love by Lois Breneman

 

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10/10/06 Part 2: WHOLESOME MOVIES, TIPS, FOOD SAVINGS, PRINTABLES

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PART TWO

 

Please feel free to share this complete newsletter with family and friends

who might also like to receive it (instructions to subscribe are at the very end).

 

IN THIS ISSUE:

SAVINGS ON FOOD - SHARE: SELF-HELP AND RESOURCE EXCHANGE

PARENTING TIP - GIVING INSTRUCTIONS

PRACTICAL TIPS FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGES

PRINTABLES TO BE USED IN TEACHING CHILDREN

SAVING HIBISCUS PLANTS OVER THE WINTER

MOVIES WITH A MESSAGE: FACING THE GIANTS & A QUEEN ESTHER MOVIE

A RECENT "HEART TO HEART" SUBSCRIBER'S COMMENT

NEW BABY CONGRATULATIONS!

ATTENTION DEFICIT DAD

 

 

SAVINGS ON FOOD - SHARE: SELF-HELP AND RESOURCE EXCHANGE

A great way to stretch your dollar, regardless of your income!  U.S. contacts below!

Thanks to Mandy Eskew, SHARE host manager/AmeriCorps in Virginia for providing this information!  She said you may contact her at 540-633-2850 if you have more questions.

 

SHARE (Self-Help and Resource Exchange) is a nonprofit food distribution and volunteer service program that helps people at all income levels stretch their food dollars.  Different parts of the country charge different prices and some charge tax, etc.  Check with the SHARE program closest to you concerning prices and availability (listed below).  With SHARE Virginia, each month participants pay $17 in cash, check or food stamps (EBT) and complete two hours of some type of volunteer work.  This may be church ministry, helping your friends and neighbors in any way without getting paid.  For instance, you might cook up a big pot of soup, using some of your surplus SHARE food and take it to any single moms or widows that you know.

 

With SHARE Virginia participants pay $17 for a food box of frozen meats, fresh produce, specialty items and staples that would cost $30-$35 at the grocery store.  SHARE also offers different "specials" each month - these can range from different kinds of steak, pasta dinners, grill packages, frozen pizzas, spiral hams and Super Bowl party boxes, to name a few.

In Virginia the cost is $17per box food box of fresh and frozen meats, produce, specialty items and staples that would cost $30-$35 at the grocery store.  You may purchase more than one box, all containing identical food selections.  SHARE has no income requirements, so anyone can participate – if you eat, you qualify.

Participants can sign up for SHARE at local host groups in their community. Host groups are places where a group of volunteers has decided to sponsor the SHARE program – usually churches, schools, civic groups or housing facilities. Participants place orders for their food and turn in payment about two weeks before they receive their food box. Food packages are available for pick-up once a month on Distribution Day.

SHARE Virginia Program Fact Sheet

Question:           How can you stretch your food budget every month, buy good, healthy food for your family; and put a little something back into your community at the same time?
 
Answer:              SHARE (Self-Help and Resource Exchange)
 
1. What is SHARE?
    *SHARE stands for Self-Help and Resource Exchange.
    *SHARE offers at least a $30 value food package for $17 (cash or food stamps)

                        to anyone willing to serve their community for only two hours a month.
    *SHARE is a way to strengthen and build our communities.
 
2. Is SHARE for me?  Do I qualify? 
    *SHARE is for everyone who wants to help the community and save on food costs.
 
3. When did SHARE start? 
    *The first SHARE program started in San Diego in 1983. SHARE Virginia started in 1984. 
    *There are 10 SHARE affiliates in the U.S. 
    *SHARE was designed to build the community by helping people work together to stretch their food budgets. It's a way to bring people together, help one another and their communities.
 
4. How does SHARE work?
    *People register for the program by paying $17 in advance at neighborhood locations called “Host Organizations.”  At registration, participants pledge to do two hours of community service.
    *Once a month, Host Organizations turn in food orders to SHARE Virginia.  Virginia purchases food and has it delivered to the SHARE warehouse, where Host volunteers help to prepare orders for pick-up.  
   *Host Organizations send teams of volunteers to the warehouse to help package the food.
   *Once the food is ready for distribution, Host Organizations send teams to pick up food packages for all participants registering at their site. This takes place usually on the last or next to last Saturday of the month (Distribution Day).
   *Participants return to the Host Organization on Distribution Day, with proof of completion of community service, to pick-up food packages.
  *SHARE food packages include 13 to 14 items. Five-six lbs. of meat, 4-7 different fresh fruits and vegetables and staples like beans, rice, or cereal, as well as few specialty items.
 
5. What is community service?
    *Community service is anything you do for another person for which you do not receive pay. It is work done to improve the community or help a community organization or an individual.
    *Examples: baby sitting for a neighbor, acting as a scout troop leader, packaging food at the SHARE warehouse, making phone calls to let others know about SHARE.
 
6. Could someone else do my community service for me?
    *Yes, if you are unable to do it yourself, but….
    *The idea behind SHARE is to empower people to do for themselves.
    *We all have something to offer!
 
7. Where does the food come from?
    *All the food is purchased – none is donated.
    *Participating in SHARE will not take food away from the needy.
    *Volume buying, bulk-buying and buying directly from the manufacturers and suppliers and the hard work of our volunteers enables SHARE to supply a food package at a cost of about half its retail value.
 
8. How do I sign up?
   * For more information, or for the location of the host site nearest you, call (540) 633-2850, however check this list first:

 

Contacts for the 10 SHARE affiliates in the United States:

DC SHARE – Wash., D.C. metro - 5170 Lawrence Pl. - Hyattsville, MD 20781 - 301-864-3115 - 800-217-4273

SHARE Colorado - 9360 Federal Blvd - Denver, CO 80221 - 303-428-060 - 800-933-7427

SHARE Wisconsin - 13111 W. Silver Spring Dr. - Butler, WI 53007 - 262-783-2500 - 800-548-2124

SHARE Newport News (Hampton Rds, Richmond) - 9912 Hosier St. - Newport News, VA 23601- 757-596-7188

SHARE Iowa - 1102 S. 7th St. - Oskaloosa, IA 52577 - 641-673-4000 - 800-344-1107

SHARE of Central Illinois - 1825 NE Adams St. - Peoria, IL 61603 - 309-637-0282 - 800-637-5508

SHARE Philadelphia - 2901 W. Hunting Park Ave. - Philadelphia, PA 19129 - 215-223-2220 - 800-595-3663

SHARE Florida - 1405 E. Second Ave. - Tampa, FL 33605 - 813 248-3379 - 800-536-3379

Heartland SHARE - 215 SE Quincy - Topeka, KS 66603 - 785-234-6208 - 800-742-7307

SHARE Virginia - 249 Dora Highway - Pulaski, VA 24301 - P.O. Box 2970 - Radford VA 24143 - 540-633-2850

 

PARENTING TIP - GIVING INSTRUCTIONS

Copyright 2006 Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller.  All rights reserved.   Used with permission. 
http://effectiveparenting.org/.  An excellent source of biblical parenting tips!

 

The word "instruction" comes from the words "in" and "structure" and basically means "to put structure into." When someone comes on the scene and gives instructions, that person brings structure to the situation and helps people know what to do. Dad or Mom sees the need to clean up around the house or get ready to go out and begins giving instructions to move the family in a positive direction. The parent adds the structure needed at the moment to make family life work. Unfortunately, because of the well-worn relationship between parent and child, kids may react with resistance. At that point parents often become more intense in their instruction or just give up. What was meant to be a move toward order and structure has turned relationships into chaos.

Remember that you're not giving instructions just to make your life easier. You're bringing the much-needed structure into the situation. If you don't provide the structure, who will? Of course, the way you give instructions affects the strength of your relationships with others, but don't let resistance keep you from your job. Without instruction, family life falls apart.

"But they don't appreciate me," is an excuse parents sometimes tell themselves that motivates them to want to give up. The fact is, that whether they appreciate you or not, they need you! So, continue to work on your own attitude and frustration level, but hang in there and keep giving the much-needed structure to your family.

Proverbs 19:16 says, " He who obeys instructions guards his life."

This parenting tip comes from our book, "Good and Angry: Exchanging Frustration for Character in You and Your Kids."

PRACTICAL TIPS FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN

Readers' Tips - Used by permission from The Dollar Stretcher - www.stretcher.com

 

Unique Chore Chart ~ I found a good way to write out chores for my kids. We have a sliding glass door on our main level and I take a dry-erase marker and list all the chores for the day (on Saturday). That way, I don't have to buy a dry-erase board. The chore list wipes off easily with a tissue. My youngest also likes drawing on the doors. And, they can do it from the inside or outside of the house. ~ Mysti from Colorado Springs 
 
Free Kids' Room Redo ~ An easy and free way to decorate children's rooms is with "wallpaper cutouts." Many wallpaper stores will happily give you their discontinued wallpaper books. The books for children's rooms will contain various "themes," such as fairies, retro flowers, trucks, butterflies, trains, planes, and trucks.  Simply cut out each image you like (i.e. cut out all of the
large dragonflies on a page) and put them in groupings. Cute places to group the images would include on your children's bedroom door, above or on his/her headboard, along the chair
rail, above a window, around the light switch, or on items such as a bulletin board or picture frame.  Each wallpaper book typically contains three or four pages of the same set of images in different color combinations. So you can find quite a few of the same image to use in your  "set."  I've seen these sold online for $10 a set (of 20) plus shipping. You can get the very same look at no cost at all! ~ JR in Houston
 

Child Safety ~ I wanted to give a safety tip about monogramming backpacks or clothing. I once read that it is much better to put initials (AJK) on an item than the child's name (Allie). This is because a sexual predator has an instant "trust in" if he can say, "Hey, Allie! Your mother said." The child may think, well, he knows my name, so it must be real. ~ Andrea

 

Baby Food ~ I used to buy a five-pound bag of frozen mixed vegetables. I dumped them
into a pot with a peeled, cubed large potato, added water to cover the veggies and simmered for 30 minutes. Then I pureed them with a hand blender to the desired consistency. I poured
them into ice cube trays (filled about four) and froze them. When frozen, I popped the cubes out into a freezer bag. The total monetary cost was $2. And the number of servings (2 cubes per serving) was 24. The time spent (actually doing the work) was about 10 minutes. But, I was in the kitchen anyway, making food for the rest of the family.  I would also make sweet potatoes, which took a bit more time to peel (so maybe 20 minutes for 24 servings of sweet potato).
For protein, I would cook dried peas/beans/lentils in the slow cooker (don't add salt). Or, mixed some of the family's gravy with the family's mashed potato. It tasted much better than the jarred stuff, and my son (now 5) will eat everything the family eats. I would definitely do it again. ~ Evelyn S.

 

(Note from Lois: Sweet potatoes can be baked in the oven, microwave, or cooked on the stove top with some water, cooled, then peeled so much more easily than if they are peeled while raw.  The skin just slips right off after cooking them and saves so much time.  Also a blender works very well for making baby food.  Cooking meat and blending it with some vegetables or fruit seemed to make it more desirable for my babies.  They all ate liver as babies, mixed with peaches or applesauce.)

 

Easy Baby Food ~ I used a baby food grinder given as a gift when our fifth child was born. It quickly turned almost anything we were eating into baby food on the spot. I also baked sweet potatoes with the skin on them in the oven, scooped out the inside, mashed it up with a fork, and dropped it by the spoonful on wax paper to freeze quickly. Then, I put the frozen dollops in
a freezer bag for quick defrosting to feed baby. Time spent is next to nothing to prepare his food while fixing meals for my family. ~ D.

 

Children's Clothing ~

1. At the end of the season, go through your children's clothing. Discard anything torn, stained or otherwise unwearable.

 

2. Sort through the remainder and make piles, such as "Boy size 2," "Girl size 4," "Summer."

 

3. Box securely (or use plastic totes) and label. This works well if you have children of the same gender.

 

4. For overalls or coveralls, if the body is still long enough, extend the legs. Boys or girls can have a plaid flannel cuff added to lengthen the legs. A plaid applique on the front pocket or where the straps cross in back help make it look newer. For girls, a cotton eyelet lace can add length. One of my nieces got almost three years wear out of a pair of overalls. My sister added layered cotton eyelet to lengthen the pants, and added an apple with a worm on the front bib and a smaller apple with a worm tail where the straps crossed in back. ~ Mary

 

 

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGES

By Lois Breneman, © 2006, Heart to Heart Newsletter, [email protected] 

 

As families grow larger (a wonderful blessing from the Lord!), a gift exchange helps to simplify Christmas, making it much less hectic and more economical.  This year our family decided to exchange names for Christmas, rather than have every couple buy a gift for everyone else, and we set a specific amount to spend on each gift.  We all know who has our names, and we are encouraged to give suggestions, so the gift will be something everyone wants and can use - and no gift cards this year.  Since all of our family will be gathering for Thanksgiving but not for Christmas, we will have our "Christmas" celebration sometime after the Thanksgiving meal.  If I'm able to manage it, I hope to have the Christmas tree and decorations up at that time, but we'll see how that goes. 

 

I also suggested that we each bring along another gift wrapped for a White Elephant Exchange - something already used from around our home, or from a yard sale, Goodwill or another second hand store.  We should only spend about $5 on a gift that someone else would probably enjoy.  If the gift is specifically for a man or woman, that should be written on the outside, but a couple should not bring two gifts for women.  On the day of the Exchange, we will each draw a number, then Number 1 will choose a gift from the stash and open it.  Each successive number will choose an unopened gift, but if he wants, he may trade his gift for one that someone has already opened.  I plan to look for some books about trains from Goodwill for my grandson's gift, since he's the only little one at this point.  We'll see that he doesn't have to wait until last, but will give him maybe number 3, since he is three years old.  This will be fun!

 

 

PRINTABLES TO BE USED IN TEACHING CHILDREN

Thanks to Alice Stoddard in Virginia for sharing these links!

Moms, you may find some practical helps in teaching your young children at these two links:

http://pbskids.org/lions/printables/ and http://www.marysfreebies.com/printable.htm.  I would advise that you check them out yourself, to see if this is something that you could use.  You will find things you can print to help in teaching your children, whether or not you teach them at home.  You will find memory exercises, coloring pages, letter guides, matching games (synonyms, antonyms, opposites, categories, phonics), etc. 

 

 

SAVING HIBISCUS PLANTS OVER THE WINTER

Wanting to save five beautiful red and yellow hibiscus plants over the winter, I called our county's Home Extension Agent to see if that might be possible.  He said that in Zone 7, where we live, it is possible, but in areas with colder winters you might try it to see if it works.  He said after the first frost kills the tops, cut the plant down to ground level, and cover heavily with mulch such as wood chips or dried shredded leaves, which can be done with a mulching lawn mower and bagged.  He said it would take 1-2 bags of mulch to heavily cover my five plants.  I would think this method should work for many other perennials, though some tender perennials like dahlias do need to be dug up every fall before frost and planted again each spring.  That's why I used to grow lots of dahlias, but don't anymore!

 

The Home Extension Agent said for those living up north, they could dig up and pot the plants, cut back hard and place indoors at a sunny window.  He said he did that with an hibiscus he gave his mother and it bloomed all winter long.  Keep in mind that you can call your Home Extension Agent concerning gardening questions.  I have a beautiful purple heart shaped tree leaf that I want to send there to find out what kind it is and see if we could plant a tree like that in our yard.  Some areas also have a home economist available for answering homemaking questions, though many times you can't get an immediate answer, but they will return your call.

 

 

MOVIES WITH A MESSAGE: FACING THE GIANTS & A QUEEN ESTHER MOVIE

Thanks to Bernadine Teague in Missouri for sharing about this movie being shown in theaters now. Check the link for the nearest location.  There are not many movies I list, but this sounds like a good one, even for a Family Night activity. It was made by members of Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia.  The cast is made up of all volunteers from the church and the pastor who wrote the script also plays the lead character. The following is a description of the movie, found at this link: http://www.facingthegiants.com/about.php

 

From the award-winning producers of FLYWHEEL comes a new, action-packed, family-friendly drama about a high school football coach who draws up a new game plan for his team … and himself.

In his six years of coaching, Grant Taylor has never had a winning season. Even the hope of a new season is squelched when the best player on his Shiloh Eagles decides to transfer schools. After losing their first three games of the season, the coach discovers a group of fathers are plotting to have him fired. Combined with pressures at home, Coach Taylor has lost hope in his battle against fear and failure.

However, an unexpected challenge helps him find a purpose bigger than just victories. Daring to trust God to do the impossible, Coach Taylor and the Eagles discover how faith plays out on the field … and off.  With God, all things are possible.

Linda Crosby in Virginia also shared about an exciting movie on the story of Queen Esther, One Night with the King, coming to our Virginia town this Friday. 

 

A RECENT "HEART TO HEART" SUBSCRIBER'S COMMENT

I'm really enjoying the newsletter.  It is one of the best things that I've subscribed to.  Sometimes you subscribe to only find that you've made a huge mistake and have to ask to be removed.  No regrets here with Heart to Heart.  I'm loving it and finding lots of stuff I can use.  My husband and I have 5 children from 20 - 7 and they are all still at home with us.  Many of the tips/ideas I've read have already been helpful.  Please keep them coming.  - Tami George in Virginia  

 

 

NEW BABY CONGRATULATIONS!

Rebekah Karunya Waldock was born October 3, 2006 in India.  She is the first child of Nathan and Rachel Waldock and the first grandchild of Chuck and Eileen Rife in Virginia. 

 

 

ATTENTION DEFICIT DAD

Thanks to Rachael Breneman in Ohio, for this little bit of humor that is sure to bring a smile to many moms!

 

My brother, Jacob, has A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Dad) after just becoming a brand new dad!  When he was at the hospital last week, he went to the elevator and pushed the "up" button and waited - not noticing that the door was already open when he pushed the button.  The nurse came over to tell him!  I think he's in a dream world, enjoying his absolutely beautiful daughter, Grace Walton! 

 

 

                            Many Heart to Heart ladies and their families need our prayers, so

              please remember to pray for each Heart to Heart lady as you receive your newsletter.

(¨`·.·´¨)                     God bless you and your family and keep you in His loving care!

 `·.¸(¨`·.·´¨)                         And remember, I love to hear from you dear ladies!

      `·.¸.·´                                              Your Heart to Heart friend,

                                                                                                 Lois

                

The purpose of the Heart to Heart Newsletter is to encourage women and build biblical values into daily living through practical creative ideas for the Christian family regarding marriage, children, homemaking, and much more. You may receive this free bimonthly newsletter by sending your name, city, state, e-mail address, and name of your referral person to Lois at [email protected].  New subscribers will receive a "Start-Up Kit." 

 

Disclaimer: Various web sites are given as credits or to supply additional information for readers.  However, all the views and advertisements represented by web sites given in this newsletter are not necessarily the views of the editor.  Please use your own discretion regarding all information given in this newsletter.

 

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