Christmas Crafts 2011- Hot/Cold Packs

I made a bunch of these hot/cold packs using every grain I had in the house. I started out with just rice but when that ran out I used lentils, barley and even a few pinto beans. I scented most of the bags with lavender and a few with eucalyptus.

I was determined to NOT spend any money on this project. I used all fabric that I had on hand or was given to me. Once you get sewing it is quite tempting to want to make your crafts flashy using the latest material, but times are tough, and I believe that God will bless my thriftiness.

I really loved this craft found on Pinterest. I used the tutorial listed bellow.

I am hoping to sell a few at a craft fair for $7.00. The fair is the day after Thanksgiving.

Source: brassyapple.blogspot.com via Christy on Pinterest

Teach Your kids about Molestation

My heart is to teach parents how to teach their kids about predators. The majority of kids molested will be at the hands of a trusted family member or friend. We need to STOP teaching stranger danger. I teach my kids that NO one is beyond reproach. I put myself right in the mix. If mamma does something that hurts you or makes you uncomfortable you go right ahead and tell on me. I would rather myself be called into question so my kids know they have permission to tell on anyone.




I also teach them about all the pre-molestation tactics. Most kids won't realize they are being molested till they are being touched. By then it is to late. A molester will often groom a child for 6 months. I tell my kids to tell me

1) if someone shows them a picture of naked people (cartoon or real),

2) if anyone like a teacher or coach tries to spend one-on-one time with them,

3) if someone undresses in front of them,

4) if someone touches their own privates in front of them,



I also teach them about the "dirty pleasure" feeling. I tell them it is like being on a roller coaster you can't get off. One minute it may feel good, yet when you want off you can't. Drawn by the adrenalin rush you may even come back for more even though it made you sick to your stomach. I want my kids to know that God created those parts of their body to feel pleasure, yet when an older person awakens that part of them they are robbing them of finding that on their own. Yet their is no shame for having found pleasure in it. God made you that way.



Two key reasons kids don't tell. They are confused by how arousal triggered participation. 2nd they are shamed into thinking their parents or family won't love them.



By the way I majored in Crimes Against women and Children in College. Kind of my life's mission. Thanks for giving me a voice for what I am most passionate about.

Spiritual Gifts

Christy Klepetko

Share the Spiritual Gifts Analysis with others:

Spiritual Gifts

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Strength
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Evangelism 12
Prophecy 15
Teaching 19
Exhortation 19
Pastor/Shepherd 18
Showing Mercy 16
Serving 9
Giving 6
Administration 12

Your dominant gifts are Teaching, Exhortation



The results of your Spiritual Gifts Inventory indicate that your number one dominant gift is TEACHING! The Greek word for teacher "didaskalos" means master, teacher or doctor. As a teacher you are one who communicates knowledge, guides, makes known or relays facts. You are likely more in-depth than the average Sunday school teacher. You have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by making clear the truth of God's Word with accuracy.

As a teacher you live to learn and teach (or perhaps write if you teach through the written medium). You should learn to teach in two manners which may be contrary to your nature. The material must be simple so students can understand it, and it must be practical. The pastor/shepherd, the prophet, and the exhorter (those with speaking gifts) usually rely on your resources to help fulfill their responsibilities.

You love the Word, enjoy reading, may be a little shy of strangers, are creative and imaginative, and prefer teaching groups over individuals. You are generally confident, self-disciplined, and sometimes technical. You probably love charts, graphs, and lists. You would sometimes rather just do research, but "must teach" because others would not teach it the way you would. The use of a verse out of context upsets you and you question the knowledge of those who teach you. You are organized and enjoy studying. You are so concerned with accuracy that you often dwell on the trivial, giving others the feeling that you give too many details. Some may even think you are boring.

Be careful that you are not critical of people who differ with your doctrine and that you do not measure other people's spirituality by their amount of Bible knowledge. Be willing to listen as well as talk. Don't hesitate to read directions and work on developing tolerance for others' mistakes.

If you score high in the gift of teaching and very low in the gift of shepherding, you probably won't make a good Sunday school teacher or group leader. Your tendency will be to relay knowledge and not shepherd or minister to the other needs of your students. People who use the gift of teaching in vocational service usually become teachers of teachers, professors, authors, or in-depth researchers.


HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR DOMINANT GIFT? You do not necessarily have to teach the Bible to be a help to the church ministry. Although you can help with interpretation or teaching teachers and others, you may teach in areas such as education, business, finance, or computers. You may enjoy writing and developing curriculum. You would probably serve well as a Bible institute teacher or a correspondence course instructor. Your gift also lends itself to the mission field where you could serve as a missionary/teacher. You may want to teach a basic doctrine course to newcomers or new Christians or host quarterly small group studies on different topics. You may enjoy doing research for the pastor or others who teach.

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The results of your Spiritual Gifts Inventory indicate that your second dominant gift is EXHORTATION! The Greek word "parakaleo" means to admonish, to encourage, to beseech. You are a "how to" person. You have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by motivating others to action by urging them to pursue a course of conduct. In a teaching position, you are able to explain how to apply God's Word. Your goal is to present material that enables the Holy Spirit to promote change in the student's life. You reach out and help Christians become more mature.

As an exhorter you are a very practical person, a good counselor, tolerant of others, serious-minded, orderly, and usually impulsive. You are expressive in a group setting; the group listens when you speak. You are comfortable working one-on-one or in groups. You are enthusiastic and talkative and enjoy encouraging others.

You are burdened to show how Scripture relates to conduct and have a desire to unify people by using practical rather than doctrinal issues. You likely place great importance on God's will and believe that His Word has the answer for every problem. You tend to make decisions logically rather than on feelings and are very orderly.

Be careful not to interrupt other people; your enthusiasm sometimes makes you guilty of this. Others may think you don't use enough Scripture in teaching because you tend to use Scripture to support what you are teaching rather than starting with Scripture.

Unlike teachers, you have the willingness to teach the same material again and again, updating and perfecting it as you do. As a counselor you usually have the ability to leave other people's problems "in the office" rather than letting them drag you down.

Beware of Satan's attack on your gift. He may cause pride in your motivational abilities. He may influence you to lose sight of people because of program emphasis. Don't become discouraged when results are not evident. Be careful not to encourage others to do the wrong things through your persuasive abilities.

HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR DOMINANT GIFT? You may use your special gift in many areas. You may want to be a leadership trainer. You could certainly serve as a counselor in church or in a counseling center. You could teach in church training or seminars or even small groups. You would make a good telephone ministry worker and would be a tremendous volunteer to follow up with new converts. You would work well as an encourager with those who are discouraged and as a counselor in a drug or alcohol program, rescue mission, poverty program, half-way house or runaway ministry or in a shelter for abused women and children. You could also use your gift in organizing or serving in a Men's or Women's Ministry.
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Building an effective team in your church depends on putting the right people in the right places. The best way to determine what place each person belongs in is by determine everyone's spiritual gifts. But, just discovering your spiritual gift is not enough.

Here's the real challenge. Many Christians are asking the question, "What is my spiritual gift?" When in reality they need to be asking, "What is a spiritual gift?" They do not understand the relationships of spiritual gifts. That is, they don't understand how a spiritual gift relates to their life, how it relates to the will of God for their life, how it relates to the lives of those around them, how it relates the local church, or how it relates to the body of Christ as a whole. To give John J. Christian an additional name and make him John J. Exhorter Christian is only doing him an injustice. Having a new name or title does not make you a more effective, more fulfilled, or a better Christian, nor does it give you any more understanding of yourself or those around you. Most contemporary material written on spiritual gifts does an adequate job in helping you recognize, discover, and define what your spiritual gifts are. Also, many do a fine job of teaching on the individual parts of the body, but few complete their teaching by assembling the body, thus showing how church members can work as complementing, effective, and efficient team. Thus, teaching a person only what their spiritual gift is without teaching them what a spiritual gift is, is like giving someone a new tool without giving them the operator's manual. They will never understand it fully nor will they be able to use it to its maximum potential. The same is true with your spiritual gifts.

Faith, Doubt & Reason

Have you ever had someone accuse you of being a person of great faith? Well my daughter and I were talking and she concluded that it was easy for me to have faith and believe God because he has done so many amazing and miraculous things in my life.


Well that got me thinking about doubt, faith and reason. I honestly shared with her that despite all that God has done in my life, and those around me, that I still question, just like she does, if this is all a big story. Not every day or every minute but when faced with the fork in the road I question. Yet I always come back to reason. Even if this is all a grand myth, my life is better for it. Never have I walked away from prayer, reading the word, or fellowship with believers ready to do something more selfish or stupid than when I started.

She also got me thinking about faith. She concluded that because God had done great things it would be easy for me to trust him for the next trial. I had the great revaluation that to walk in faith in a new situation never gets any easier regardly of how many times you have put your trust in God. I can know that God will come through but the need for faith in and of itself says you are in a terrifying, unknown, unpredictable, situation that is completely out of your control. The building blocks of past victories through faith help us to stay the course resting assured that His ways are higher than ours but they in no way decrees the challenge of walking in blind obedience.

Yet I bring it full circle for it is in those places where blind obedience is needed that I trust full well that God's plans are wise and will keep me and those around me from harm. For doubting and walking away from His plan is only birthed in a desire to satisfy my immediate selfish wants that even in the eye's of the world will eventually show my foolishness.

So I stay the course for doubt, for faith, for reason and in the midst of it all I find myself in God's presence glad that I trusted his plan for my life. Praise God, for faith is but needed for every NEW situation.  Once that new path is cut I can walk that one again.  For my garden use to be a wild uncut field.  Yet each new journey of Faith I walk cuts a new trail and brings more of his light to every new path he sets my feet to walk.

I thank my sweet Kay for asking me the hard questions and bringing me this great new revaluation on the cycle of doubt, faith and reason.

4th Grade Spelling Homework

You may play games on "Spelling City" only if you have time after all homework is done.

Monday

1)Spelling city - Teach Me Word-by-Word
Trace the word once before moving to the next.

2)Read/dissect words/find tricky sounds/record #syllables/Make it fun

Tuesday

1)Read/Hold up fingers for syllables/recall tricky letters/close eyes and spell

2)Trace/copy/recall

3/Written test using spelling city/Check work

4)show mom

*If you have missed less than 6 you may stop.

*5) Read missed words/Hold up fingers for syllables/recall tricky letters/close eyes and spell
*Keep doing till you spell all word correctly to yourself.

Wednesday

Study only words missed yesterday
1)Read/Hold up fingers for syllables/recall tricky letters/close eyes and spell
2)Trace/copy/recall
3/Written test using spelling city/Check work
4)show mom
*If you have missed less than 3 you may stop.
*5) Read missed words/Hold up fingers for syllables/recall tricky letters/close eyes and spell
*Keep doing till you spell all word correctly to yourself.

Thursday
1)Read/Hold up fingers for syllables/recall tricky letters/close eyes and spell
2)Trace/copy/recall
3/Written test using spelling city/Check work
4)show mom
*If you have missed any word continue.
*5) Read missed words/Hold up fingers for syllables/recall tricky letters/close eyes and spell
*Keep doing till you spell all word correctly to yourself.
6)Test by Mom or Dad

Childcare cover letter

August 15, 2011

Beverly J Perkins
Center Director
Kinder Care
8110 Lone Shadow Drive
Converse, TX 78109


Dear Ms. Perkins,


Thank you for taking the time to speak with me on Friday August 13, 2011 regarding the lead teacher position you currently have available. I have worked with children from a very young age and have continued to throughout my life. I started out baby sitting and had day camps at my house at the age of 11. I had my 1st experience in a daycare setting in High School. I started out as an afternoon teacher to a young 3’s class. Then that summer I worked as a teacher for a 2 yr old class.

It was working with these kids that set me on my path in college. I desired to combat child abuse and neglect. I majored in public relations but minored in crimes against women and children. I took Child Abuse Prevention, Crimes against Women and in a Lobbing class emphasised in the area of more legislation to protect exploited children.

My heart was to help parents and caregivers understand the social and emotional development of children to better be able to parent them. This education may not appear to be early childhood development but it covered many of the same basic developmental elements.


I continued on my journey to help children by running a group home for behaviorally disordered teens. The children you could say were stuck in the mind of a 2-3 year old. I believe that many of the skills and training received by this organization are invaluable to working with young children.


As much as my heart longed to continue to work with small children it was imperative that I begin to work in a field that had real earning potential. It was for this reason that I went into an administrative position in the health care field.  I stayed in this field for 14 years.  Some of the transferable skills to a childcare center would be my ability to assist you in the office.  I managed multiple projects and varying time lines.  I managed budgets and maybe the most valuable would be the interpersonal skills I learned.  On a daily basis I was faced with Doctors, nurses and department heads that were less than excited about following the rules and complying with deadlines.  I was able to sympathize with them and bring them around to what needed to be done.  All the while doing it in a way they felt respected and appreciated.  This season of my life allowed me to earn a maximum salary while working part time from home.  This was most crucial as my heart was to put motherhood 1st.  I had 5 children in 7 years.

I continued to work directly with others children during this season at our local church.  I  have been the lead teacher in the 2-3's room for many years, overseeing upwards of 20 kids.  I was the one that could hold them captivated during interactive story telling.

I have not been working for the past two years due to some restructuring in my position at the hospital and my desire to pore into my kids lives.  Now that my twins are almost four I would like to return to the work force.  I see this as a win, win for this season in my life.  My children are at the age where socialization at your facility with other children and receiving direction from another loving adult would stimulate their growth.  While my working close by and continuing to develop my skills in caring for children would be personally gratifying.

I appreciate the time you take to review my application and look forward to future discussions concerning this position. I can be reached at 210-637-1245. Once again, I thank you for your consideration.


Sincerely,




Christy Klepetko

Ice Cream Cup Cakes

My girls are going to a cheer leading sleep over. I made chocolate ice cream cupcakes. I like that they shouldn't be as messy to eat. Yet my cupcakes overflowed. The twins sure enjoyed them.