Small Changes = New Habits

I recently made myself some beeswax food wraps with scraps of fabric I have lying around, coconut oil in my pantry, and beeswax that I had bought online. Seeing them drying on my counter this morning made me smile, and gave me the idea to do a quick post on reusable items!

This isn't a hippie thing. Or a short-term fad. I do believe that one of our roles here on earth is to tend the planet. Sadly, we haven't been doing a great job. And I know that it would take a major overhaul to change the way society relies on disposables and plastics and such, so here's my suggestion: start small, one change at a time.

A few ideas are…

- use cloth diapers

- hang your clothes to dry

- buy or make your own beeswax food wraps (use in place of plastic wrap)

- use a menstrual cup (like the Diva cup) or washable menstrual pads (I use ones like these) for menstrual periods

- use paper straws, or skip the straw altogether

- bring your own mug to your coffee shop

- bring reusable bags to the grocery store

- use cloth napkins and cotton towels instead of paper

- compost your food scraps and lawn clippings

- buy food in bulk and repackage them yourself

- learn to make your own yogurt, bread, salad dressings, etc.

- reuse spray bottles by making your own cleaner (I share my "recipe" for citrus-scented vinegar spray on this blog post)

And this is the short list! You can easily find ways to reuse, recycle, or donate containers, clothes, toys, books, electronics! With a little effort and creativity (and honestly, sometimes some inconvenience), you can drastically reduce the amount of garbage your family produces – and start new habits! 

(As I mentioned before, this was a quick post, so I don't go into much detail. But everything on this list is completely doable – I know, because I do almost all of them! If you have any questions or would like more information, please ask!)

Happy Easter!

Little Ones to Him Belong

I was singing lullabies to my one-year-old when I was suddenly overwhelmed by the words coming out of my mouth.

Little ones to Him belong

They are weak but He is strong

Just the thought of the children suffering in my own neighborhood and around the world brings me to tears.

Almost every day I wish I could adopt a beautiful child from China or Africa. I wish I had the ability to do foster care or adopt domestically. God gave me eight amazing children to care for, and they surely need to be my first priority, but I wouldn't even hesitate to add to the number if I could. There are too many children out there who need a real loving family.

Just to give you an idea of how real this need is, here are some statistics about children growing up in the U.S. foster care system:

-71% of girls who age out of the system will be pregnant by the age 21
-50% of children who age out of the system will develop a substance dependence
-60% of child sex trafficking victims recovered in 2013 were children from foster care
-33% of children who age out of the system become homeless

The good news is that I have recently learned about two organizations that may allow me to help, in small ways. 

The first is Foster the Bay, a Bay Area organization that works with churches to build a support system for foster families. They started 3 years ago, when a social worker approached a group of pastors and said that there was a need for more foster families, could you help? Right now, there are twice as many foster children as there are families who can take them in. The goal of Foster the Bay is to see the number of children waiting for foster homes go down by raising awareness and help through local churches. Imagine, with the high number of churches in this area, if every church fostered one child, what a difference that would make! I attended an informational meeting this morning and I am excited to take part in the work they do! My family isn't able to foster, but we can definitely be a support for a family that will be fostering.

The second is Safe Families, a nation-wide non-profit organization that strives to keep families together by helping through the difficult times. If a parent is unable to take care of a child but has no outside support, he/she can get help through Safe Families to get counseling or rehab or rest while the child is safely, and temporarily, being taken care of. The child may stay with a host family for a weekend, or a month. The maximum length is one year and the goal is always to reunite the child with the parent. Check out the Safe Families website to see if there is a location near you.

Maybe this post will inspire you to do something that you've never thought about doing before. Look into adoption and foster care. Pray about it. Make the sacrifices. We were ourselves adopted to into God's family–what better gift then could we give a little one?