Play With Your Children
January 24, 2011
I Am Child – Hear Me Roar
At the age of four, Bryan loved to play animal and dinosaur. He would often come find me wherever I was. Even if I would be taking a nap, he will come over to me and “ROAR” as loud as he could. Sometimes I wondered if he was trying to show me his strength. Other times I think he prefered to be around me and wanted to find me wherever I may roam. Perhaps there is also the possibility that he thought I might one day forget him in the crowd so he needs to make his presence known to me in such a dramatic way. Read more
Gone With the Mind
January 21, 2011
Hey Moms! Have you ever felt like with pregnancy you have lost vital brain cells? Oh, I can so relate! That’s why I wrote a book called, Gone With the Mind. It’s a quirky, humorous look at life with a bunch of kids.
Over the course of the next several weeks, I will be posting one chapter each day from the book. You’ll want to subscribe to the RSS feed or the Networked Blogs so that you don’t miss a single chapter. I will also be making a text only .pdf of the book available for purchase for $7.00. See the sidebar for additional details of this. Read more
Workshop Survey
January 10, 2011
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A Stuffed Christmas
November 28, 2010
We’ve all heard the words that it doesn’t take money to have Christmas. And that is completely true. There is only one ingredient required and that is “Love.” However, there is so much stress wrapped up (pun intended) in presents, decorations, gifts for others, etc.
The first year as a single mom was particularly rough for me. The kids seemed to handle it all in stride, but I found myself desperately wanting to give them more than I had. All eight of us lived in a little three bedroom apartment. The living room couch, which had been given to us, doubled as my bed. There wasn’t a lot of room, there wasn’t a lot of money, but there was a whole lot of ingenuity.
More than anything I wanted a tree for the kids. One day while shopping at Wal Mart I found a small lighted tree for only fifteen dollars. Fifteen dollars was actually a lot of money that year, but I “needed” that tree. The excitement of putting up the Christmas tree in our little apartment was amazing. I figured we would just leave it bare – at least it had lights.
Just Add Love
As we danced around the living room to Christmas music on the radio, pretty soon one of the kids had gone into her room and got a small stuffed animal to decorate the tree. I had some red ribbon so we made a loop around the neck of the small animal and looped it around one of the branches. We all marveled at how cute the little animal was hanging on the tree. In a flash all of the tiny stuffed animals that the kids owned were out on the living room floor awaiting their turn with a ribbon around their necks.
One by one we hung the little animals on the tree. I wish I had a picture of that little tree, but I don’t. The only picture I have of it is in my mind. A little polar bear took top position as the “star of the tree.” There was so much joy and love passing around the living room that day. I can almost feel it again as I remember with tears trailing down my cheeks.
Because I wasn’t going to get to be with the kids on Christmas, we pretended on Thanksgiving that it was Christmas. We went all out keeping some of our favorite traditions, like having funnel cakes on Christmas morning. A friend had given me money to buy gifts for the kids. Stockings were always a favorite, so that year, they each had a stocking filled with their favorite treats.
Some of the old traditions had to be removed. We no longer had the creche that we would lovingly put on the table. The decorations and ornaments were no longer in our posession. The beautiful stockings were replaced with stockings from the dollar store. But we began new traditions. In some ways that first holiday as a single mom was the mark of a fresh beginning. Even though things weren’t the same and there was a lot of pain. The joy that arose from that pain gave us all a renewed sense of peace. It’s pretty common to say, “Peace on Earth” during the Christmas season, but that year, Jesus did a very real work in my heart when He revealed to me that the peace I needed came only from Him.
That quiet Christmas morning, I sat staring at the stuffed animal tree pondering the strangeness of life. Tears fell freely, as there were no children around from whom I had to hide the pain. As God wrapped his arms around me I knew – there was peace in my life that day.
Whenever I feel slightly overwhelmed, I find myself again reflecting on the little stuffed animal tree and how ordinary posessions, became extraordinary decorations.
Laundry Solutions for a Large Family
November 13, 2010
I know a lot of families struggle with how to get the mountains of laundry done in their house. We’ve done many different things through the years. Some have worked for a season, and some have been utter failures. Below are some of the things we have done.
The Laundry Room: As a Realtor® I get to see a lot of laundry rooms. Unfortunately most of them are afterthoughts added on to the back of the house. I certainly don’t understand this at all considering that the average family (not my family) does at least 4 loads a week. Shouldn’t that give it more credence than being relegated to the walk way between the garage and the house? And why are they often tucked as far away from the bedrooms as possible? I know in the midwest, many laundry facilities ended up in the basement. I remember when I was little my grandma had a wringer machine in the basement. Oh my! We sure have it easy now with our computerized talking machines. (I don’t have one – but I’ve seen them)
I’ve had laundry rooms every where from the basement, garage, garage pass thru, large mud room, to a room off the kitchen. I’ve never had one like I really wanted which would have been upstairs in a room large enough for dressers and hanging bars. If I could design my own house, I would have had two laundry rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. They would have had all their dressers and hanging places in that room. Basically they would have been all purpose laundry and dressing rooms. Ahhh one can dream. So, we make do.
You can all hate me now, but my kids do all their own laundry now. That’s what you have to look forward to when you train them how to do it when they are younger. Even toddlers can fold washclothes. Encourage them to help. When my kids were younger they had one laundry basket in their rooms. When the basket got full (or on a certain day if I was in the season of organized) they would take it to the laundry room and sort it into the bins. I had four LARGE rubber maid type bins – with lids removed. They learned to sort as soon as they could walk. Whites, Darks, Mediums, and towels/sheets. One child was the designated laundry person. I had a laminated sheet of how to wash what kind of clothes. This hung on the wall beside the washer. Each bin was coded so the kids could easily see what went into that bin. The designated laundry person would do two loads every single day. If the bin was full, that was two loads. The child would wash, dry and fold the clothes. Each child would then be responsible for putting away their own clothes after each load. This worked very well for years. The kids would rotate and everyone learned how to do laundry. It was never “done” but it was always being done.
Now that all the children can do laundry, they have cloth laundry bags in their rooms.
These stand up but are made of cloth. They have handles and collapse when not needed (like that would ever happen). Each room does their own laundry. For the most part we don’t have fights for the washer. Saturday night is often the busy night for the washer. David likes to put his clothes in at 3:00 in the morning though. Since the washer is directly beneath my room, that’s a bit obnoxious to hear when I’m trying to go to sleep. One child is still assigned to laundry, but they mostly do towels and keep the laundry room clean. It’s a pretty easy job now. It usually follows having been on kitchen duty.
I have a Neptune front loader that I got when Bryan was born. I wouldn’t say I’m 100% satisfied with it, but it works perfectly well. There have been a few times it’s needed repairs, but they weren’t horribly expensive. My dryer is just a high capacity dryer from Sears. They don’t match. And I don’t really care. I’m kind of brand loyal when it comes to laundry. I love Tide and have used it for years. I try other cheaper products, but – well, I just like Tide. I don’t use a fabric softener, but I do use Bounce sheets for some of the clothes.
To make laundry not all-consuming
- Have your kids do most of it
- Do a little every day – marathon laundry days are no fun
- Put it away! – As soon as it’s folded – take the final step and put it away. (I know what to do – I don’t always do what I know what to do) Funny how this step trips up most people. We end up with piles on the couch, on our beds, on the kitchen table, or on the floor. Then we just work around the piles. It really only takes a few minutes more to put it all away. – I say this, and right now (I could show you a picture) I have three laundry baskets with clothes in them in my bedroom. I look at it all the time and think, I should put those away. And they still sit. In my defense – my closet rod broke. (that’s all I’m going to say) I’m pretty sure, I’ll get those clothes put away as soon as I post this. There’s nothing like guilting yourself into action by typing up a post on how to get something done.
I would love to hear what you do for laundry and what kind of a laundry room you have.
Update: I found this great post on building your own laundry storage solution. Definitely check it out! http://ana-white.com/2010/11/laundry-basket-dresser.html
Grief Expectations
October 30, 2010
When I think of myself one word usually comes to mind. Strong. Yep, I can handle anything – well, God can handle anything, and He likes to share His strength with me. I’m actually horribly weak, but I “think” I’m strong. Okay, now that I’ve completely confused you – you’re exactly where I am. Confused.
Our Family Schedule
October 21, 2010
Click on the above link to see our schedule. This schedule was created a few years ago and was used successfully then. Life has changed a bit since that time, but thought this one would be the most valuable to those who follow this blog.
Moms Birthday Present To Me
September 28, 2010
I’m in a period of mourning due to the loss of my mom just four days ago. Yet, I’m finding myself feeling renewed and energized during this time. My body and emotions feel weak and exhausted. But for some reason, my spirit is soaring to new heights. As I let my body rest and take care of itself, my thoughts fly toward the future.
My birthday is tomorrow today and I will beam forty-six years old. As one of my facebook friends said, it’s my “OWN Personal New Year MMX (2010 like the Romans did).” And she is absolutely correct. It’s a take charge feeling. I feel in part that staying with my mom in the last days of her life has given me a gift that I never would have expected. I remember when she was getting worse that I said to myself that I didn’t want her to die on my birthday. And she didn’t. I’m grateful for that.
Today, as I was thinking about how I’m going to miss her calling me and singing – a bit off key – Happy Birthday to You, she has given me more than a phone call this year. She has given me a gift that has changed my life. I have walked much of her life with her. She was only 19 when I was born. After her divorce from my dad, we struggled through some extreme difficulties together. I have been there for her, and she has been there for me. But I didn’t receive “the gift” while she was alive. It took her death for me to see the gift that she has given me.
She gave me the gift as I heard the testimonies of those who loved her. It was always about her joy, her laughter, her kindness, and the way she deposited into the lives of others. She was all about making deposits into others’ lives. As we walked through life together, I never knew her to make any withdrawals. She didn’t leave people feeling used, taken advantage of, or that she owed them something. She simply — deposited. Even after her death, she was depositing into our lives through the testimonies of those who loved her.
As I think about this birthday and the gifts I am supposed to receive simply because I was born. Hmm…how ironic that she even deposited me into this world. And the greatest gift that I can receive this year, is the desire to deposit into the lives of others, just as my mom did when she was living, and after she died.
I have twenty Ignite the Fire! books that I would like to give away. There is nothing you need to do, no hoops to jump through, no essays to write. Simply let me know in the comments that you want one. Of course I’m going to need to know how to send it to you, so send me an e-mail to terri AT terricamp DOT com. Replace the AT with @ and DOT with . If we’re facebook friends, you can send me a message on facebook with your address. If we’re not facebook friends — why not? Terri Camp on Facebook. Feel free to spread the word. I would love to be able to give away all 20 books on my birthday this year, so I can deposit into the lives of others, just as Mom has shown me through example, how to do.
Thanks for “The Gift” Mom!
Going Fishing Part 1
September 20, 2010
When my sister and I were little kids, almost every vacation we had centered around fishing. One of our earliest memories involved going to Lake Vermillion in MN and trolling for hours and hours and hours. Shileen remembers that we had to be perfectly quiet so as not to scare away the fish. Hey, that sounds like a blast for 6 and 7 year old kids! In five days, all we caught was one perch, and a slight hatred for trolling.
Since the fishing wasn’t that great, we packed up and went to a different lake, settling at Gull Lake near Brainerd, MN at Wilson Bay Resort. It was at this resort where some of our greatest memories were created. We made a lot of friends, learned to ski, hike, and fish. We returned year-after-year. I think someone must have taught my dad that kids don’t have to be silent while they fish, the fish will still bite – the right bait, in the right location. And boy did we catch fish! The first year I was squeamish. I didn’t want to touch fish, worms, or boys. The next year, all that changed!
You see, I became brave. I went night crawler hunting with Dad before our trip so we wouldn’t have to buy so many night crawlers. Dad would set the sprinkler in the lawn for hours. Then once it got dark, we would take a flashlight and shine it on the ground. The ground was crawling with big fat juicy worms. I’m not quite sure why I use the word juicy. I guess it sounds better than slimy and gross. They were, but I wanted to impress my dad with my “hunting” skills. He would shine the light, and I would dive for the worms. It was a real treat to find a couple of coupling worms – two for the dive of one. I also learned how to clean fish and even tried my hand at fileting them. I also – fell in love with a boy(s). Dad said that was the year I stopped being afraid. Oh, I was still afraid, but I learned how to push it so far down that no one would be able to see the fear.
No matter how difficult the year was, our vacations to the lake were relaxing and uneventful, except for the time I decided to go for a little walk. Somehow I got turned around and couldn’t find my way back. After several hours I found myself on the point jutting out into the lake on the other side of the bay. As I stood there looking out across the lake I began to cry. I felt lost and alone and didn’t know what to do. Pretty soon a boat came near the point. I began to yell, “Help! Help! Help!” I don’t really remember “the rescue” as much as the feeling of being lost and alone. I hated that feeling. I loved the feeling of being safe and secure with my family.
When I was young I thought I had the greatest parents in the world, even if they were a bit quirky. Now, I love when someone says I’m quirkily charming. Perhaps because it reminds me of my mom. Everywhere she went, people loved her. My sister and I were embarrassed then because we could hear mom’s laugh even when she was out in the boat with my dad, who initially would go fishing in his old suits. He didn’t own a pair of jeans until I was 14 years old. (cont’d)
My life as a Rubix Cube
September 9, 2010
I was talking with Donna Stidham today about a speech she is giving for a communications class. The task is to give a speech based on 5 items that you have put in a shoebox. She finally chose a Rubix Cube as her fifth item. To her, it represents being a homeschool mom and taking college courses herself. Read more
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