Teaching our Children Through Life

Sam may only be 4 months old but you can never begin too early with educational experiences. Our weekend was filled with such fun enlightening adventures for everyone to learn. I must say that it always is refreshing to me the pure selfish enjoyment that can be obtained from helping others, despite the fact that we have to step out of a comfort zone and do something that most won't ever do. So here are fun pictures and descriptions of our educational weekend and here is What Works for Us.

Feeding the Homeless
We began a tradition with a small group of family and friends this last weekend. It was put on my parents hearts that we should take brown bag lunches downtown and hand them out to the homeless, no strings attached. So, we went and bought some sandwich material along with granola bars, apples, and water. We packed them in brown bags decorated by the children. We drove downtown to the Capital Square on a Sunday and the bags were gone within 15 minutes. At first none of us wanted to step out of the comfort zone and we were saying things like 'how will we know if they are homeless?'. As we began to walk into the park a man approached us and that was the end of discomfort. What a fabulous look into our own existance and how we play a part with the widows, orphans, and less fortunate. Most importantly I wish for Sam (and any other children in my family) to grow up not fearing or being intimidated by such an activity. We all need to challenge ourselves throughout life.

The outing was so quick that I forgot to take any pictures like I intended (of course respecting the wishes of those who we were serving). So, here are the pics I took of us preparing the bags. The kids had already decorated the bags so the Gurly Girls entertained Sam and had her laughing a ton!!! Aden just played and kept trying to go upstairs!!!

Infant CPR Short Course
A, Myself, little Sam (b/c she is attached to the Chi-chi's), and my parents all attended an infant CPR intro class at Sweet Beginnings in Littleton. We all were able to use a new CPR Bear that demonstrates how hard to push, how hard to blow, and good positioning. While this was not a child or certification class I feel as if we would know what to do to give time for emergency personnel to arrive. A especially wanted us all to know it because Sam is going to start swimming in the pool. The statistics are amazing on how much benefit just breathing for and keeping a heart pumping can improve outcomes. The nurse who led it even had a story from a week ago of a woman stopping traffic, running across 3 lanes with her child and dumping him on the sidewalk because he was not breathing after just having a Tonselectomy. Everything did turn out well but the mother had no idea what to do, SCARY!!!!