Children are Precious

"Nothing You Do For Children Is Wasted"
Children are precious beings. Their minds are continually learning from birth. All newborn children sleep and eat for the first part of their lives, dependent on others to take care of them. As they get older, they began to look around and watch others. They listen to sounds and begin to make their own sounds (to us it sounds like gibberish), but they are learning to talk and communicate with the world. During the first years of their life, imprints are being made on their character. Spending time with children is very important because they need to be shaped and molded for experiences they will have later in life.
Children will put themselves in danger because they do not know what danger is.
They need to be taught. The stove is hot. Don’t go with strangers. Don’t go in the road. You can’t let them get this kind of experience in their own lives because they could be seriously hurt or killed.You need to teach them about danger. One danger in this time and age is being accosted by strangers. Children need to be taught to avoid strangers.
When my grandchildren were very young, they were like any children: curious, mischievious, and very lovable. One morning, while their Mom slept, they got up and decided to take the dog (Polly) for a walk. I guess at that time they were about three and four years old. They put a leash on Polly and started up the hill behind their home to the road. They went down the road, the same road they had traveled many times before,but in their car and with their parents. They made it to their grandmother’s house. One little boy, one little girl and a dog. They made it safely. My, but what a risk they took! They told us later that one car passed them and they just got out of the road. What if the person in that car was an abductor or a pedophile? I might not have my grandchildren today.
Spending time teaching children about danger is time well spent. It is certainly not time wasted. Let us teach our children about danger. A child taught could be a child saved. Think about it.
By: Wanda

Sunday School Teachers

Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.

When I was a child I had the greatest Sunday school. Every Sunday my teacher; Patricia McGuire; would tell us stories in a way that a child would understand. We would make crafts, play games, and she would bring snacks. You didn’t just have to sit there and listen and not say a word. If you had a questions you could just asked her and she would explain it in a way you would understand. We would get awards for perfect attendance, learning bible verse, and every year she would have us a birthday party in Sunday school class and bake our favorite cake. She was such a light to me. She made bible learning fun and interesting. She brought about the greatest change in my life when she led me to the Lord. Even though I strayed later in years and have returned I never forgot my Sunday school teacher who taught me about the Lord.

Now that I am an adult and attend church I love helping the children in Sunday school. I’m not a Sunday school teacher but I help with the children every chance I get. I help Sara; the Sunday school teacher for the toddlers; every Sunday. Sara reminds me of the Sunday school teacher that I had when I was a child. It is so amazing to see the children learn about the bible. I hope when they grow up that they don’t forget the things that they learned in Sunday school.

I’m not the only one who has been influence by a Sunday school teacher. I once heard a man tell a story about a Sunday school teacher who got discouraged. She went to her pastor and told him that she wanted to resign from teaching. The pastor didn’t want her to quit because he knew what a great influence she was to the children. The pastor prayed that the Lord would change her mind. In just a short time the pastor got a letter in the mail from a man who used to go to his church. As the pastor read the letter he knew the Lord had answered his prayer. The man wrote that he was a homeless drug addict. The man was in such a bad shape that he wanted to end his life and kill himself. Right when the man was going to pull the trigger he remembered his Sunday school teacher that he had when he was a child. The man never killed himself in fact the man became a Christian. This letter encouraged the Sunday school teacher and she kept right on teaching. It just goes to prove that nothing you do for children is ever wasted.

Encouragement

What we do for children ‘
by: Christina
As I grew up in a middle class family with three sisters and one brother, I often wondered, “Why life was so complex”. I never seemed to ask for anything, except to be able to hang out with my friends. My early years of age was playful and fun, but slowly fading away. Things began changing when I was around the age of 11-12 years old.
While Dad was gone a lot because of his job, Mom stayed home to take care of us children. Sometimes it wasn’t easy for her to do. Unfortunately, she suffered from migraine headaches quite often and couldn’t tend to the house, us kids, or even herself. Things started coming at me from all directions and threw me for a loop,trying to become a teenager and turning into an adult all at the same time. With Dad working to make ends meet, and Mom being sick all the time, I became the mom.
Even though I wasn’t the only child at home, I still grew up to be mom. My older sister was lazy and didn’t care, while the other one was to young to understand anything about life. So I took things one-step at a time and before I knew it I was doing everything that Mom would do. Learning to cook wasn’t an easy task and laundry was very tiring, but Dad was working to keep a roof over our head and put food in our mouths, “what more should a child ask for?"
Sometimes I would feel like I was being punished, but now that I’m married and have two children of my own, I realize that I was given a gift. A gift of life to give life. I have always believed that things happen for a reason and they do. I thank my parents for the things they did and still do for me, while hoping my children will appreciate what I do for them.

Christmas Dinner

Veronica “What we do for children”
May 26, 2006
“Christmas dinner”
When I was a little girl Christmas morning at our house didn’t take a long time to do. My mother was a single parent of 4 children who didn’t get help from my dad. My mom worked 2nd shift at a factory in Richmond KY and she didn’t make much money. My sister and 2 brothers were used to not getting a lot for Christmas, but my mom made sure we had a big dinner with all the trimmings. I can remember kids in the neighborhood getting 8 or 9 presents a piece, but their dinner being non-existent or very slim. I was about 15 years old when I had a big Christmas morning. My sister had started working with my mom so there were two incomes coming in. During the night my sister hung new curtains and laid new rugs down. I don’t know where she had kept them but there were all kinds of presents for us to open. I was so excited I had never seen our house with that many gifts. I guess that feeling of not having much on Christmas has stayed with me; because I try to have several gifts for my own children on Christmas morning so they don’t have that feeling. I do believe that if I were ever in the predicament of not having the money to spend a lot on Christmas, my children would be fine with it as long as I had a Christmas dinner.

Quilting with Linda

When I was eight years old, I asked my Grandma, Josie, if she would teach me how to make a quilt. She was always working on a quilt, so she had plenty of colorful pieces of material and a wide assortment of patterns. A four-patch was the pattern she decided to use for my first effort at piecing a quilt.
After the squares were cut out, she handed me a needle and thread. Then she gave me a thimble and said you won’t ever be to quilt if you don’t learn to use a thimble. She also said you had to make small stitches or you would catch you toe in them when they were on the bed. The stitches on my first quilt were anything but small, but after years of practice, I could sew just like Grandma.
I have used these skills to make quilts for my daughters. They each had a baby quilt I made for them. When Brandi got married, I made a sampler quilt for her out of many colors and put it together with yellow strips and purple squares. I made Vanessa a quilt called Guiding Star to use on her bed at college. This quilt was made of blue and yellow, Morehead State University’s colors.
The skills Grandma taught me, I can use the rest of my life. My daughters have no interest in learning to make a quilt, but maybe someday I will have a granddaughter who will want her Grandma to teach her how to make a quilt.

Watch out for That Bear!!!

“Nothing you do for children is ever wasted” May18, 2006
By
Jo
When I was eight years old we lived up the road from my Great Aunt Edith and Uncle Henry. We didn’t have a television and they did. Sometimes on Saturday evenings they would let my cousins Chad, Jessie and me stay up late and watch it. My mom would let me go there til midnight, that’s when all stations sign off the air. My aunt would bake a cake that morning to make it a special evening. I would think about that cake all day long, my mouth watering with anticipation of that first bite. I could taste the caramel icing melting on my tongue. I’d get all my chores done and still the day was so long, finally it would be time to head on down the dusty dirt road and Mom would say "Be sure to head back home at midnight." Sometimes when I got there early, Uncle Henry would tell us stories about wild animals, ghost or “haints” he liked to call them. That night he told a story about a mean old bear that would get you and you would never be seen or heard from again. He told how the bear could hide behind a tree and pounce and grab you before you knew what was happening. Well that story didn’t scare me. We had our cake and watched our television shows, and then it was midnight, time for me to go home. Uncle Henry said watch out for that bear. Me and my cousins walked outside on the porch. Sometimes they would walk halfway with me up the road, but that night they was afraid to because of the bear story but wouldn’t admit it because they were boys, I started walking by myself I was doing fine until I got out of the light from the porch. Then I started hearing sounds from the woods surrounding me, something was in the woods. I started to walk a little faster, I was barefooted on a rocky dirt road and the rocks was digging into my feet. I knew there was a presence behind me I started to trot. I felt something breathing on the back of my neck. I heard a thumping sound behind me thump, thump. I started running faster and faster! I got to the house and I burst threw the door out of breath. It was then I realized the thumping sound was my heart beating; the breath on my neck was the wind from walking so fast. It felt good to be home and still alive.
The End

Lisa:Crocheting and Gardening

"NOTHING YOU DO FOR CHILDREN IS EVER WASTED”
When I was a child of the age of 10, grandmother Rosie taught me to crochet. She gave me the yarn and crocheting hook to keep and learn to get better. We set down on the sofa. It took several hours to learn to get something that looks good. She was very patient with me. But the more I crocheted the better I got. Then I used this as one of my 4-H projects and won many events my learning to crochet. My grandmother was a very patient woman that loved to teach what she knew.
Learning to work in the garden with mom and aunt Haney. In the summer mom would get us up early. Then we would go to my Aunt Haney's house and work in the garden. My uncle Luster would have the garden plowed and ready to start planting the different crops in the rows. Beans, corn, tomatoes and potatoes would be planted by the end of the day. Some times this would take more than one day. My cousins and I thought of this as a game but my aunt and mother liked for us to help with this. They knew that someday we would benefit for this experience. So, there is nothing you do for children is ever a waste of time.

By Dina

"Nothing you do for children is ever wasted”
My family lived on a small country road, in the area of Rockcastle County called Gum Sulphur. I remember the days when my sisters and I took turns riding a bike. There were four of us that were big enough to ride. If you could peddle and keep it upright you were big enough. We would stand there in the hot sun, barefooted, with the sweat running down our body and our long stringy hair in our face; anxiously waiting for our turn. We would ride less than a forth of a mile, but to us it was a long ride. The funny thing about it was once you got on the bike; you rode it as fast as you could. Most of the time you would be peddling so fast, that my foot would slip off the pedal and you would stump your big toe. You would not even notice that you were hurt until you got back from your ride. Then, you could set down and see how bad you hurt it until it is your turn to ride again.
5/18/2006
Dina

For Children

Nothing you ever do for children is ever wasted; this is a much-discussed topic that I have all the time with my Cub Scout Leaders and parents. I am the Cub Master for Woodstock pack 275. I work with the boys in all ways; sometimes I am a leader, playmate, substitute Mother, or teacher.
The motto we use is: CUB SCOUTS 1-HOUR A WEEK!! Ha, Ha, Ha!!
Anyone who has worked with Scouts knows this is far from the truth. You spend from one to two hours a week at the weekly meeting. If you are a leader you will spend a couple of more hours preparing your crafts and lessons for the week. As Cub Master there is the monthly pack meeting to prepare for. Fundraisers is also time consuming, we sell popcorn once a year, do car washes, and sometimes we sell flower bulbs or candles.
Do the boys notice what you do for them? You may not think so but from my experience I know they do. I have some boys that have left our pack for one reason or another. (Usually the reason is that their parents don’t want to spend the time to bring them to meetings or activities.) If I meet one of these boys out at school or the store they always remember me. I always get a bright smile and a big hello, or sometimes I will get a big bear hug. This makes the time and effort spent worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox. By Sheila