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Archive for the ‘Parenting’ Category

It’s Carnival Time – Blogger Style!

Posted in Authors, Marketing, Parenting, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on May 3, 2013 | 8 Comments »

You are invited to join a new blog carnival geared toward
parents who are writers

    folks who raise little souls,
    who sacrifice sleep for cuddles,
    who are insanely addicted to the written word.

parents and writers icon

Themes for this Blog Carnival can include: Writing amongst legos, tools and strategies you use to find time to write, resources you’ve discovered, writing for children, writing while children run amuck, and any recipe that is easy to assemble thus giving us more time to write (I’m a huge fan of my crock pot).

For more details, visit the Parents and Writers Blog Carnival Page. Deadline for submissions are the 15th of each month. The Blog Carnival will be posted at this blog on the 20th.

If you have any questions, please email me at JessicaSchaubWrites@gmail.com

Happy Writing!
Jessica

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Versatile Blogger Award

Posted in Authors, Faith, Goals, Homeschooling, Parenting, Writing on January 25, 2013 | 2 Comments »

I laughed out loud when I received this award…I just lost my temper when things in my house didn’t go as planned. That is the total opposite of versatile :) And maybe that’s why I LOVE writing – everything can be edited for content and polished to perfection before anyone reads it. Like airbrushing ideas.

And now for my second confession: I received this award a few weeks ago but haven’t done anything with it because of the number of blog I need to award this to – 15!

But before I get to the rules and awards, I want to thank Gwen Bristol @ http://www.GwenBristol.com for the nomination! We met on LinkedIn and she has become a source of encouragement, support, and really good stories. (The Night Ones Legacy is excellent!)

versatileblogger111

Versatile Blogger Rules (If you choose to obey them)
•Display the Award Certificate on your website
•Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented your award
•Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers (I’m changing it to 7 blogs. Why? Because I have to share 7 things about myself and 7 is the number of completion and perfection.)
•Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post
•Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

Here are the seven bloggers that I choose to present this award to:

http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com/ This girl has spirit!
http://frenchwellness.wordpress.com/ Very unique. I never know what to expect :)
http://5kidswdisabilities.com/ Inspiring!
http://shirleysquirrely.wordpress.com/ Just plain fun writing
http://lorieb.wordpress.com/ I’m always looking for wheat-free ideas
http://michelleproulx.wordpress.com/ She’s funny and spirited and adorable
http://quirkybooks.wordpress.com/ Talk about versatile! Sandra covers it all!

Now for seven things about myself:

1. I homeschool my children and I love it! I didn’t start this journey out of any religious crusade; I simply wasn’t ready to put my oldest daughter in all-day kindergarten and I knew I could teach her at home. We tried it for a year and decided to do it again. That was 8 years ago.

2. I have Type 1 Diabetes. It sucks. I give myself insulin injections every day. The silver-lining? I eat really healthy and I’m in good shape.

3. I turned 40 last year. Hey, it’s a milestone so we celebrated!

4. I have four children: three biological daughters and one adopted son. They are all beautiful and much loved. God knew what he was doing when he gave me these children: they stretch and fill my heart in many ways. (Did I mention my youngest was 2? He’s stretching me!)

5. I didn’t catch the reading bug until 7th grade when I was given The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende for Christmas. I read it in 3 days. I devoured every book I could after that, but nothing captured me like that again until I read The Counte of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.

6. My favorite snack is apple slices and almond butter.

7. I have a second blog that I started a few weeks ago for diabetics: http://www.NaturallyDiabetic.com It’s helping me stay focused on eating and exercising well, keeping my meals planned, and encouraging my children to take pictures of everything we eat so I can post it :)

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How to Write, Be a Parent, and Make Dinner

Posted in Goals, Homeschooling, Parenting, Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2012 | 2 Comments »

When people learn that I have four children, they smile. It’s more than the average two kids and far less than the typical Catholic family of ten. When they learn that I homeschool my children, they are impressed (or worried that my kids will be social freaks). And then when they discover that I also write, they slap their forehead and walk away. “How can you possibly do all that?”

Easy! The same way anyone else manages to do the things they love. I make time for it.

Step #1 – Set Weekly Goals.
Know what you want to accomplish. Personally speaking, I include writing, exercise and household chores into one list. My favorite part of accomplishing the goals is crossing them off. It’s a little thing to do, but it means that my time has been well-spent and I have something to show for it.

Step #2 – Schedule Time to Achieve Those Goals
I can’t tell you how many people will tell me that they want to do this or that, but they don’t have the time. I want to lose ten pounds…I want to be a writer…I want to homeschool…I want to train for a 5K…but I work full-time, I get home too late, I can’t afford it, I can’t.
Bah! I say! Those are lame excuses and they need to be tossed out like last year’s trash.
Wake up 20 minutes earlier and read or write. 20 minutes isn’t going to completely deprive anyone of sleep, but using that time effectively can bring about great results.
Have an hour for lunch? Walk for 30 minutes or write for 45 minutes.
Do you watch 2-3 hours of TV every night? Quit. Work toward your goals instead.

Step #3 – Accomplish tasks/goals in ‘Chunks’ of Time.
There are times when little snippets of time are all you have. (see Post-it writing for more). To truly make progress toward your goals, you will need to invest time.
I’m very good at planning meals and I can grocery shop on a dime, but when it comes to actually making the meals I fail. The solution for this came to mind as I looked at how I schedule several hours a week to write; therefore I should do the same for meals. I now plan a week’s worth of meals based on the sales at our local grocery store and shop. When I come home, instead of putting the meat in the freezer (because at 4:00pm on any given night everything will still be frozen) I put the meals together then freeze them. Luckily for me, my family loves casseroles and crock pot dinners, but mostly, I think they are just happy to have regular meals. I spend hours planning, shopping and preparing meals, but making the meals ahead of time keeps my afternoons free. It takes a few minutes to turn on the oven and slid a 9×13 in than to start from scratch.

Step #4 – Professionalize Your Goals
Every professional has business hours. Writers, parents, homeschoolers, and any one striving to accomplish a goal needs the same. I have every Thursday afternoon to write. It’s a guarenteed 3-4 hours of uninterrupted writing time. When I set my goals for the week, Monday through Wednesday include writing tasks that will make Thursday more efficient.

Step #5 – Have Fun!
If writing is your goal, then keep it fun. If you are a parent, it’s not like you can quit. Just find the ways to keep it fun. Same with exercise. Change up your workout. Jog on Monday, lift weights on Tuesday, swim on Wednesday, yoga on Thursday…you get the idea.
The enjoyment-factor of any task helps keep motivation high. For example, one of my least favorite tasks is changing out summer clothes for winter clothes. To put much of the work on my children (it’s their clothing!) and to keep it fun, I pull out the new season of clothing and set up a store in the living room. They all ‘shop’ for what they want, but have to turn in clothing for GoodWill – a one-for-one exchange. They shop, the closets are cleaned out, everyone is happy.
In writing, the enjoyment comes when I schedule in weeks to not write, but to read as many books as possible. My record is 8 books in one week.
When I’m trying to keep my writing fun, I will switch up stories, read something I wrote years ago (and laugh), or find a new place to try writing – libraries and coffee shops are great, parks are more interesting, in the middle of the mall during Christmas is a blast! So much drama :)

And remember, there are 24 hours in each day. Minus 8 hours of sleep, that leaves 16 hours of productive time. Use it well!

tick-tock...this is only a caption. Stop reading and start working on your goals!

tick-tock…this is only a caption. Stop reading and start working on your goals!

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Stunned to Silence

Posted in Faith, Parenting, tagged , , on December 18, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Just like every other human being, I am stunned by the violence of last Friday’s school shooting. As a writer, I’m supposed to have an endless supply of words, but… I’ve got nothing!

But I will not yet embrace the political issues that surround the debates of mental health, gun control, and school safety – they have been tossed around freely on Facebook, Twitter, and the news, and so I need not add another log to that fire.

I just want to cry for those parents.

If I were them, I would unplug from everything, grab my photo albums and cry.

Remember when he was born? All those nights she crawled into our bed and slept so soundly? His first word was ‘puppy’. That was her favorite outfit…what do I do with it now? I should have saved his baby teeth.

There are greater issues behind this violence, but let’s just wait on that for a time. First, let’s support the parents and families of all who died. Let’s embrace our children a little longer before they leave the house. Let’s send our teachers a message of thanks for all they do for children at such a low salary. Let’s find ways to support families with children who suffer from uncontrollable rage.

Let’s united under this tragedy. Light a candle for those little ones. Say a prayer. Spend 26 minutes in silence.

In our home, we cut out 27 snowflakes for all the victims and said a prayer over each one.
snowflakes

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Writing Conference without the Conference, Day 5: Educational

Posted in Homeschooling, Parenting, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

It’s been over a week since my last post. It’s NaNoWriMo for Novelists – a madhouse of writing 50,000 words in a month and I’m doing my best to keep up. But it’s time for another Writing Conference boost. To review, our outline is:

wRiting Effort DoUbled by Concentrated Educational Details

Today is Educational. And we are going to talk about…education. Creative, huh?

This concept is so simple, it’s easy to forget…Go back to school.  I’m not suggesting that you should sit in on a third grade lesson, but look at what kids these days are reading. I guarantee it’s very different from what you read as a kid.

I turned 40 this year. As a child, I read Judy Blume, Madeleine L’Engle and ten-pound school anthologies. That’s it. The librarian at my elementary school failed miserably at her job and didn’t even know it. I remember the first time I stepped into that library – the smell of ink and paper was as rich to me then as a strong cup of coffee is now. We were in the LIBRARY! I was certain this was the place, the once-a-week half hour when we would hear a story, a haven of time in my week when I could explore books and escape work. How wrong I was!

It was Dewey or Die.

The library was meticulously organized, dusted and decorated. Books were lined neatly with the edge of the shelves – right where the librarian wanted them to be. After my first library visit, I left with one picture book that had to be returned the next week. There was no story read to us. It was all rules and decimal systems.

On the counter near the door stood  a coffee can of rulers for us to use when we explored the bookshelves. Yeah. Rulers. It wasn’t to measure our reading ability. If we saw a title that sounded interesting, we were to slide the ruler next to the book before taking the book off the shelf. This assured that all the books would still be in place when the class left.

Talk about judging a book by its title!

She never introduced us to C.S. Lewis, Beverly Cleary or Paul Flieshman. In fact, our school library was divided into grade-appropriate shelves. Older students were not allowed to check out picture books and younger students were not allowed near the chapter books. That meant the older students who struggled with reading were only allowed to check out books that were too difficult for them. Those who excelled in the early grades were stunted in their reading development because they were not given the opportunity to read the more difficult books.

As a writer, this opens a market for you. High-interest, low-reading difficulty for struggling students, to name one. These could be non-fiction books with shorter sentences and paragraphs with age -appropriate information. Or, stories written in a simpler sentence structure that offer exciting adventures.

So, learn what’s out there already. Study the masters – not necessarily those who make the NY Times Bestseller Lists, but books that break molds, that have stood the test of time, the banned books. Read the genre that fits with your writing. And then make a note of who published it, see if you can find the agent that represented that author and when your story is finished and polished, send it to them.

If you are like my students, you are wondering, “How many books should I read?” The answer is: Read a little of what interests you every day. No matter where you are in your writing journey, stop and take a week, or a month to read the new releases. Or, if you are like me and didn’t have teachers who encouraged you to read, go back and read what you missed.

http://bitly.com/SsDwSF – link to HAISIN Recommended Reading Lists 2012, a list of books for children. If you write for children, learn what’s out there, see what’s selling, talk to parents about what they are looking for in a story, in a non-fiction book.

 

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The Penderwicks (a series) by Jeanne Birdsall

Inkspell, Inkheart, Inkdeath (a trilogy) by Cornelia Funke

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

And if you are interested in supporting this author, try: Gateways, by Me :)   available @ http://amzn.to/SYiT3W

 

If you have any other reading suggestions, please share! Include the age level and genre.

Peace!

Jessica

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Reaching Blindly

Posted in Faith, Parenting, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 30, 2012 | 3 Comments »

In my kitchen, I keep a large bowl of fruit on the counter to make the never-ending task of keeping my children satisfied easier. Not too long ago, before all of my daughters could see over the countertop in the kitchen, it was common that they would stretch out on their tip-toes, extend their arm over the rim on the big fruit bowl and reach for whatever was within reach. My oldest daughter prefers apples, middle girl is an orange fiend, and for the youngest daughter it’s bananas or nothing. Very often, the fruit bowl raids ended with the bowl tipped over and the fruit rolling across the floor; which is why we now have a plastic fruit bowl.

The girls knew that their reach into the bowl would yield some type of fruit, but they continued to dig until the right fruit was found. The same was true for me years ago when I was reaching for something to fill that empty feeling in my soul. I was fortunate enough in college to meet a group of very dedicated Christians who displayed a raw sense of happiness that was foreign to me. They delighted in companionship, read scripture, and never, ever missed a Sunday service (a new concept for me, who would try to sleep until noon to not have to go to Mass). Seeing their gratification in God and how rich these people were in my life, I knew I wanted what they had. In other words, I had been brought to God’s kitchen and shown the fruit bowl, but was too small to see what was inside.

I started reaching blindly into the church experience, into the scriptures. I grabbed hold of some profound ideas and amazing situations, but they were short lived. I was rocky soil and the seed of God’s Word didn’t take hold. I realized I needed a step-stool to see into that bowl; the bowl being the multitude of Christian churches. Having been raised Catholic, I wanted to sample other denominations. I attended a Baptist church for a time, then a Lutheran. I enjoyed the sermons of a Methodist pastor in Lowell, MI, but felt completely lost in the mega-church – the one with the live band and the balcony.

My young adulthood was spent exploring the worlds of believers of Christ and witnessing for myself the variety of ways in which one can worship the same God, Son and Holy Spirit. All had their good points, but I realized that none, save one, was complete. I desired a church that had its roots in Jesus Himself and celebrated the accomplishment of the faith walk with sacraments and fed the congregation with more than the Word of God, but with the flesh and blood of God. I came home to the Catholic Church. I had seen over the rim of the bowl of Christian churches, and chose the Catholic Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Lansing, MI

I met amazing people in my faith walk and I accredit them all with helping me make my decision. Sure, I may not have chosen their church, but their church did help bring me closer to God. And that’s the point: we all, as Christians, do love the same God. But for me and mine, we are Catholic. Universal. A part of a global worship community whose leader is a descendant in spirit of Peter, the Vicar of Christ. So if you’ve never given the Catholic Church a second look, I encourage you to do so. I’m not trying to convert anyone, but just to set aside some misconceptions of the Catholic Faith, for we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and it’s time to stop the sibling rivalry. Our Father in heaven loves us all.

For other blogs about my faith journey, see:

Feminine Genius @ http://wp.me/p26D2W-3c

Dealing with the Dark Side (Keeping the Faith while writing) http://wp.me/p26D2W-98

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Deep Water

Posted in Faith, Homeschooling, Parenting, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 28, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Jesus told Peter to “put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch” (Luke 5).

Hmmm…deep water? Sounds like missionary work. Not just missionaries who travel to remote islands with a New Testament in hand, but missionaries within ten miles of where we live. Those folks who man the Soup Kitchens, distribute food and compassion, the Meals-on-Wheels deliveries, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit and act accordingly.

Deep Waters.

Taken while fishing with my dad – a tradition I hope lasts forever!

With Jesus as our guide, we can walk on those waters and not be sucked under by gravity or the undertow. Our faith can protect us from slipping under the consuming waves while we cast a life line out to those just under the surface.

On our dining room wall, we have a topographical mural map of the world. It’s wonderful for homeschooling, not to mention a great conversation center piece with guests. As my children and I sit around the table, gazing longingly at the world, we wonder where we will visit in the future.

Best Christmas present!

My daughters want to become missionaries and travel and share God’s love and message. We’ve read stories about people who have made the journey to South America and lived among the tribes in the Amazon forest; a woman who traveled through a war to arrive in China where she shared God’s Word; another woman who went to the Philippines and lived among a tribe and became their daughter and sister. The stories are wonderful on paper when years of weather, illness, struggles and deprivation are condensed into neat paragraphs.

The Deep Water we are called to navigate in order to share God’s Word looks pleasantly coordinated on our wall map. The rivers are neat blue lines, the oceans more interesting because we can see the ridges which lie hidden under miles of water. Missing is the understanding of what a jungle holds, how deep hunger can eat, and just how far of a walk it is to the other side of the mountain.

And I realize that my Deep Waters are nothing but a wading pool for infants. I may complain when splashed and perhaps I have even fallen in and soak my clothes, but I have never truly slipped under the water and watched the sky recede from view. Hunger only lasts as long as it takes for me to walk to the cupboard. I can go to a church which I choose and not fear persecution. My family is alive and well and living close enough that I can drive to them in a few hours. My children are healthy, we have a house, we drive two cars – we are living a good, easy life.

Am I following Christ? Do I have to leave everything behind and follow him? Is that what Deep Water Faith is?

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In My Time of Harvesting

Posted in Parenting, tagged , , , on August 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I am amazed at the similarities between gardening and raising children. We tend to the growing gardens of our children’s hearts and minds, trimming back the weeds of worldly distractions, fertilizing them with love and faith formation. There are days of rain followed by the warming glow of sunshine. Pruning isn’t always managed by a parent’s cautious mind, but it will happen none-the-less and we are there to help the growing start again.

Yesterday my husband and the kids picked cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots. They pulled all the basil, collected peppers by the dozen and rolled watermelons and cantaloupe toward the truck where Bill hoisted them into the back.

Then the work began. Canning: Wash, trim, snip, scrub, chop, boil. Then end product is a shelf full of colorful foods waiting for winter months and pots of soup. Months of sweat and dirt came home to hours of sweating in the kitchen. It is harvest time and we are gearing up for the long winter, preparing our cupboards for truly home-cooked meals. As I look at my pantry of canned foods, I feel satisfaction in my work and am eager to share it with my family.

But what is the harvest time for our children? Even in my adulthood, in my time of independence, I still turn to the wisdom of my parents, look for their guidance, seek their help.

Parents look toward the day their child becomes an adult, the day they move out, start their lives and become who they are meant to be. Reality is that it doesn’t happen in one day. I just turned forty and only now do I feel like I’m starting to become who God meant me to be. I graduated from college almost twenty years ago – had a career that directed my life – all before I came into my own. While I was independent, I still had much growing to go.

Just like farming, there are layers to harvesting our independence, different seasons of fruitful outcomes. Before we even planted a seed, we tilled the ground, prepping for the future – Infancy. Once the seeds were in we watered, weeded and waited – Toddlerhood.  As the vines spread and the sprouts emerged, we guided the growth on trellises and along poles. We clipped dying blossoms to keep the effort of growth on the stronger branches. Challenging us were beetles by the thousands nibbling away at leaves and weeks of drought leaving our earth parched – Adolescence. And finally, we harvested: peas and radishes, tomatoes and corn, beans and carrots, cantaloupe and watermelon, raspberries and potatoes, cucumbers and zucchini – Young Adulthood.

Then the real work began. Canning. True independence. Preservation…of our souls. Adulthood. Sometimes we are well-seasoned sauses or sweetened preserves. Other moments are pickles, steeped in sharp vinegar and tasty only with the right foods. But those sour tastebuds need time to accept the flavor and even those surprising tastes lend to richness.

In the fall seasons of our lives, we reap what we have sown. Be it weeds or fruit, it is ours and by our making. The colors of the season are more vivid to our wise eyes if we see the world in all its fall-time glory. For the weed-sowers, the colors mean only the coming of winter, the season of death and solitude.

I pray that the fall brings the joy of a season well-lived, a garden of fruitful meals made easier by a book of zucchini recipes and the hopeful anticipation of Spring – because it is sure to come.

 

 

 

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Push Comes to Shove

Posted in Goals, Homeschooling, Parenting, tagged , , , , on August 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Mr. Obstacle, I will not surrender to you.

Mrs. Negative Thought, I will not be ruled by you.

Mr. Today, you have tried to beat me back but I will resist you.

Push me – I will not give . Shove me back – I will not budge. Slap my cheek – I offer you the other.

Yes, it’s true that I’m trying to do too much, but that was my choice. I will accomplish my tasks. What I’m doing is necessary. So I’m here.

And my purpose is here to stay.

Mr. Obstacle, Mrs. Negative Thought, Mr. Today – you will not be here tomorrow. How do I know that, you ask?

I know who is on my side. He’s bigger than you and He’s more loving than me.

And He always wins. And when I do His work, I always win.

My prayer to everyone struggling with something:

Lord, I hand over all our troubles to you. Care for our hearts, our minds, our souls. Help us to see your will in our purpose. Protect us from the attacks of Satan, the dark angel who works through policies and expectations of other, within red tape and circumstances, in our doubts and fears. Keep us strong, focused and patient. Amen!

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Just an Ounce

Posted in Parenting on July 31, 2012 | 3 Comments »

It was a dark and stormy day…for me. There were extra dishes in the sink, toys cluttered every single room, the toddler thought it hysterical to scream and watch his mother turn darker shades of red. The laundry pile touched the cieling, the to-do list went onto the second page, the phone rang again.

All I had to manage the day was an ounce of patience. That tiny teaspoon of calmness was hardly enough to fill my heart and mouth with kindness. In reality, I could speak kindly to my children every ten minutes, the other nine were filled with tight-teeth remarks.

How was I going to get through the day? How would I manage to help all my children on my own?

Then I remembered. I’m never alone. If you’re the pessimistic type, you immediately thought of the four children and the puppy who fill my life. If you’re leaning toward the optimistic side, you remembered that when we are in God’s Word, we are never alone. (I’m in training to be optimistic.)

One of my favorite Bible stories is when Jesus feeds 5,000 people with five barley loaves and 2 fish. (John 6. Btw, this is the only miracle that appears in all four Gospels!) Imagine 5,000 people so hungry for Truth that they follow him everywhere he goes; imagine the strength of his words; imagine the flavor of the bread and fish that filled so many.

The detail of the bread being ‘barley’ is not just a random addition, it’s purposefully included. The little boy with the bread wasn’t a rich child with a basket of whole wheat or sour dough or even day-old bread from the bakery. It was barely; a poor man’s meal. And yet Jesus took that little boy’s poor offering and fed thousands. Every person didn’t just nibble on a corner, but they ate until they were full.

My meager offering of an ounce of patience is multiplied to enrich my life so completely that I can fill my children’s hearts completely.

I turned to God in prayer many times during my dark and stormy day and He was there every time with a whisper of encouragement, the x-ray vision needed to find that lost shoe, the foresight to know that my daughter’s frustration would be cured with a hug.

Not only did I go to bed that night feeling satisfied that God had heard and answered my prayer, I felt his presence within me and around me. He acted in response to my prayer and was present in every word I spoke, every child I embraced, every moment of grace I encountered.

That’s what makes a Christian unique – our prayers become living, breathing beings as we are transformed into the body of Christ, practice the heart of the Holy Spirit, do all things through God.

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