Random Bits of Information

I wanted to share with you a handwritten letter I got from my sponsor child in Uganda today.  My scanner does not work, so I can't put his picture here, but I will include pictures of other kids who need help.  His name is PaPa Ntege (I've been told the N is probably silent) and he lives in Uganda.  I sponsor him through ChildrenOfGrace.org.  Here's his letter:

"Dear Fisher
Praise the living God,

It's me PaPa Ntege trying to raive alot of thanks to you because of the help you're providing to me.  I am actually very grateful because I was really in need of your help.  I pray that God rewards you abanduntly because you have shown alot of love to me.

Your loving son
PaPa Ntege."

How sweet is that!!

Children of Grace was founded by Mary Ann McCoy, a woman who lives near me.  Here is her statement:

On my first trip to Africa in 2001, I met a lovely young Ugandan mother named Grace. Her husband had died of AIDS and consequently Grace was HIV positive. She struggled to provide for her three children and feared for their future after she died.

"Who will pay their school fees? Who will provide food, clothing and health care? Who is going to take care of them and who is going to love them?"

Today, in honor and memory of Grace, Children of Grace provides hope, love, education, and a future to hundreds of orphaned children affected by HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

I received a letter from Children of Grace recently that said they are planning another visit to check on the children and the school.  They are asking for videos of the sponsor families to show to the kids so they can see who is caring for them.  They also said, if possible, they would return with video messages from our specific sponsor child.  That seems really cool to me. 

 I'm feeling happy today thanks to PaPa's letter, so I thought I would share with the rest of Active Rain.  Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

I admit, I enjoy the off topic way more than the on topic here at Active Rain.  I do, however, love making and maintaining websites.  It's a lot of fun and a good way to be creative.  I have a new client that I'm pretty excited and nervous about at the same time.  She's an artist in San Francisco so I'm going to feel extra pressure to make an attractive site.  I'm also going to feel extra pressure to buy her art, if she's any good, because I have a weakness.  So this job may end up in trade rather than income! 

It's easy to think of bonuses to offer sellers, we stage every listing, for example, at our (well, Terrylynn's) expense.  I wanted to share an idea with you about a little perk we offer our buyers (my mom is the realtor, I do the paperwork & websites).  For each buyer (who seems interested) we offer a free show off website for their new place.  They can share pictures with friends and family out of the area, and people can comment and show their support.  People seem to like it.  I know all buyers won't be into it, but those who are seem to have a lot of fun with it. 

This doesn't have to take a lot of time or be super complicated.  Just a couple of pages and a way for friends and family to leave comments seems to make most buyers pretty happy.

What perks do you offer your buyers that set you apart in your market?  I'd love to hear your ideas.

Kids:

Raising Your Spirited Child Rev Ed: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, M.A.

Some people get lucky and have mellow kids. Some people get lucky and have spirited kids, which can be more of a challenge. I am in the second group. This book REALLY helped me learn how to help Rhiannon handle her emotions and energy. She's extremely sensitive, which makes her a very caring person with a huge heart. It also allows her feelings to be hurt easily. In addition, she needs structure in order to keep her feeling balanced. These are things I learned to help her with by reading this book, and just by learning from her as she grows.

For instance, by naming for her what she was feeling, I was able to give her words for those feelings so she could express them in a way other than screaming or crying. Simple things like, "I see that you're angry because that didn't work out the way you wanted it to," help a lot. I also warn her of changes in routine so she has time to adjust. (I, at 40, still have this issue. No matter how great the change is, I need a couple of minutes in my head to adjust to it before I can be happy about it. You could tell me we're going to Hawaii instead of the movies and I still need that time to handle my thoughts, as my first thought is always NO).

One very interesting subject that is brought up in this book is the idea of comfort. You know how some kids complain about the seam in their sock causing discomfort or won't wear pants with a button waist for the same reason, or they say things are too loud or too bright. The author points out that they really feel these things differently than we do. They're not making it up or just causing drama. Their bodies/hearing/vision/whatever it may be is extra sensitive. Amazing!

I can't tell you enough how much this book has helped me to parent my spirited, highly intelligent daughter.

Adults:

As a former spirited child, I found that this book really helped me to see my sensitivity as a POSITIVE thing and not a negative thing. You know how people say, "You're so sensitive!" as if it's a bad thing? Well as a kid I certainly internalized that. As an adult, I read this book and it helped me to feel much better about myself:

Are You Really Too Sensitive: How to Develop and Understand Your Sensitivity as the Strength It Is by Marcy Calhoun

One of the ways I am extra sensitive is that I easily pick up on other people's feelings. For example, I never get headaches. I started (long ago) working in Records at a police department. Behind my desk was where they kept the aspirin. Peope came through all the time for aspirin. I was getting headaches every day and wondering what was going on. After reading this book I realized I was taking on other people's feelings and learned that I could simply say, "Oh, that's not mine," and let it go. (Crazy as it sounds, it works).

This book helped me, as an adult, to feel better about my sensitivity and gave me tools to handle the challenging aspects of it. For anyone who's ever beat themselves up for being "too sensitive", this book can help.

NO!  Not in that way.  Really, I  promise mom!

So some of you already know this.  For those of you who don't, I have the perfect (and most dangerous) job for me.  I get to work on a website where I can buy stuff.  I REALLY like to buy stuff.  After shoes (thank goodness shoes are not in our inventory), ART is a big weakness for me.

Marey & I have a virtual office.  We are on Yahoo Messenger all day, she in MI, me in CA.  So we have an ongoing dialogue about all things family, work and otherwise.  Marey was in charge of adding the faux food to the site.  The faux food looks very real.  I had the job of adding the art photographs.  I'm thinking that was selfish on my part, I would have been much safer with the faux food.

So as I'm adding all this art to the site, I'm wanting to purchase at least half of it.  I keep telling Marey, "I am going to be good.  I am not going to buy anything.  I am going to wait until it's in the budget."  Marey (adding the faux food) kept commenting, "Chris, I'm hungry."

So a good two weeks of this go by.  I am being so good!  I am not ordering any art!  Then I get a phone call from Kym.  "Chris, I'm ordering some photographs, do you want any?  We can combine shipping."  How fast did I respond?  Is 1/2 a second possible?  It is entirely possible I responded before she finished talking, "YES!  I want a 14 x 20 of Polk Street and Red Lady!"  I am really that easy.  She just had to ask.

So my first two are photos of two walls in San Francisco.  I love San Fran so I thought that was appropriate  for me.  (Rhiannon's friend Amelia very reasonably asked, "Chris, where are you going to put them?"

These are photographs printed on photograph paper, not prints or posters.  The color is even more vibrant than in these jpgs.  I'm in big trouble!

Those of you that know me won't be surprised that I have eclectic taste in art.  I have abstracts, I have stuff my daughter, Rhiannon has done.  I found this guy on ebay I really like named John Deeken, I have some of his things.  I have a painting from Africa, one from Guatemala, and one from St. Croix.  (When family members go on vacation, that is what I ask for.  Local art.  My sister's mother-in-law lives in Guatemala and she gifted me that one.  My mom visited St. Croix and my sister, when she visited Africa, bought me that one).  I have paintings and prints of fairies, witches, cats, you name it.  I need to build more walls in my house!  Rhiannon's BFF's (best friends forever, for those of you w/o little girls) Grandmother, who was an artist and owned a gallery, recently passed and her son gave me one of her pieces that actually quite disturbs me.  I appreciate it for it's ability to disturb me.  I just love art.

Anyway, I'd love for you to post photos of some of your favorites in your house.  As you can see, I have a serious lack of will power!  : )  Just wanted to share my new pictures from StagersLIST.com.

This post was going to be titled, My friend has lost her mind.  But then I got all mushy about it (I'll post my mushy stuff at the end of the blog, if you're interested).  Here's how it started:

Text message to my sister:
Adryon is running a 26 mile marathon.

Text message from my sister:
That's insane.

Text message to my sister:
I know, I can barely do the 6 mile walk I do every year.

Here's how it really started:

Adryon MEANT to send out this message to all her friends:
I'm running a half marathon for the leukemia/lymphoma society!

Adryon ACTUALLY sent out this message:
I'm running a marathon for the leukemia/lymphoma society!

What I love about, and have in common with, Adryon is that since she said it, she HAS TO DO IT.  (This is why I am MUCH more careful about what I say!)

Adryon is already a really smart, really kind person.  She works with disabled youth.  She's been injured in the course of her job, and she continues to do it.  Kids love her.  Pets love her.  I love her.  She's a really kind human.

Adryon needs to make some changes in her current situation.  She's been having boyfriend trouble, mortgage trouble, family illness trouble, you name it.  So what does she choose as a way to help change her life?  Team in Training.  She chooses to help someone else as a way to help herself.  I LOVE THAT.  She also recently finally cut her hair and donated it to Locks of Love.  I LOVE THAT!

I will admit this.  Adryon is 26, I am 40. Generally when I hang out with Adryon & her friends it takes me 2 days to recover.  These days, Adryon is in bed by 9:30.  She has met people who are running because their brother/son/grandson has died.  She is standing up in protest and support.  I LOVE THAT.  She is at the gym every day, and running, running, running.

If you have the means and the intention, please help Adryon to stand up and RUN for this cause.  She has made me feel better from her efforts.  She is standing up for all of us, and all people who suffer.  She needed to change her life, and she chose HELPING OTHERS as a way to do that.  I have to say, I really LOVE THAT. 

Just because her baby dog, Napoleon, is flippin cute, I'm adding his photo here.  He has been WAY more expensive than he should've been.  Personality galore.

Anyway, here's my mushy Adryon story about why I will always, always love her:

I'm 14 years older than Adryon.  When I was in my late teens this story came my way.  My grandpa, who was my favorite person in the world until I had my daughter (I'm convinced he waited until I had someone to take that spot before he passed away, just so I could handle it), was a handyman after he retired.  He built a deck for Adryon's parents.  Adryon was a little toddler and said, "Al, can you come to my birthday party?"

Many, many years later as we're heading to a NYE party, she mentions this to me.  I said, "You're that girl?!  I LOVE YOU for that!" That was it, we've been fast friends ever since.  She is/was smart enough to love my grandpa.  And to do this (insane) marathon to help those less fortunate than herself.  Thank you Adryon!