I posted awhile back about God having a "Project" for each of us. We each fall into the daily grind of projects, whether it be all encompassing work, laundry, sweeping the kitchen floor, taxes, insurance, sewing, planting a garden, cleaning out the car, kids' projects, getting kids to and from activities, working on the golf swing or getting the boat ready for the summer, homework, remodeling, etc. You name it, we've all got little projects. Something ALWAYS has to get done. One of my favorite quotes is, "Even the ants are busy. The question is, what are they busy about?" In the midst of all our little projects, what's really important? Sometimes we have to slow down, play with our kids, sit with our spouse, laugh with family and friends, have a conversation with someone even though we really don't think we have the time, check on the neighbor that might be having problems, cook dinner for a mom that's about to sink and is barely staying above water, etc. Sometimes we're right where we want to be in life, and sometimes we're very uncomfortable where we are, and certainly not in the place we imagined. We have to know, though, that no matter what or where, there's a grander plan on a much larger scale than we can ever comprehend.
I read the following article last night that was written by Baron Batch, a former Texas Tech football player. He was a standout on the football field and so much fun to watch! In the larger picture, though, he's using what God has taught him to help others. He also has a great video from IamSecond.com. The article is so inspiring and teaches such an important lesson. No matter where you are in life or what has happened to you, God has a purpose for you where you are, and will carry out His project through you. Sometimes we just have to Be Still, know that He is God, and not quit the race designed for us.
Enjoy this article, and please pass it on:
http://www.mywesttexas.com/sports/article_05859a06-5985-584e-ac84-75ddcc0535c6.html#axzz1InUTvmg1
Blessings~
The Project Queen
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Project: Fight for Education
The great State of Texas is in a pickle. The recent gubernatorial election made it sound like Texas was on solid ground financially with a balanced budget, Texas being open for business and money being set aside in a "rainy day" fund. However, the budget isn't going to be quite as balanced in the 2012-2013 budget as Texans are facing a budget shortfall of $27 Billion, yes, Billion with a B. The following link describes how we got in this pickle.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-taxes/2011-budget-shortfall/about/
The question is...where should they cut to balance the budget???? We've all heard the talk of education taking a heavy hit. It's fully understandable facing such a shortfall in a budget that cuts must be made someplace, but is cutting our kids and their futures the answer?
I don't know about you, but when the budget is tight, our family makes lots of cuts. We cut expenses on eating out, entertainment, travel, clothing, unnecessary projects that can wait a while longer, and even by making adjustments to our energy usage so the bills aren't quite as high. We drive our older cars a little longer, and make things work before running out and buying new. One thing we don't cut is providing opportunity for our children. Our children are our future. Cliche, but so true. If we don't educate our children to the best of our ability, what is the future workforce of our state going to look like? Here are some statistics from the Texas Comptroller's website. It appears these are from 2006, which may seem fairly outdated, but the most recent I could find. If you know of more recent statistics, please forward them.
This is already a bleak picture, but what happens when we cut education further and our kids end up in a system where the student/teacher ratio is so large, that none get the attention they deserve.
I've heard news reports of Dallas ISD proposing to cut nearly 1/4 of their education staff, Granbury is proposing to cut music educators, art teachers, school nurses and librarians, Amarillo has a hiring freeze, and those in Lubbock are worried about cuts to their jobs, just to name a few. Districts all over the state are looking at losing millions in funding. The Districts are being forced to cut positions, therefore increasing class sizes and devastating the educational potential of each child. When teachers lose their jobs, our kids suffer-- period.
If you've never been in a classroom other than being a student to witness the job teachers accomplish on a daily basis, I encourage you to do so. Teachers are not only educators, they're managers. They manage and educate children from all socioeconomic levels, varying backgrounds and ethnicities, children with learning and physical disabilities, children within normal learning levels, as well as children performing at high levels. They have the task to bring each child to his or her potential all the while making sure they perform highly on the state's coveted TAKS test, all the while being paid at low levels compared to those across the country.
From a former teacher and a mommy of two amazing little girls with bright futures, this is a fight I'm willing to take on...your children deserve better and so do mine. The question becomes~"What can we do?" Please visit the following link from Make Education a Priority.
http://www.schoolpriority.com/additonal_info_2.html
www.SchoolPriority.com is an excellent site telling what we, as parents, can do to fight the school funding cuts that are looming. It's my project this week to let the legislators know that we won't tolerate cuts to our children's education. There is a link on the website above showing the contact information for legislators in your area. Please pass this on to other friends and acquaintances. This is not a political party issue, it's an issue for the future of our children. No matter if you're a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or Tea Partier, this affects us all. As citizens, mommies, daddies, and grandparents, we need to find our voices. My kids deserve better than to be stuck in an state funded system that doesn't put them first. Saving our funding and our teachers should be our top priority to ensure that their future is as bright and wide open as the Texas plains.
Please post if you agree and let me know what you'll be doing as well, forward on, and help me with this project to fight for our kids.
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-taxes/2011-budget-shortfall/about/
The question is...where should they cut to balance the budget???? We've all heard the talk of education taking a heavy hit. It's fully understandable facing such a shortfall in a budget that cuts must be made someplace, but is cutting our kids and their futures the answer?
I don't know about you, but when the budget is tight, our family makes lots of cuts. We cut expenses on eating out, entertainment, travel, clothing, unnecessary projects that can wait a while longer, and even by making adjustments to our energy usage so the bills aren't quite as high. We drive our older cars a little longer, and make things work before running out and buying new. One thing we don't cut is providing opportunity for our children. Our children are our future. Cliche, but so true. If we don't educate our children to the best of our ability, what is the future workforce of our state going to look like? Here are some statistics from the Texas Comptroller's website. It appears these are from 2006, which may seem fairly outdated, but the most recent I could find. If you know of more recent statistics, please forward them.
- Texas is #49 in verbal SAT scores in the nation (493) and #46 in average math SAT scores (502).
- Texas is #36 in the nation in high school graduation rates (68%).
- Texas is #33 in the nation in teacher salaries. Teacher salaries in Texas are not keeping pace with the national average. The gains realized from the last state-funded across-the-board pay raise authorized in 1999, which moved the ranking from 33 to as high as 26th in the nation, have disappeared over the last five years.
- Texas was the only state in the nation to cut average per pupil expenditures in fiscal year 2005, resulting in a ranking of #40 nationally; down from #25 in fiscal year 1999.
- Texas is #6 in the nation in student growth. The general student population in Texas public schools grew by 11.1% between school years 1999 and 2005, with the largest percent of growth seen among low income and minority children.
- Between school years 1999 and 2005, the number of central administrators employed by Texas public schools grew by 32.5%, overall staffing in public schools grew by 15.6%, while the number of teachers grew only 13.3%.
This is already a bleak picture, but what happens when we cut education further and our kids end up in a system where the student/teacher ratio is so large, that none get the attention they deserve.
I've heard news reports of Dallas ISD proposing to cut nearly 1/4 of their education staff, Granbury is proposing to cut music educators, art teachers, school nurses and librarians, Amarillo has a hiring freeze, and those in Lubbock are worried about cuts to their jobs, just to name a few. Districts all over the state are looking at losing millions in funding. The Districts are being forced to cut positions, therefore increasing class sizes and devastating the educational potential of each child. When teachers lose their jobs, our kids suffer-- period.
If you've never been in a classroom other than being a student to witness the job teachers accomplish on a daily basis, I encourage you to do so. Teachers are not only educators, they're managers. They manage and educate children from all socioeconomic levels, varying backgrounds and ethnicities, children with learning and physical disabilities, children within normal learning levels, as well as children performing at high levels. They have the task to bring each child to his or her potential all the while making sure they perform highly on the state's coveted TAKS test, all the while being paid at low levels compared to those across the country.
From a former teacher and a mommy of two amazing little girls with bright futures, this is a fight I'm willing to take on...your children deserve better and so do mine. The question becomes~"What can we do?" Please visit the following link from Make Education a Priority.
http://www.schoolpriority.com/additonal_info_2.html
www.SchoolPriority.com is an excellent site telling what we, as parents, can do to fight the school funding cuts that are looming. It's my project this week to let the legislators know that we won't tolerate cuts to our children's education. There is a link on the website above showing the contact information for legislators in your area. Please pass this on to other friends and acquaintances. This is not a political party issue, it's an issue for the future of our children. No matter if you're a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or Tea Partier, this affects us all. As citizens, mommies, daddies, and grandparents, we need to find our voices. My kids deserve better than to be stuck in an state funded system that doesn't put them first. Saving our funding and our teachers should be our top priority to ensure that their future is as bright and wide open as the Texas plains.
Please post if you agree and let me know what you'll be doing as well, forward on, and help me with this project to fight for our kids.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Project: Go RED!
Jennie Garth is in the first video talking about women and heart disease. Loved the second video from Betty White!
Tell all the women you love and even the ones you just "tolerate" about
Go Red for Women Day! ;-)
You just have to wear red on Friday, February 4, for Go Red for Women day. This is a national day that the American Heart Association sets up to promote education in women about heart disease. Heart Disease is currently the #1 Killer of Women in the United States.
You're probably thinking, "Whatever lady, I'm only 29." (Aren't we all!?!?) This cause is very important to me because I have a very strong family history of this disease. Heart disease goes straight up my family tree on my father's side. Since I'm 29 (+7), this weighs heavy on me. I'm still young, but my father had his first open-heart bypass surgery at 47, and the second at 55. As fast as time is moving, that's not that far off for me. I'm all about trying to look decent in a swimsuit, and a 12 inch incision down the middle of my chest really isn't what I'm going for. All joking aside, my great-grandmother had open-heart surgery at 80, my grandfather twice, my grandmother has had stints and a pacemaker as well as high blood pressure, and then my father with two open-heart surgeries under his belt. Since a nurse once told me that women get their heart disease from their father's side, I don't stand much of a chance.
However, there is something I can do to try to prevent heart disease from catching up with me. Of course, one of the main risk factors is your family history, which I can't do much about. I can, however, watch what I eat, not smoke, exercise, maintain a healthy weight, learn the warning signs, and can see my doctor regularly to have my cholesterol and triglyceride levels checked. I can even have a glass of wine at night to try to beat heart disease!
Please join me this week for Project #1: calling your doctor to schedule an appointment to check your numbers and to get them under control if necessary. That's my first project in the morning! For Project #2--Visit GoRedforWomen.org. There is so much information for you to learn about preventing heart disease. You really don't want to learn you have heart disease as a heart attack happens. Start as early as possible for the best prevention. It's up to us to take care of ourselves so we'll be here to take care of our families. We can even start with our children now to try to prevent heart disease.
Who's with me??? Let's Go Red on Friday, Feb 4!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Life's Project
The thought of The Project has been on my mind for quite some time. I was recently challenged through an online sermon titled "Someday--Code word for Never". I've been going to start writing/blogging "someday", and since it's been over a year and a half since I first thought about Life's Project, today I'm starting my Someday...
My hubby and I have nearly lost count of all the houses we've remodeled (we think it's 4, but maybe just 3 and feels like 20). We're not flippers, and most definitely haven't been smart like some people who remodel first and move in later. We just move right on in and remodel alongside real life. You can imagine the messes we've created. My sweet grandmother has been known to say upon occasion, "Honey, what ARE you going to do with that? Are you going to cover that hole?" After nearly 14 years of marriage, gutting a kitchen the first 6 weeks of law school, re-tiling a bathroom along with new carpet, countertops, tile and windows, stripping wallpaper, stripping linoleum, painting, grouting, installing crown molding, landscaping, fence repair, installing cabinets, painting cabinets, etc., I think we can survive most anything...good thing is we're still laughing and haven't killed each other yet!:) No, there was no contractor, just two people with an idea to make something better. All turned out beautifully and were finally finished just in time for life to change, the houses to sell, and someone else to enjoy the fruits of our labors.
One afternoon in the midst of the last remodel, I was stripping the most heinous flowerdy (it can be a word);) wallpaper one could possibly have in the entry way to our home. The colors were green and rose, if I remember correctly. The previous lady was a DIY'er, too, but didn't have the skills to be. She had painted the bottom portion of the wall a strange shade of red with a yellow glaze on top. Got the picture of this hallway...in the entry to our home?!? She could have used a design team with those choices!;) As I stripped the first layer of wallpaper, I noticed there was a second, and under the second was bare sheetrock. As I kept taking down piece after piece of paper, and piece after piece of backing, I made quite a mess. Finally the project prep-work was completed, the mess was swept away, primer was painted on the bottom, the bare sheetrock was textured, and the hall was painted colors that were calming and pleasing to the eye to make a nice welcome area for friends we might be greeting there. I could FINALLY leave my front door open!:)
In the midst of this chaotic project, I started thinking how this wall and all it's layers and bad choices of design could be similar to our lives. God has such an amazing and wonderful plan for each of us, but we try to do life by ourselves, end up covering up our mistakes with more and more layers. We "fake it 'til we make it" instead of handing everything over to the One who knows the number of hair on our heads and tells us in Phillipians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He knows what we need, he knows our weaknesses, but also knows our strengths. He can strip down the layers, clean up the messes, and make us whole and new again. Through Him, we can proudly open our doors and let our light shine.
God has a project for each of us. Maybe it's being a parent, a teacher, an attorney, a farmer, a doctor, a salesmen, and the list could go on. Are we open to it, though? Sometimes we just have to be still and open to let the work be done within us. What Project is waiting? Let it begin...
My hubby and I have nearly lost count of all the houses we've remodeled (we think it's 4, but maybe just 3 and feels like 20). We're not flippers, and most definitely haven't been smart like some people who remodel first and move in later. We just move right on in and remodel alongside real life. You can imagine the messes we've created. My sweet grandmother has been known to say upon occasion, "Honey, what ARE you going to do with that? Are you going to cover that hole?" After nearly 14 years of marriage, gutting a kitchen the first 6 weeks of law school, re-tiling a bathroom along with new carpet, countertops, tile and windows, stripping wallpaper, stripping linoleum, painting, grouting, installing crown molding, landscaping, fence repair, installing cabinets, painting cabinets, etc., I think we can survive most anything...good thing is we're still laughing and haven't killed each other yet!:) No, there was no contractor, just two people with an idea to make something better. All turned out beautifully and were finally finished just in time for life to change, the houses to sell, and someone else to enjoy the fruits of our labors.
One afternoon in the midst of the last remodel, I was stripping the most heinous flowerdy (it can be a word);) wallpaper one could possibly have in the entry way to our home. The colors were green and rose, if I remember correctly. The previous lady was a DIY'er, too, but didn't have the skills to be. She had painted the bottom portion of the wall a strange shade of red with a yellow glaze on top. Got the picture of this hallway...in the entry to our home?!? She could have used a design team with those choices!;) As I stripped the first layer of wallpaper, I noticed there was a second, and under the second was bare sheetrock. As I kept taking down piece after piece of paper, and piece after piece of backing, I made quite a mess. Finally the project prep-work was completed, the mess was swept away, primer was painted on the bottom, the bare sheetrock was textured, and the hall was painted colors that were calming and pleasing to the eye to make a nice welcome area for friends we might be greeting there. I could FINALLY leave my front door open!:)
In the midst of this chaotic project, I started thinking how this wall and all it's layers and bad choices of design could be similar to our lives. God has such an amazing and wonderful plan for each of us, but we try to do life by ourselves, end up covering up our mistakes with more and more layers. We "fake it 'til we make it" instead of handing everything over to the One who knows the number of hair on our heads and tells us in Phillipians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He knows what we need, he knows our weaknesses, but also knows our strengths. He can strip down the layers, clean up the messes, and make us whole and new again. Through Him, we can proudly open our doors and let our light shine.
God has a project for each of us. Maybe it's being a parent, a teacher, an attorney, a farmer, a doctor, a salesmen, and the list could go on. Are we open to it, though? Sometimes we just have to be still and open to let the work be done within us. What Project is waiting? Let it begin...
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