Family Literacy Day

The Family Literacy Day event at the local mall was perfect for my 7 year old friend "A" (full name not used to respect confidentiality) who I am matched with through Family and Children's Services. During our weekly outings I've been focusing on helping her improve her reading and today's event included lots of related activities.

She received two Jazlyn J books and local author Renná Bruce was there to sign them. I was not previously familiar with Jazlyn J books but they are well written and illustrated and are very educational.

Local children's entertainer Erick Traplin was there. Before his show, "A" talked with him and let him know that on Family Day we'll be clowning at the same event he'll be singing at. I bought Erick's Bubbles CD which I can play in the truck with "A" as well as for foster children in the future. During the show there was lots of clapping, jumping, and bum wiggling (some modifications required while seated in the truck). Erick includes kids in his show and "A" helped out as a drummer.

After working up an appetite we went to the Food Court to eat, read, and play games. "A" especially enjoyed Morris Goes to School, a favourite of my son's when he was small. I took that book along and, since Morris in the book is a moose, I also took the moose puppet my son played with along with the book. There's nothing like a stuffed moose puppet belted in the middle seat of the truck going to the mall.

My cousin Cheryl, an early literacy teacher, had recommended the game Bananagrams to play with "A". We played different games with the letter tiles. In grade two, "A" can spell quite a few short words and can provide words that begin with different letters, but I was stunned to discover that she doesn't actually know the alphabet! So we made it fun by teaching the alphabet to Morris the moose. He'll probably come along with us a lot in the future.

Our usual two hour outing had become five and I was completely exhausted but it wasn't easy to convince "A" that it was time to go. She was so completely happy her cheeks must be sore from smiling all day. It's great that she is having fun with learning.

Getting Ready

Today my sister Loretta started blogging about her 50th year. Although we live over 3,000 km apart we talk on the phone very frequently and are pretty close. We share our ideas and often do things in tandem. In our discussion today about her blog the idea came that I would maybe do the same thing after I turn 49 in October. But it sounds like fun so why wait? Loretta's first blog is called "Ready, Fire, Aim". This is me getting ready.

I had to decide what specifically to blog about while I'm waiting to blog about my 50th year. I considered what is significant for me at this time in my life and decided to blog about Living On Purpose. Have you ever thought about what might be your purpose in life? I've always believed that my purpose is to have a positive impact on the lives of children. In 2010 I happen to be doing a lot of things in my life that specifically relate to my purpose and I call that "Living On Purpose".

One of the things I'm doing is volunteering with Family and Children's Services, as I have been for over five years, and I really love the children I have been involved with. I have had several one on one matches which involves taking a child out approximately once a week, like a Big Brother/Big Sister. I have also helped with a woodworking club and a scrapbooking club for foster children. Occasionally I get out the old clown costume and help with their fundraising events. My current match is a 7 year old girl who makes a wonderful assistant clown.

Foster Parenting was modelled for me by my grandparents and aunts on my dad's side and I have always known it to be something I would do. My son has been on his own for a few years and there's a long waiting period for grandchildren. Meanwhile, I have an empty house and an open heart and there are so many children in need. So I have taken my volunteering with Family and Children's Services to the next level and applied to be a Foster Parent. I don't know how it will all work out yet, as a single woman whose job includes a lot of business travel lately, but it feels right so Ready, Fire!

Another thing I'm doing (with Loretta) is Wonderful, Powerful ME! Workshops for Kids - Empowering children to live an authentic life through the law of attraction. It is a way of applying my purpose to more children at the same time. Ultimately, I would like to expand this effort to include public speaking. Impacting large groups of parents/adult influences would indirectly impact even more children.

After watching Oprah one day, I embraced the whole concept of impacting more children in the world by impacting women. Women have a tremendous impact on their families and communities so when you help a girl or woman....oh just watch Oprah's video on "The Girl Effect". My point is that I decided to sponsor a woman in a country affected by war through Women For Women. I have been matched with a woman in Sudan, referred to as my sister, named Monica. She and her husband care for 5 children. I'd say she is a very good match considering my purpose.

I didn't initially relate it to my purpose, but I have been micro-lending through Kiva since July 2008. Whenever the entrepreneurs make payments, I recirculate the original money into new loans. I have made a total of 14 loans so far. The minimum loan is $25 so I'm not talking about a fortune here. I seem to have consistently chosen entrepreneurs who have children and a large number of the loans were for women or groups of women. So even though it wasn't consciously on purpose, my lending practices have actually demonstrated me Living On Purpose.

So there you go. Five things I'll be blogging about:
Family and Children's Services,
Foster Parenting,
Kiva microloans,
Women for Women,
Wonderful Powerful ME,
....and whatever else comes up that's On Purpose.