Rebekah's Sweetart

04/01/2025

04/01/2025

lol

04/01/2025

Good job

This is my youngest daughter - she’s 14. This is her second year working a summer job. She decided where she wanted to work and walked in a resume. They didn’t call. So she called them, twice. Then went in to see if they had looked at the resumes yet. They hadn’t. They asked her if she had time now to do an interview. She said “yes”.
She got the job.
She works whatever shift they want. She posted a sign on the employee bulletin board telling co-workers if they want a day off she’s happy to help.
She cleans dishes and toilets. Takes out garbage and mops the floor. Waits on customers and manages money. She makes fancy coffees and smoothies.
It’s not glamorous- but she’s saving 70% of what she makes to become a doctor. The other 30% is going towards a computer and time with her friends.
She’s leaning in. She’s putting the work in. She impresses me"
Credit: Wendy Shane

03/29/2025

"I gave my 10 year old a math test today. He spent nearly an hour and used four sheets of scratch paper. He worked each problem with intense concentration. And then with a deep breath he handed it to me to be graded.

I quickly worked my way through the test and calculated his score.

“It’s an 89” I said, “that’s a high B.”

Immediately his eyes filled with tears. He had done his best work, given his greatest effort and had still come up short.

I looked at my boy and back down at his paper.

And then I ripped it in half.

My boy is amazing in the kitchen. He can cook a meal for the entire family without breaking a sweat.

My boy is incredible at putting things together. He uses tools like a skilled craftsman.

My boy is a founding member of the mother/son debate team, (I just made that up) he can persuade me into doing things I never planned to do.

My boy is hilarious. He is always the first one to make a joke at the dinner table.

My boy is a sensitive soul. He’s kind and gentle when that sort of thing is necessary.

My boy is diligent. He will work at something until he feels it’s as good as it can be.

My boy is NOT defined by the grade on his math paper.

When I ripped that paper up, I looked my boy in the eyes and I told him how I had watched him. How I saw him give his best, how he considered each problem and checked each one until he felt it was complete. I watched him erase and rework problems he was unsure of. I watched him pour every bit of effort in his little body into that test.

And I told him I had never been more proud.

Children are so much more than test scores. They are so much more than their reading level. They are so much more than the box we try to mold them in to.

School is important, education is important but it’s not of highest importance.

I am more concerned with how he treats others, with his level of integrity and his desire to serve Jesus than any score on any test.

I am more concerned with his ability to learn how to use his talents to earn money for his family.

I am more concerned with the character that we are building than the division facts on the paper.

Our children should have an opportunity to show us where they excel, especially in the elementary years.

I was shocked at the pressure he felt to do well on that test. I never imagined the tears of disappointment that would fall. I admire his ambition and his desire to do well.

I have never been more proud of an 89 on a math test." Reshareworthy ❤

Credit: Sprinkles In My Closet

03/19/2025

Prayers for the children

"Tonight marked the end of two and a half years of living here with my older son, as he walked over to the table with some food.

He was about to dig in when I jumped in and asked what he was up to.

He said, ‘I was hungry, so I made food for myself.’

‘But it’s raw. I can cook that for you—it’s super easy!’

‘Like I said, I just wanted to eat something I used to have with my old family.’

So, I sat down with him and asked him to share more about it.

He told me that they wouldn’t let him eat because he was knocked out, and he was expected to prepare food for himself and his younger siblings, who were just 2 years and 4 months old when they came to us.

He explained that they spent all their money on ci******es and other things, so he would search the back of their van for coins and, at just 6 years old, walk to the shop at the end of the street to buy Ramen packets.

He mentioned he had no idea how to cook and would eat it with the sauce without boiling the noodles. But in the end, he actually grew to love it.

Luckily, he would divide the food into portions for his siblings and even try to make bottles for the baby—at just 6 years old!

So, I asked him to make some for me.

I sat next to him, trying to do it too, but ended up making a bit of a mess since we had quite a bit of water, which wasn’t ideal. Then he started reminiscing about the first time I cooked Ramen for him, when he refused to eat it, and I told him I remembered that.

He said it reminded him of packet noodles and that he couldn’t trust me back then (pretty deep thinking for a 9-year-old!).

He mentioned he wasn’t sad about not living with his ‘old family’ anymore, but sometimes he likes to fondly remember how tough things were for him.

I’m sharing this because I want everyone to realize that trauma doesn’t just disappear quickly (sometimes it never does), and adopting a child doesn’t erase the traumas or memories they’ve experienced.

Kids can transform, and they definitely will in a loving environment. But please, never say, ‘I can’t care for that child because they’re difficult.’

I walked away feeling convinced, a bit sad, and honestly so incredibly proud of what my boy has been through. He’s such a lovely child, and we can’t stop showering him with love.

Friends, this is the life story of kids from tough backgrounds.

This is what it means to live a trauma-informed life.

Kitezh believes that most people can’t even begin to imagine what some children from hard places have gone through. It’s not just one or two incidents of abuse or neglect; it’s about surviving day after day, year after year.

They make sure the younger ones don’t suffer, even if it means sacrificing their own childhood.

The memory of trauma is so profound that it gets etched into every part of a child. Kids often can’t and don’t forget it. Their minds and bodies just won’t let them.

Those of us who are fortunate (yes, I said fortunate) to work with children from tough backgrounds need to be ready to sit on the floor with no shoes while eating cold, uncooked noodles and just be present. We have to be able to let go.

And our kids did too."

10/09/2023

Great football cake this weekend

09/28/2023

09/03/2023

Where did marketplace go on the facebook app?

08/06/2022

Weekend wedding such a lovely family to work with

05/02/2022

Swans a swimming