What comes to mind when I say "Christmas Traditions"? Do the thoughts of tree decorating, baking Christmas cookies, gift wrapping and attending Christmas service come to mind? How about getting together with family and friends? In my family, we have a tradition of hiding a small, toy bird in the tree every year for the children to look for. Not all families celebrate Christmas with the same traditions and that is okay. We all come from different families with different backgrounds and different traditions. At New Beginnings we strive to expose our residents to traditions such as decorating the Christmas tree or making Christmas cookies. Many of the moms at New Beginnings have never participated in these Christmas time traditions. Now, imagine if some of those well-loved traditions to you participate in where not there. Could you go without putting up a tree? How about going without the gifts for this year? "It just wouldn't be Christmas without Uncle Jack around." Has that thought ever crossed your mind about a loved one who has passed? Do you really believe Christmas has changed because things seem different? How about if you lost your job or fell on hard times? Is it still Christmas? The answer is simply "Yes". It is still Christmas. Just because something has changed, doesn't mean the true meaning of Christmas has changed. The fact is that Jesus was still born part God yet part man. He still lived the perfect life and suffered our terrible punishment for us. We celebrate Christmas to celebrate his birth and the fulfillment of the prophecy. Where is the best place to celebrate such a joyous event? Around a tree? Opening gifts? The best place to celebrate His birth would be in His house. If you have not made going to church on Christmas your tradition, I urge you to do so for that is where we can truly celebrate. For those of us who do make this our tradition, how blessed we are that no matter how much things change for us here on earth, we know that Christ was born, Christ has risen, and Christ will rise again in Glory one day to take us all home. May God bless you this Christmas. ![]() Christina Pritzlaff is married with two children. She has completed Early Childhood 1 & 2 classes, Infant Toddler classes, and completed the coursework for her Associates degree in Child Development. Christina splits her time between spending time with her family and working at New Beginnings. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her children, camping, fishing, reading, and doing counted cross-stitch.
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Over the past 5 years, our government has spent more than 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs. That’s 5 times greater than the spending amount of transportation, education, and NASA combined. Though poverty rates have gone down from 15% t0 14.5% in 2013, there are still 45 million Americans living below the poverty line, second highest among 35 developed nations. Although money is a great resource to help the poor, research has shown that poverty may be more than just a lack of financial resources. For us to see a significant improvement in the poverty rate of our country, we must first understand the culture of poverty and create solutions that include MORE than just money. The following video was created by Abednego Samudera: The Culture of PovertyIn her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Ruby Payne described that poverty is a set of hidden rules or “norms” that influence an individual’s “patterns of thought, social interaction, and cognitive strategies.” Poverty is a lifestyle, and like any other lifestyle, it is composed of many different elements besides financial resources, such as emotional, mental, and spiritual support. Support systems are as crucial as money for an individual to break away and stay out of poverty. One of the biggest downfalls of social welfare programs is the notion that if an individual is given money, it will help them secure other resources. Theoretically, it makes sense. Realistically, however, money cannot buy a good support system, especially considering that an individual living in poverty is probably surrounded by other poverty-stricken individuals who need the same resources. The SolutionThere isn’t one correct solution to this problem. However, there are other cost-effective ways that can yield greater results than just money. Sure, money will be part of the solution, but it will not be the whole solution. Since poverty is a culture, we must teach individuals to break away from that culture. Enrolling in a program that provides support group is a great step to teaching individuals that there are other possibilities besides their own. Education is also a crucial part in getting the poor out of poverty. It’s important that we teach them basic, yet very important, coping strategy skills, such as problem solving, positive attitudes, resolving conflicts, and setting priorities and goals. Along with that, having a support system also means that we are providing them with a network of people who can be a resource to their success. As you saw in the video, New Beginnings aims to break the cycle of poverty for each mother and baby at New Beginnings by providing an abundance of resources and support. When we understand that poverty is an accumulation of the lack of numerous resources besides money, the solution to fight poverty is exponentially greater than just using money as the only solution. As educators, professionals, mothers, fathers, and students, this means that we need not invest thousands or millions of dollars to this cause. We have opportunities to influence with other resources besides money that can make such a tremendous impact on the poor.
Today I would like to talk about friendship. The dictionary defines it as: 1. the state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a person's friendship. 2. a friendly relation or intimacy. 3. friendly feeling or disposition. One Sunday a month the residents, staff, and RAs at New Beginnings-A Home For Mothers go to church together; afterwards we join for a family meal. This is called Friendship Sunday. Two Sundays ago, as we all (there were ten of us) walked into St, Marcus, a beautiful modern Gothic style church with large stained glass windows, we heard perfect harmony coming from the four person choir as they sang Friend of God. Written by Israel Houghten it goes: "Who am I that you are mindful of me, that you hear me when I call. Is it true that you are thinking of me. How you love me, it's amazing." Then 3 XS the chorus - "I am a friend of God." finishing with "He calls me friend. God Almighty, Lord of glory. You have called me friend." That is not a small thing! That is a mind blowing, life changing concept. Through Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross we have been united with God and we are called His friends, James 2:23 says "And the scripture was fulfilled that says, " Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend." In John 15:15 Jesus says, "I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Do you believe that today?
![]() Yeah, I know the title got your attention! So let’s just jump right into it, shall we? At New Beginnings we recently had a Thanksgiving Dinner in place of our regular Thursday night group session. Everyone brought a dish to pass and we had an amazing meal of turkey, cheesy potatoes, salad (made by staff), corn bread dressing (Shaneka), homemade mac n’ cheese (Dana), green bean casserole (Resident Assistants), apple pie (Volunteer, Lisa), and more! What a blessing. After the meal, we had a short devotion and then wrote down some of the blessings in our lives. I was surprised by the range of answers: friends, family, sharing this meal together, police officers, education, toys (yes, kids were present, but I am thankful for toys too!), and Jesus, were just some of the answers. One of the blessings that surprised me most was “haters,” and I can honestly tell you it was written down by more than one person. Now before I go any further, let’s see how Urban Dictionary defines a “hater:” hater |
Brianne Kluge is the Home Manager at New Beginnings. She grew up in Marshall, WI and graduated from Lakeside Lutheran High School. Brianne has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. In her free time, she enjoys singing, camping, refurbishing furniture and spending time with her fiancé, Daniel. |
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Take a minute to think of all of the volunteers you encounter on a regular basis.
Here are a few places that come to my mind where I see volunteers in action:
* In schools, tutoring and mentoring young people
* Working as volunteer firefighters
* Coaching a youth basketball team or leading a scout group
* Raking leaves for the elderly couple next door
* Baby-sitting the kids while Mom and Dad are at work
* Filling positions in your church, such as teaching Sunday School, working as the secretary, or accompanying services as the organist
* Building houses for families in need
* Cleaning parks and highways
* Educating on health and safety
What other ways do you see volunteers serving faithfully around you? There are hundreds of volunteer opportunities around, and you may not even realize that some of the people you interact with daily are volunteers – 62.6 million Americans volunteered in their communities in 2013!
Now take a minute to imagine a day when no volunteers show up….
It’s a scary thought! We NEED volunteers, but the truth is, the number of volunteers has been declining over recent years. What challenges would you face if volunteers were not giving their time freely to benefit the lives of others? You may not realize it, but the impact of volunteers on our nation is pretty huge. The Corporation for National & Community Service stated that in 2013, volunteers gave almost 7.7 billion hours of service to their communities, which they estimated to be worth about 173 billion dollars!
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* Provide physical and social activity
* Offer educational and professional experience
* Reduce stress
* Provide a sense of purpose
* Strengthen your community
* Increase your problem-solving skills
* Improve physical and mental health
* In adults age 70 and over, you may experience lower rates of mortality, lower decline in functional ability and lower rates of depression
Volunteers are needed in almost every non-profit organization, and New Beginnings has been blessed by having faithful volunteers as part of our staff. We encourage you to get involved in your community by
volunteering your time to a cause you believe in and support. If that leads you to volunteering at New Beginnings- great! We would love to have you. But we also believe that there are several other places that need volunteers, and we would love to see you become involved at a place that suits your talents and interests.
Click here for some tips to help you start volunteering.
If you are interested in donating your time to New Beginnings, please email [email protected] or call (414)376-0595.
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Beth Shiels is the Assistant Home Manager at New Beginnings. She has been married to her husband, Zach, for seven years and they have three charismatic daughters, with a fourth baby arriving in December. Beth splits her time between staying at home with her children, working at New Beginnings, and assisting in Zach's chiropractic clinic. She loves this crazy busy life God has blessed her with and is thankful to have the opportunity to share His love with the moms and babies at New Beginnings.
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Managing time is something that does not come naturally to us. It is easy to feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done. Time management skills, however, can be learned and improved. Here are some tips for how to manage time well:
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- Don’t multitask. It may feel like you are accomplishing a lot when you are doing multiple tasks at once, but in reality it takes 20-40% more time when multitasking than when doing each thing sequentially. Focus on one task at a time, and minimize distractions, like Internet or phone use, in order to make the best use of your time.
Overcome Procrastination. Schedule. Avoid Perfectionism.
- Overcome procrastination. One of the greatest pitfalls to having good time management is the tendency to procrastinate. One way to get past procrastination is to tell yourself that you will spend only a short amount of time, such as perhaps ten minutes, working on that pesky project. Once you have started, it can be easier to continue working on it afterwards. Another way to deal with procrastination is to break larger projects up into smaller steps and accomplishing those steps one at a time, so that working on the project does not seem so daunting.
- Schedule. Set apart the times of the day when you work best for work on your most important tasks. Set aside a separate time for checking email and/or social media instead of doing it constantly throughout the day, because switching between tasks wastes time and makes it harder to be productive.
- Avoid perfectionism. Rather than constantly refining and refining work that is already plenty good enough to get the job done, know which tasks are already as good as they need to be, in order so you can spend your time and energy on the ones that need that extra effort.
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This blog post was written by our former Resident Support Staff Intern, Deanna Mose. Deanna currently attends Wisconsin Lutheran College. She helped New Beginnings with a variety of projects including light office work, assisting with our Change for Life fundraiser, interacting with residents, doing research on generational poverty, and writing blog articles.
The reality is that if we continue to tie the shoes or do the laundry, the next generation will grow up wearing Crocs to job interviews and heading out to the store once a week to buy clean underwear. Okay, you understand my point. All silliness aside, we KNOW that skill training remains a vital piece of life’s journey to self-sufficiency. In fact, God says in Luke 6:40, “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.” So how does that play out in the New Beginnings’ program?
At New Beginnings one of our goals is to break the cycle of poverty for the mother, and subsequently break the cycle of dependency for generations to come. Below are some researched points about the importance of education in our work at New Beginnings:
Will you join the movement and provide opportunities for skill development for generations to come? New Beginnings is always in need of tutors, individuals to lead Thursday night group sessions, mentors, and more. Feel free to jump on the bandwagon!
Brianne Kluge is the Home Manager at New Beginnings. She grew up in Marshall, WI and graduated from Lakeside Lutheran High School. Brianne has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. In her free time, she enjoys singing, camping, refurbishing furniture and spending time with her fiancé, Daniel. |
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
Brianne Kluge is the Home Manager at New Beginnings. She grew up in Marshall, WI and graduated from Lakeside Lutheran High School. Brianne has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. In her free time, she enjoys singing, camping, refurbishing furniture and spending time with her fiancé, Daniel. |
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The nurse who was coming by my house every week gave me a flyer about New Beginnings. I remember sitting there, looking and reading the flyer about how it could help me and my baby. I called the number, talked to one of the staff, and told her everything that was going on. She told me it sounded like I would be a good fit for the program and that she would get back to me. She called back about two hours later and told me that they would like to meet me, so I came in for an interview and a tour. It was nice and clean. A couple of days later, they called and told me I was accepted into the program. I did everything I needed to do to move into New Beginnings.
It was a difference for me because I was used to my own space and my own rules. I had a rough start, but I came to realize that I was here for a reason in that there is more to life than being selfish. As I began to understand more about New Beginnings, I began to accept the changes and rules and accept the women that I came in counter with. I started to believe that I was here for a purpose.
I’m surrounded by women who care and want to see me be successful in life so I can take care of my baby. When you have that in your face, you can’t help but accept it and change for the better. I thank God for New Beginnings, and I’m so honored to be a part of this great organization. Never Expect The Unexpected on What God has for You or Can Do.
*Since writing this article, Shaneka has brought a beautiful baby girl into the world. Kiarra Monae was born on September 9 and is a happy, healthy little girl. Shaneka is extremely thankful for this blessing in her life!
Shaneka has been a resident at New Beginnings for nearly 4 months. She is working towards pursuing a degree in nursing. She has always dreamed of working in the healthcare field and is excited that New Beginnings can help her fulfill her dream. She enjoys spending time with her beautiful baby girl, Kiarra. |
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During our Thursday evening group sessions at New Beginnings, we explore a variety of topics to expand our residents’ life skills. These sessions have been presented by staff, a local church or community member, or a Wisconsin Lutheran College student. We have learned about fire safety from a Milwaukee Fire Department firefighter, self-breast exams and women’s health from a senior WLC nursing student, how to submit a FAFSA form and scholarship essays from TEAM UP Milwaukee, discussed religious topics with a WLC campus pastor, held game nights and much more!
On a beautiful evening in June, we held a group session outside our home to beautify the landscaping and learn a little about gardening. At the time, we only had one resident, who had never planted anything before. She learned a lot that night and I think she might have even liked it a little bit. She helped plant geraniums and impatiens to add some color, and we also planted bell peppers, tomatoes, basil seeds and cilantro to enjoy later in the season.
After a summer of faithfully watering our plants and giving them lots of love, we had a bountiful harvest of basil and tomatoes. The peppers and cilantro did not do as well, but we are still learning!
As our tomatoes ripened and we watched as our basil leaves got bigger and bigger, we knew it was time to do something with all of it. We were very thankful for our amazing crop, but didn’t want to see it go to waste. We were able to make use of our earlier planting efforts for another educational group session: How to Use Basil. If you haven’t used basil for much before, there are countless possibilities! You can dry it to use throughout the winter months in pasta, dressings, sauces, soups, and more. You can make and freeze pesto to thaw later and enjoy on sandwiches or pasta. You can make Margherita pizza, caprese salad, fruit salads, flavor your water, basil-infused olive oil, basil butter, and the list goes on… Okay, so maybe there aren’t a “basil-ion” ways to use basil as the title suggests, but I would reckon at least 100!
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Drying the basil was a new process for most of us, but it went fast with five sets of hands working on it! It made me look forward to the day when my girls are all old enough that I can set up an assembly line at home to do this – it would go much faster than me doing it by myself!
After drying, bunching, and hanging the basil in our kitchen, our bruschetta was ready. We scooped it up onto some warm toast and indulged. It always tastes better when it’s homegrown, right? Everyone enjoyed this fresh, tasty treat and we hope that the residents are now confident to make it on their own sometime.
Our hanging basil is getting nice and dry now and will be ready to crush in a couple days. I think some empty baby food jars will be the perfect containers to hold the basil for each resident to enjoy in the coming months.
Growing your own herbs and vegetables is a truly rewarding experience, and we look forward to doing it again next year. Maybe then we can try the other 98 ways to use basil! We hope you are able to enjoy our bruschetta recipe and method of drying basil. We want to know: What’s your favorite way to use basil? Please tell us and we might try out your recipe next!
Beth Shiels is married to her husband, Zach, and together they have three charismatic daughters, with a fourth baby arriving in December. Beth splits her time between staying at home with her children, working at New Beginnings, and assisting in Zach's chiropractic clinic. She loves this crazy busy life Gods has blessed her with and is thankful to have the opportunity to share His love with the moms and babies at New Beginnings. |
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(Recipe adapted from tasteofhome.com)
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
* 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
* 4 T. olive oil, divided
* 3-4 T. fresh basil, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 14 slices French bread (3/4 inch thick)
** In a small skillet, heat 2 T. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and fry about one minute, just until lightly browned.
** In a large bowl, combine the garlic, tomatoes, onion, 2 T. olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Let stand for 20-30 minutes.
** Drizzle French bread slices with olive oil; sprinkle lightly with additional salt and pepper. Broil in oven for about 1-2 minutes until lightly browned – watch carefully!
** Spoon about 2 tablespoons of bruschetta onto each piece of toast.
Yield: 14 servings.
Drying Fresh Basil
(Method from preservingyourharvest.com)
METHOD:
1. Gather your basil harvest in the morning hours after the sun has dried away the dew of the night. Cut approximately 1/4” down the stem on each leaf.
2. Gather the sprigs into loose bundles and secure the stems with rubber bands to assure that the bundles stay together as they dry.
3. Hang upside down in a warm, dry place such as an attic or porch until the leaves are brittle to the touch, approximately 2 weeks.
5. Gather the dried bundles and place on a sheet of wax paper.
6. Crumble the dried leaves and separate out all of the tough stems onto the wax paper.
7. Store in an air tight container in the pantry for use in cooking.
STORAGE:
These air tight jars can be stored in a dry, dark place such as your pantry or cupboard, or even your freezer, with proper care.
USES:
Dried basil can be used in sauces, gravies, dressings and many other recipes that require fresh basil.
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