It's Time

Another story has hit the news. A young life taken by the hands of her mother. The cases and stories are becoming all to familiar.

But do you realize that for every story that is reported, there are many more that are not? In fact, according to a general government statistic, more than four children die of abuse EVERY DAY. There are dead babies and children we never hear about. Sorry to put it so bluntly but the numbers are not okay. Even one, it's not okay.

Every 10 seconds there is a report of child abuse made. Think about that for a minute? Did you take the whole minute? There were 6 reports made in that time.

Is your stomach turning yet?

There are 3,000 kids in the foster care system in Orange County. 18,000 in Los Angeles. 55,000 in California.

Whether it be physical abuse or sexual, neglect or abandonment, that's 55,000 children who were removed from their home due to abuse.

On any given day there are about 400,000 kids in out of home care in the US.

What are we doing about it?

I recently spoke to a man who is a part of LA's DCFS, he said it best by saying "this is not a government issue, it's a church issue". And he's right, we are ALL called to care for the widow and orphan. I am not claiming that we are all called to foster or adopt, trust me, I know that is not the case.

What can we do?

1. Be a respite home. Get licensed and be a home a child could be placed while they are looking for a more long term family. It is emergency foster care. You may have a child for 24 hours to 30 days.

2. Volunteer at a children's home. Many children's homes are entirely understaffed with little help from the community. Go to your local group home, if your community has one, and see what you can do. It may be something as simple as reading or playing games with the kids.

3. Hire an older Foster child. It is so common for kids who come into the system at an older age to "aged out of the system". They are on their own and aren't prepared to survive alone. Make a conscious effort to hire teen foster kids and get them on the right path for survival alone. Keep in mind that it is estimated that 20-40% of toady's homeless people were once foster children.

4. Donate. Whether this means donating items to a foster mom or group home or donating to agencies. Use the resources you have to give to the kids who do not.

5. Become a CASA worker.
CASA workers a great asset for advocating for foster kids. For many abused children, a CASA volunteer is the only constant adult presence in their lives.

6. Ask. If you don't know what you can do, call a state worker or foster agency and find out what they could use your help in doing. There is a great need for homes, support and loving people just like you.

Oh, and if you suspect child abuse in any shape or form. PLEASE, report it. 

It's time to make a difference. Can you help?

**Statistics on this post were obtained from Childrensrights.org and kidsdata.org**

Faux Stained Glass

Let's just say it. Flu season sucks. You are locked up in your house all the time because you are sick or scared of getting sick. It's times like right now I wish we had a yard to run wild in.

In order to keep my kids occupied we have done some crafting. Today was a simple and fun little Valentine's craft that I thought I'd share.

You will need:

Wax paper

Old crayons

A pencil sharpener

Scissors

String or twine

An iron

Kraft or newspaper

Directions:

-Heat iron to Low/Med heat. No steam.

-Lay out your wax paper. Maybe put it on top of your Kraft paper ahead of time. It would have been easier if I would have done that.

-Let the kids sharpen crayons and make a mess all over the wax paper ::shudder::.

-Once it is good and covered put the other piece of wax paper on top. We laid our twine between the two, if we do it again, we will probably just hole punch and thread it to avoid having to cut around it.

-Lay another piece of Kraft paper on top. Iron over the top of paper.

-Remove paper and let your kids ooo and ahhhh over the amazingness that is melted wax.

-Cut your hearts out...avoiding the twine if you did it our way. Rhiannon wanted her hearts to stay connected so it made the avoidance a little easier. Thanks girl!

-Hang in front of a well lit window.

Wa-La a pretty little crayon stained art.

Nightmares

It's every adoptive moms worse nightmare. I may be generalizing slightly but I'm certain that it is at the top of the list for most. The nightmare? Someone, likely a relative, from your child's past comes back to take them away. For a foster mama, it is slightly different. At the stage we are at, we do not want our baby going back to his bio family but if it happened, it happens. We do still have the nightmare of him being snatched and taken away though.

A Healthier Seven Layer Dip and Super Bowl

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ andRubbermaid and Sharpie but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #RubbermaidSharpie http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO”

By a show of hands (figuratively not literally obv), who cares more about the food than the football come Super Bowl Sunday?

It's become the tradition at our house to have a big Super Bowl party with lots of friends and tons of food. The last few years as families have grown, parties have gotten large and the guys can't really watch the game. So this year we're scaling back. Big time.

Problem. The food. The glourious food. What do you cut back on? There are too many favorites. So, I made an executive decision. We aren't cutting back. Just having lots of leftovers.

To make it easier on myself, I decided that I will serve up our food in Rubbermaid food storage containers. Prepare, serve and store all in one dish? Yes, please. Oh, the time and energy I'll save. 

My excitement over this genius idea I had got me thinking about all of the dishes I could prepare ahead of time. So I could still go to church Sunday morning. This in turn got me craving my healthier version of the infamous 7- layer dip. Trial runs are required, right? Plus you NEED the recipe so you can serve it at your Super Bowl party. And every party that follows. Ever.

Your New Favorite Cupcake.

**It's Valentine's Week here at Vessel Handmade. 5 Days of holiday themed posts. We'll have tutorials, recipes, decor and DIY. So follow along and fall in love. All projects and recipes will be linked at the bottom of each blog as they are posted.**

Today is my favorite day of Valentines Week. Dessert. Confession:I have not met a dessert I could pass up. I think meals should start and end with it. Eating healthy doesn't always allow for it but Valentine's Day is such a good excuse to indulge.

When it comes to sweets and Valentine's day, I instantly think chocolate and fruit. Something romantic about the combo of the two. I, however, love to bake. So I wanted to do something by meshing the two. Thus, the Raspberry Bliss cupcake was born. Thank me now.

Heart Throb top

**It's Valentine's Week here at Vessel Handmade. 5 Days of holiday themed posts. We'll have tutorials, recipes, decor and DIY. So follow along and fall in love. All projects and recipes will be linked at the bottom of each blog as they are posted.**

Okay, let me preface this by saying that I love celebrating love and being spoiled with gifts as much as the next girl. Here's my beef with Valentine's Day though. We are fooled into thinking if we don't go out on that day and buy a meal that some restaurant jacked up the price on then clearly we will die alone.

The fear of dying alone sends the masses to all of the places that I want to go. Obvs. This puts a wrench in this impatient girls plans. I mean seriously, I only get a babysitter for so long and then i spend it all waiting for tables and lines. What's up with that Valentine's Day?

Seriously though, the title doesn't lie. This post really is about a shirt. I just needed to say all of that to get to the point that hubby and I often chose a different night of the week to celebrate. But the hype of Valentines Day means that even though I am married and have 4 children, the fact that I wait a day to celebrate will ultimately fast track me to spinsterhood. 

So on Valentine's Day I make it about the kids. We celebrate. At home. All decked out. Hearts everywhere. Mama needs a Valentine outfit but not a little black dress and come get me heels.

For Starters

**It's Valentine's Week here at Vessel Handmade. 5 Days of holiday themed posts. We'll have tutorials, recipes, decor and DIY. So follow along and fall in love. All projects and recipes will be linked at the bottom of each blog as they are posted.**

Earlier this week I asked you on Facebook what kind of food reminded you of Valentine's Day. Italian food was almost unanimous. Lucky for me the dessert I had planned for hubby and I fit the bill. All I needed to figure out was an appetizer and a main course.

I was recently gifted The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook and love love love it. I decided to use this recipe from there, for a Roasted Cauliflower Capellini as our main course. As soon as I told hubby the theme we were going with for Valentine's Day, he instantly put in his opinion, which is... of course always bruschetta.