December 1st is World AIDS Day. My life has been turned upside down by AIDS and its devastating effects. In Ethiopia, I doubt there is a single person who is completely unaffected by HIV/AIDS. So often I am overwhelmed by this desperate crisis in our world and I wonder what on earth I can do? But here is the secret. Each one of us can make a difference - we can reach out and care about somebody whose life has been touched by HIV/AIDS.
Five Things You Can Do:
1. Read: If you only have time to read one book, I recommend There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Her Country's Children. Written by an adoptive mother, the book tells the story of one Ethiopian woman who responded to the AIDS orphan crisis with practical compassion. It is a compelling and interesting read.
If you have time for two books, get 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen. My exposure to AIDS in Africa had been limited primarily to Ethiopia, but this book broadened my education by featuring a short story about 28 different people across the continent and how AIDS has affected them. 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa will give you a quick education about HIV/AIDS in a captivating style.
2. Sponsor: For as little as $10.00 a month, you can provide care for an HIV+ orphan in South Africa. Through Circle Embrace, a sponsorship program recently launched by From HIV to Home, you can join with others to create a circle of sponsors for a child living with HIV/AIDS. Consider giving holiday gifts with a purpose by creating your own Circle. It is easy and only a click away.
3. Care: If the AIDS crisis seems remote to you, take a few moments to watch this video of the children of AHOPE. If you want to get even more personal, watch my family's video of our Ethiopian adoption.
4. Shop with a purpose. The holidays will be here soon; this year purchase gifts that will benefit children with HIV/AIDS. In honor of World AIDS Day, From HIV to Home has a wonderful new necklace available. Make a donation of $50 or more and we will send one to you. I love the concept of embracing those with HIV/AIDS and the necklace looks great. All proceeds from this necklace go directly to the Circle Embrace Child Sponsorship Program.
Shop at the AHOPE Store which has everything from clothing and jewelry to aluminum water bottles.
I know both of these organizations personally, having previously volunteered for AHOPE, and currently working with From HIV to Home, and can confidently say that your donation will be put to good use.
5. Adopt: Consider adopting an HIV+ child. It isn't as hard as you think! The last three years have seen an explosion in the number of families adopting HIV+ children. When we began the process, a handful of HIV+ children had been adopted from AHOPE, our daughters' orphanage. Now, the children are finding families very quickly. For more information on HIV+ adoption, contact Adoption Advocates International.
Don't wait until December 1st to wear a red ribbon. Do something today and when World AIDS Day arrives, you will be ready to tell somebody else what it is all about.
~Lisa
by Kevin Henkes
by Peggy Rathmann
by Cynthia Rylant
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by Barbara Cooney
by Kevin Henkes
by Lynd Ward
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by Robert McCloskey
by Bruce Degen
by Laura Numeroff
by Shirley Hughes
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. Both are for much younger children, but she loves reading Dr. Seuss to the little boys and has been drawn to Laura's Christmas and other books in that series since she arrived home.
and checked it out from the library many times when she was three and four. We also have enjoyed 
, a slightly quirky ABC book, but it is out of print and not always easy to find.
First ... buy a BIG front loader. wow! That has done wonders for our laundry piles.
Second ... our kids begin doing their own laundry at about age 11-12. They are fully responsible for their own clothing.
Third ... when a "big kid" shares a room with a little kid or two, this big kids gets to also share a laundry basket. Big kids keep the clothes clean, little ones keep the clothes folded and put away...
Fourth ... as for the SOCK monster. ..Give each laundry basket their own "sweater bag"...
Fifth ... dispersing duties as they grow. Our kids start folding their own clothes at about 5 years old...
... I generally try to wash clothes on Monday and Tuesday and get everything put away by Wednesday. I then wash towels and sheets on Thursday and then whatever needs it on Friday. It was harder when we did cloth diapers (finally done with that!). One thing that helps is our washer has a timer so I can put a load in at night and have it freshly washed when I get up in the morning or when I get home from school with the kids. That keeps me from rewashing moldy clothes. We also have a large capacity machine so I typically only have 3-4 loads of clothes a week.
I am terrible at laundry. AWFUL. But one thing I do that helps me is to not combine peoples] clothing. Like if I do a load of me and hubby's clothes, no kids stuff in there. That way, I am more likely to fold it, hang it put it away all at once. If I have multiple rooms to go into for this one load, I will never do it. I can't wait to hear other comments.
Socks... I gave up a long time ago. I now only buy one type/brand. I am lucky that my younger 6 are all close in age/size. But we still have a couple different sizes in there. I have one hamper by the laundry area known as the "sock bin". All clean socks get thrown in there. I do not sort them at all. When you need a pair of socks, you just go look in the 'sock bin'...My husband also put up some big plastic shelves in our laundry area, and each child has a bin with their name on it...Full bins must be put away, and brought back with dirty laundry to throw in the pile.
..My husband tells me often that I need to delegate more work to our older children, and he is right. Not long ago, I assigned the big kids each a laundry day... Once I showed them how to use the washer and dryer, and told them what I expect of them, they just do it on their own...I still do laundry for myself, my husband, and the two little ones, and all the towels. But now, it takes much less time. I find though, that it's best to just keep the wash going all the time...
Woohooo a question I actually can answer!... In our house once you are about 10 you do your own. .. So that leaves me laundry for my husband and I and the younger kids - the grade schoolers all put thier own clothes away with supervision... The best advice I have is to try and do laundry when you know you will be home to keep moving loads and anyone tall enough to reach the buttons gets to do their own.
To tame the sock monster, try one of those laundry bags for delicates. It is a mesh bag and will keep all of the socks together. Each kid would have their own (underwear can be tossed in it too) and when the laundry is done, all of the socks in the bag will belong to one person and there won't be any mis-matched or lost socks.
... we are on an energy saving electricity plan which means that I can only do laundry after 7 pm or on the weekends. So it became the weekends. On Friday night we pull out all the dirty clothes and sort them. I do all of the kids clothes together (in loads by color) and when they are dry they are separated into baskets for each of them and then THEY fold them...I've also been trying to train them that just because you wear a shirt for 4 hours doesn't mean it's dirty and sometimes it can be worn again (my mother used to tell me the same thing). It has helped cut the laundry done somewhat.
...Right now, and this seems like it's working the best yet, I have just accepted that I will be putting laundry in every day, including Sunday. First thing in the morning, in goes a load, and I just continue cycling laundry til it is all washed. My kids fold it, deliver it, and put it away... We also have a front-load washer, which makes a big difference.
sandi said......I have 5 kids 7 years and under... they make a LOT of laundry!!! I especially hate socks, so what I do is maybe going to sound dumb, but it saves SO much time. No one in the house wears matching socks, not even me! I throw all the socks into a drawer and I just get them to pick 2 random ones in the morning. Seriously, I can't sit there for an hour and match socks... plus what do you do with all the mismatches?? No problem now! It certainly is a conversation starter at your massage therapist/doctor/chiro etc when you are walking around with one purple bunny sock and one red Christmas sock... and yes I'm talking about my socks. lol
I by no means have the laundry monster tackled...but on the days I follow our routine (more or less!), we keep on top of it. I have 3 kids (7, 5, and 2 1/2 yrs). Each week its one of the older two's turn to be the laundry helper. They put the load in the washer and start it as part of their morning chores, transfer it to the dryer before luncyh, and take the load out of the dryer to my laundry-folding station (my bed!)... I get a load folded while doing math facts or spelling words with my 2nd grader, and if it's a crazy day then my husband and I fold it together and use the time to talk right before bed. ..