Travel Kits - A Simple Way to Bless Others

If I had only thought of this when all of my children were young! Could it be that our family camping trips could have been even more enjoyable? (Not to mention our L-O-N-G trip to Maine with three teenagers!) I sure do think so. What a wonderful idea this is! Check it out…

Donna Reese has come up with such a simple way to bring joy to anyone, young or old, embarking on a trip, be it long or short. However, I think those traveling the longest distances have the most to gain from this brilliant idea. There is so much potential here.

What is a Travel Kit you ask? Well, let me tell you. Travel kits are brilliant little packages that you custom design for that someone special that is embarking on a trip no matter the mode of transportation. Kits can be made for anyone traveling by vehicle, bus, airplane, train, boat…I’d venture to say even donkey! The ideas are limited only by the extent of you imagination.

The basic low-down of exactly what a travel kit is can best be said by the author herself, “A travel kit is a collection of items that will entertain and/or delight the passengers (especially the younger passengers), thus making the trip more pleasant for everyone. The items should be chosen, purchased (or baked, rented, checked out of the library, or crafted), and then wrapped individually. The components of your travel kit should be assembled in an appealing, creative, hardy “container” that will easily fit in your vehicle, within easy reach of the passengers (or mom’s reach if you have very young children).”

If you are a lover of detail, Donna set you up, but fret not! If too many details just give you a headache the material is also presented in such a manner that those of us that want to just get down to the brass tacks can do just that. Travel Kits - A Simple Way to Bless Others is presented in such a manner that choosing your project and getting started is super simple. You can soak in as much or as little detail as desired and get started on your project right away.

The only real planning you need to do in advance is a little detective work. It is helpful to know the number of travelers, the length of the trip, and a little about the interests of the recipients. I would also add that if the travel kit were being made as a gift for someone outside of the family, taking a trip that you are not participating in, it would be beneficial to know their destination. After you’ve acquired this information the real fun begins.

Once your planning is complete you will have to make a few decisions. Will these be small gifts to take up little space, or is there room for something a little bigger? What is your budget? How much can you afford to spend on each person, or a group as a whole? Debbie provides many ideas for both large and small budgets.

Plenty of buying tips are included in this e-book as well. This is especially helpful if we are unfamiliar with a certain age group. One useful recommendation is to purchase duplicate gifts if children of similar ages will be traveling together. This provides for an easier shopping trip as well as cuts out the temptation of jealousy between children. Mom will definitely be appreciative of this thoughtful gesture! Travel Kits - A Simple Way to Bless Others is chock full of custom ideas that are sure to make your travel kit a great hit with whoever is the blessed recipient of your thoughtful gift. Your travel kit is sure to be chock full of fun gifts and presented in such an enjoyable fashion that it will bring sure fire enjoyment to your lucky recipient.

Sure, you could come up with some sort of travel kit all on your own. However, the advice, resources and guidance given in Travel Kits - A Simple Way to Bless Others will guarantee the creation of a spectacular gift and quite possibly the beginning of a treasured family tradition. Ever since the first time I read this e-book my gears have been turning. There is so much potential here. I plan to treasure this resource and refer back to it for years to come.

Keep your eyes on The Zoo Crew for pictures of my upcoming creations. I plan to make travel kits for my good friends Bill and Marla who are both in their 60’s. Bless their hearts; they are heading to Georgia with their daughter-in-law and their three grandchildren ages nine, eight, and four via mini-van. This is a 20 hour drive! I am certain that they will be very happy to take along their travel kits.

I also see myself carrying this theme into the holidays with my gift giving. Our grandchildren are still young. We have seven, ages five and under, and we are waiting for number eight who is due in January. Typically, I give them a gift bag full of small gifts. How much more fun would it be for them if I incorporate the travel kit idea of wrapping each gift!

Also, this resource could not have come to me at a better time. With our new little guy life as we knew no longer exists. What a strange phenomenon it will be to travel with just one child. I will definitely be doing this for little Avery as he grows and travels with mom and dad throughout the years.

I highly recommend this e-book. It is certain to fuel your creativity bringing joy to you, your family, and those around you. What potential for fun there is wrapped up in this little electronic storehouse of information!

Travel Kits - A Simple Way to Bless Others is available for $12.95 through The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Look here for a sneak peek of the Table of Contents and a few select pages.

Note: As a review blogger, I am provided a free copy of the book, curriculum or product to test and use in order to write an honest review. I receive no other compensation and the opinions I share are my own and not influenced by the company in question.

Where Does the Time Go?

Can you believe it? Avery is already six months old! That is one thing I notice more with him than I did with any of our other children, the passage of time. It really does go by in a blink. Every second that passes cannot be regained. That's just the way life goes. If you don't pay attention, you will miss it all.

I have to agree with the post over at The Art and Science of Parenting. Dad states that, "Sure, you want to have big adventures with your kids sometimes, but what they will really remember about you is if you were there every day for all of their little adventures..." In my opinion there is no greater gift that we can give our children than our time and attention. Kids just want to be with us. They want our undivided attention. It is not important to them to have an elaborate gift or expensive trip. Spending time with us and having fun is all that matters.

The gift that I've received from having Avery in our lives is the realization of just how important time is. We really have such a short period of time here on this earth, and what do we really do with it? What do we spend our time focusing on? Where does our energy go? What is our attitude like? Life really is made up of all the little things. The big things are fleeting, but little things repeat over and over throughout our entire existence. I am quite certain that we can have a lot more fun, find more enjoyment, and bring more delight to others when we learn to shift our focus to the minute moment. Doing so puts us in the here and now; right exactly where we need to be. I can see no other way to be content than to be present, enjoying each moment as it comes.

Don't get me wrong. I still have goals, I still strive to be a more complete individual, I still have desires, but they are not my primary focus anymore. I'm enjoying the slow life. Despite my desire to live in the country, and put myself in an environment that promotes a much slower paced life, I have discovered that one can live in the city and still find that laid back perspective. It's a choice. Our attitude is up to us. It is not determined by our environment. We are in control of how our attitude effects our environment, not the other way around. Talk about an "ah ha moment"!

It's a Hard Knocks Life

Life can be so strange. So, what's new, right? There have been so many blessings of late. Avery's adoption was final May 7th, and we held his dedication at church on June 5th. Business is good at our transmission shop. We're not getting rich or anything, but God is blessing us with enough to meet and exceed our needs and have some left over to help others. Our family is healthy physically, and the mental stuff isn't really too much to handle. Nothing is really, truly over the top at the current moment.

However, things do have a way of never leveling off. Our normal is just a little too crazy for me. It really can be exhausting. I find it difficult, if not impossible, to adjust to our lifestyle even after 14 years. It's just crazy! All my life I have sought peaceful and stable. Well, I've achieved, at least currently, financial stability, but emotional stability is another story. Things are always so chaotic. There is always such need, and it's me that is always needed. There is not one person in our entire family that divides themselves up the way that I do, and I am exhausted. It really does get to be too much.

I would SO love to just focus on the people living in my home, but I am always needed by those living outside of my home. Every time I think I've arrived, something else comes a long to suck away my time. Then, to top it all off there is continuous strife between the hubby and I. The poor guy takes everything, and I do mean everything, personally. That is exhausting...for the both of us. I honestly do not know how he lives with himself when everything is such a big deal. I seriously could not cope with that intensity of emotion. No thank you!

My newest endeavor is to learn how to accept my husband the way he is and how to not react to his intense emotion. Talk about challenging! I seriously do not know how to do that. I have been praying about it, but I still have a long way to go. This is a major "baby step" project that feels like it will take an eternity to accomplish. I so desire it, though!

There is no way that we can raise Avery the way that we desire if we do not get things under control between the two of us. The problem is that I sincerely do not know how to go about it. I can tell you that I have no desire to read ANOTHER relationship book. Counseling is a thing of the past. I doubt I could get him to do that again, and I'm not sure the real benefit other than having an impartial party there to mediate communication. I do miss that aspect of counseling to be sure. Our counselor moved south to work in the prison system. Maybe he was the crazy one.

Maybe I can locate a bible study that would aid me in this department. Any suggestions? I think I may look at the Women of Faith studies. I've done two of them that I really enjoyed. I'd love ideas of you all have any.

Do I Have a Couch Spud?

With our new little man I seem to notice things that I didn't with the other ones. Maybe I have more time. Maybe I am more observant. Maybe the experience with kids lends a keener eye. I can't say the reason, but I do seem to notice things in a different light with Avery.

Our house is always hopping, and the television does seem to be on at various times throughout any given day. When Avery was a brand new baby I would turn it on for light during the middle of the night feedings. Not to mention, it helped me keep my eyes open. However, I did notice something a bit strange to me. At just a couple of weeks Avery had already noticed the television and seemed to be watching it. I actually got to where I would position him facing away from the television during his feedings. I would also make a conscious effort to make eye contact with him.

Now, Avery is three months old, and he has viewing preferences! WHAT? This morning I was watching the news. I tend to watch it briefly each morning to catch the local weather. Well, I was distracted. He was in his exersaucer, and he started to "complain". Yes, he was complaining. We have gotten to a point in baby communication that I can clearly recognize that he was indeed complaining. So, I did an experiment. I switched the television to PBS. I turn it on most mornings when we get up. He quit complaining!

Then, just a little while ago I had Dora on for our two year old granddaughter who was visiting. I didn't notice that it had gone to the menu screen. Avery started to complain again. I turned on Backyardigans, and he started watching it! Who knew? Not me!

I took a peek online to see what the "experts" had to say on the subject, and there seem to be some clear opinions and concerns about infants and television viewing. Some say that children under the age of two should not view television at all; that it may even contribute to attention disorders in adolescence. Some say that certain, quality programs that are specially made for babies may actually be good for infants and their parents. This style of programming encourages constructive play and interaction and even teaches parents how to better assist in the development of their babies.

I can't honestly say where I stand on this. I guess I will have to continue to observe Avery and his television viewing as he learns and grows all the while keeping in mind and being conscious of his interactions with others and quality play time. Too much of anything is usually a bad thing, especially when it's generally a bad thing to begin with. I've always thought that television should be used sparingly, and quality programming should be the prime target. Now, that seems more important than ever.

First Blooms of Spring

I've been going back and forth and back and forth trying to decide to what level I would like to garden this year. It seems daunting to try to keep up with a vegetable garden with all the demands I have currently. However, I really do love fresh produce, and it never tastes better than when you grow it yourself. Not to mention, I have a load of heirloom seeds left from last year. After the past two years, though, I hate to put a bunch of work into a garden when my time is so limited and get no real return. The garden has been less than successful the last two summers, especially last summer. It was SO disappointing to have seeded all of those heirloom seeds and get no real return from them. Disappointing!

In the meantime, I managed to take a short walk around our yard to see what I was up against. The front looks great. There's not much weeding to be done there. As usual, the back yard needs a lot of attention, and that is where I normally plant my produce. I have such a difficult time keeping weeds and grass out of that garden. I don't get it. It's very frustrating.

I've decided that if nothing else I will be visiting the several farmer's markets that I am fortunate to have in my area. I will buy fruits and vegetables as they are in season and put up as much food as I possibly can. I even purchased covered ice cube trays especially designed for putting up food for Avery. It will be so nice to have fresh, locally farmed food stored up in my freezer and cupboard.

While you're anticipating the coming bounties of spring, summer, and fall you can enjoy the first blooms from my yard.