About Becky

Becky blogs at Organizing Made Fun. She has been married to her college sweetheart for 18 years, a mother to two children, and a piano teacher. She has one child with autism that God has graciously transformed into an amazing, independent teenager. Becky organizes just about everything and she enjoys motivating other women to learn to organize, schedule, and run their home imperfectly but efficiently. She loves playing the piano, decorating, entertaining in her home, and being with her family. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook

Summer Scheduling with Kids!

June 4, 2013 By Becky

It’s summertime and that means a couple of things – probably for most of you with kids, no school {or a break from homeschool} AND kids that are now BORED!

I’ve been there. I get it. My kids are getting better, but still come to me with the “I’m bored” spewing from their mouths. They also need to realize that in summer, since they aren’t as busy as usual, they are going to be expected to do more around the house. It’s a great time to clean out the old toys, clothes that are too small, and re-organize areas in their rooms.

But, I LOVE to come up with fun days of the week schedule! Here’s what I mean:

Monday is Runday - This is our weekly day to run errands all over the place. So, over the weekend I sit down and make out my lists – grocery list, Costco list, or drugstore lists -this is also the time I plan my menu for the next two weeks….

Tuesday is cleaning and laundry day - my least favorite day, but nonetheless a necessary day each week! I have a cleaning list that I go through – which again I will post another time.

Wednesday is Whatever day - This is our midweek day where we have nothing really planned at all. The kids can play outside, go to friends’ houses (although that option is open most days), play together inside, watch a movie, read a book, ride their bikes….it’s a fun day of spontaneouty. We might even decide to head to the movies, go get ice cream, Mom might work in the yard, or just do a small project.

Thursday is Backyard Thursday- This is a special day for my kids. Every summer we open our backyard up each Thursday morning and invite Moms and kids over to use our backyard. This is our ministry to our church friends and an opportunity to invite neighbors to come over, too. We moms love to sit under the large avocado trees, in the shade, and chat while the kids are on our large driveway writing with chalk, playing school, riding scooters, playing basketball, climbing the fort, swinging on the swings or playing in the playhouse! My kids set everything up, organize the toys before the kids come, and even help teach the new ones the rules – yep, we have rules posted around our yard!

Last we have FUN Fridays- This will be our weekly day to venture out and have a lot of fun – the zoo, the beach, bowling, Magic Mountain, or something more fun than just the library or the grocery store! We’re still open for more ideas….so if you have some, feel free to give your input for our Fun Fridays!

This is just what I do to keep our summers moving. I also have a summer cleaning schedule to keep ME from going nuts and spending too much time cleaning in the summer fun! But, to keep my kids from spending WAY too much time on media {TV, computer, Ipad, Wii, etc.}, I have come up with a way to keep tabs on their media time using media sticks. It worked great last summer and helped the kids strategize how to spend their time wisely!

Blessings,

Becky, Organizing Made Fun

2 Comments | Filed Under: Family Management, Fun For Kids, Home Organization, Homemaking

Blessing others and cleaning out your closet.

May 7, 2013 By Becky

Have you ever thought about having a FREE Ladies’ Boutique? Actually organizing one? I did a few years ago. It was the biggest blessing to me and so many other women in our church. Many women who have too many clothes and others who don’t have much at all come together and bless each other! I challenged the ladies of my church and they came out blessing each other unbelievably.

Organizing a FREE Ladies Boutique

Here are some suggestions for organizing your own FREE ladies’ boutique:

1. Determine what group of people you want to invite. I decided to stick with women from the church only, for many reasons. But, this was a ministry for them and I didn’t want strangers showing up in my home that were just looking for free clothing. I wanted this to be about blessing each other.

2. Ask that everyone donate something, even if it’s just one or two small things – or loads of stuff. Suggest that they go through purses, belts, scarves, skirts, pants, shirts, blouses, dresses, camisoles, and shoes.

3. Ask for supplies! I needed hanging racks – so I asked and asked. I got enough for all the clothes – and there were a lot of clothes. I needed hangers, and got them all donated. Any small thing I needed was donated to help out – even props for the jewelry in the vintage suitcases and some full length mirrors were all borrowed for the weekend.

4. Ask for help! You can’t do this alone. Use the skills of other women. I had a crew of 8-10 ladies show up and I assigned an area for each lady and let them organize it however they wanted, with a few small suggestions from me.

5. Be specific about date and time. Set a date and stick to it. You will have women who can’t come, but you won’t find a perfect date. I gave a “make up” day the day after, as well as an opportunity for women outside of church to come and get the last of the clothing. And I scheduled for a pick up the Tuesday after the boutique, for the charity truck to pick the leftovers up.

6. Find a place to put all the clothes. I had ladies drop off in my van {during church} or at my house during the week. I put most of them in my garage or basement. I recommend only having them do that no more than two weeks before your event because you’ll wind up with a mess in your there for a long time and that’s no fun.

7. Have plenty of {full length} mirrors and “dressing rooms” – everyone needs to see how they look after trying on clothes. I used our bedrooms and bathrooms as “dressing rooms”. I put notes in the dressing rooms that if they didn’t like the clothes to hang them up and put them back exactly where they found them.

8. It was overwhelming pulling out all the clothes and jewelry and purses, so just take a deep breath and go through one bag at a time with each of your volunteer crew – by the way, I didn’t open ANYTHING until the day before the boutique. Come up with creative ways to put the clothes out. We hung all the skirts, blouses, dresses, jackets, and trousers. We folded all the casual pants/shorts, shirts, capris, and anything else casual on several large tables. All the sweaters were folded and set on my large fireplace mantel. The scarves and jewelry we displayed creatively – we borrowed some vintage suitcases and I had one lady drape jewelry beautifully.

9. Sort clothing by type and size. We had my living room to put all the hanging clothes, my kitchen {with several large folding tables} to put all casual clothing, my music room for all the shoes, and areas in between for jewelry and other accessories. Then, we grouped by size to make it easier for ladies to find the clothing.

10. Label everything. I had one volunteer who made pretty little signs all over with all the types of clothing and sizes.

Have fun! Get excited about your boutique! You can go HERE and see more details of my boutique that I did. Would you ever consider putting on a free boutique?

Happy Organizing!

Becky

1 Comment | Filed Under: Home Organization, Ministries and Missions

It’s lonely being a mom of a special needs child

April 2, 2013 By Becky

April is autism awareness month and in honor of this, I want to share my heart on this diagnosis…

I’m not sure I’ve ever shared this with anyone. I’m not sure I even realized it at the time. But, there was a time in my life where I felt isolated. I felt like no other friend could really understand what it was like to go through what I was going through. I had many sympathetic friends. But, no one to really understand. I would watch my friends’ children talk, walk, develop. And, my son couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t even say “Momma” and it was disheartening to me. He didn’t point at things, like my friends’ babies would. He wouldn’t look right at me. He wouldn’t handle smiles from strangers. He would go into temper tantrums with seemingly no one who could console him. It was hard, day to day.

At the same time, I had a husband and all our precious family who were in this autism thing with me – together. They were precious to me — I would call and cry to them. I would need my pep talks from them. They were truly such great cheerleaders to me.

It was the day to day times that were lonely. When our son was diagnosed with autism, not only did I not have a clue what autism was – this was 11 years ago and he was 2 1/2 – but I didn’t know any child who had it. So, the daily difficulties of having a child home with you, all day, trying to navigate something you didn’t know whether you were doing right or wrong, was hard. I didn’t know how to discipline him. I didn’t know how to get him to understand what I wanted from him.

It was {and still is} expensive. We spent a lot of money on holistic doctors, therapists, and anyone who we thought could help us with our son. You get desperate and want to do anything you can to help your child. We had wonderful therapists that offered us solutions and hope. They taught us how to handle him, as they had worked with countless children with the same diagnosis. We appreciated it. I met other moms like me, while sitting and waiting through the many hours of therapy. I talked with them. We shared our stories and journeys. It was so comforting.

I had support at church. Our children’s pastor and our preschool director helped me work out a way to have a shadow {volunteer} with him while he was there, since he could become quite unpredictable and difficult. I was so thankful for that, and still am.

It was hard driving from place to place, having him start preschool away from me when he’s was so little – three. You do what you can, though, to help your child. You struggle with whether or not you are doing the right thing. It was lonely for me when my son would get set off by any small thing in a public place. People stared. People spoke about their disdain for him, of my bad parenting. It hurt. We worked very hard with our son. I was very consistent with him with discipline and with his needs.

As the years went by, I began to be able to pick up on other children – noticing earlier than moms that I could see they had an autistic child. I call it my “radar” and can now spot a child in public that has autism. I am much more compassionate about a screaming child in a store, as oftentimes I know it may not be that mom’s fault. It could be that her child has autism and just about any small thing will set them. I joined a group of ladies from church who had children with special needs – physical and mental – and we were able to talk about IEPs, discipline, emotions, and everything else that goes with having a child that isn’t like the others. We met monthly. It was so freeing for all of us to talk about something and help one another out.

I started blogging about it a few years ago. It was amazing to see the response. So many moms understood what it was like and sought the same comfort I had longed for in my early days of being a mom of this autistic child. I pray that if you have a child with special needs that you know you are blessed. Know that this is no accident. God chose you to care for that child. It’s lonely. It’s hard. But, seek God through it. He is there to hold you through it. You are the advocate for your child – I fought hard for my son. I still do. God has transformed our son and we are amazed at how much he has changed. The loneliness was not in vain. The hard times have proven to be effective in both our lives and his. It has been worth it. It doesn’t discount the fact that it was hard. But, it makes it easier knowing that this child is now highly praised by his teachers at his public school and is a testimony to them, telling them about his love for Christ and how we are able to proclaim the Gospel when speaking to them.

I pray for all of you who understand this loneliness. Know that you aren’t alone. It’s so much easier to find others, now, that are in the same place as you. Do you have a child with autism, a relative with autism, or know of a friend’s child with autism?

Blessings,
Becky, Organizing Made Fun

23 Comments | Filed Under: Babies, Boys, Girls, Parenting, Special Needs

How to Safeguard Your Family on the Internet

March 6, 2013 By Becky

It’s unfortunate, but we live in a wretched, sinful world. We are constantly bombarded with things we have to protect our children from. I live in probably one of the most difficult places to be in – Los Angeles – a place where vivid images are all over the city. In fact, the San Fernando Valley, where I live specifically, is where 90% of pornography is filmed and made. YUCK!

This is where God has put us and we have a strong, biblical church that adheres to God’s Word, which is one of the most wonderful places – and strong accountability. Yes, I need to protect my children and my husband from those images. But, it doesn’t matter where you live, your children and husband can EASILY get a hold of pornographic images.

Safe Guard Family 2

I’m going to give you some protective ways that you can protect your family from this. In our house MOM is the only one who has all the passwords for software protection from all the internet that is here on our wi-fi. This is probably the only time that I actually have the “authority” in any given area. My husband and I realize that this is a very important area that needs to be tended to and he has asked me to set up my own password to keep the whole family protected and for his own accountability.

Here are several ways that you can protect your family from pornography. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it will get you started.

1. Install safety software

We have been using Safe Eyes computer software in our home for years – it’s well worth the money. It lets me do a bunch of things – like put block and allow specific websites for our children. I can allow them to log on for a certain time of the day, for only so a specific amount of time, or all kinds of other parameters. Each person has their own log in and, for our home, the kids can only go onto approved websites that I have specifically allowed. No social media or chat rooms or any websites that contain certain searches. There is also Convenant Eyes. This one we use on my husband’s Iphone and Ipad. It sends me a weekly report of how is internet usage has been and specific places he has been on his phone and Ipad. He can not uninstall or install it without my password. I have the password for all this, per my husband’s request, and no one else knows it.

2. Computers or laptops or Ipads in common areas

We have our kids’ computer in our family room – where we all congregate and everyone can see what they are doing. No Ipads are allowed to go in their rooms – this will carry through as they get older. They are also not allowed to go to others friends’ homes where they have internet access or cable/satellite TV in their bedrooms. That means I have to go over to their homes and see what their home is like and talk with their parents. It may offend some, but that’s our rule and I really don’t care if I offend them in order to protect my children. We also don’t allow them to go over to a home where the parents aren’t home – as teenagers, that’s common since many are allowed to be home by themselves, but it’s just asking for trouble in our opinion.

3. NO internet on phones or Ipads

I am not opposed to kids having a cell phone. In fact, our teenage son has had one for two years. It’s more for my peace of mind than for him. When he goes somewhere, I want to be able to get a hold of him or know he’s arrived safely. But, there are limits. First of all, I took off the ability to have apps or be able to access any internet. Texting has no picture sharing. He’s only allowed to text family members or youth leaders or anyone that I have given him approval for. For the most part, my son doesn’t use it a lot. But, again, it’s mostly for my sake so I know he’s able to reach me or I him. Allowing a teenager boy to have internet on his phone is very foolish, in my opinion. Middle School is where many of the grown men, that my husband and I have known first started struggling with pornography addiction. This was 20+ years ago — imagine now with the ease of accessibility! Don’t make it easy for your child to find it.

4. Other kids coming into your home

I love having other kids over to our home. I love to have our home be a place where they want to congregate and gather. But, my sister in law who has four boys ages 22 down to 9, has wisely told me that whenever their friends came over, she takes all their cell phones and laptops and keeps them with her – not allowing any of them to take them up to her boys’ rooms. She also has an ever changing wi-fi code, times where TV shuts off automatically if it’s too late, and has carefully prevented any of that from entering her home. I don’t care how nice the boys are, if they go to church, or come from a Christian family – NO boy is ever far from falling into this temptation. Again, it’s a constant problem in youth groups, college groups, and for grown men. You must set up limitations.

5. Don’t be naive

You need to be smart. You need to be ON the internet and learn to be a little savvy with technology. Our kids learn how to use the computer and phones so quickly! I’m amazed! You need to figure out a few things to keep them from stumbling onto things that they should read or see on the internet. Don’t think that your child or husband is exempt from that temptation. Learn how to read their history – or know when they’ve cleared their cache. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, Google it!

6. Accountability

This is so important. Be open and honest with your husband about his internet usage. It’s not an easy conversation for many, but if your husband isn’t involved in a group of men or someone who is helping to keep accountable in the area of lust or sexual temptations, ask him why – not in a nagging or mean way, but in a desire to understand why. There is virtually no man, married or unmarried, who shouldn’t have someone else in their life asking hard questions. It shouldn’t be you – you can not hold your husband accountable. It needs to be other godly men. If your husband is not a Christian, he probably won’t want to be a part of anything like that and you must be understanding of that.

7. Social Media restrictions

I am all over the place in the social media world – it’s part of my job. My husband is also on social media – half for business, half for fun. You have to decide when it’s time for your child to be on social media, if ever. We have decided that we would allow our teenage son to be on some social media, but with many restrictions. He can only be friends with family, church friends, and youth leaders. He must ask before ever being a “friend” with anyone on there. And he has limits to how often he’s on there. It hasn’t been a problem, so far. We know that for him, he struggles socially and at the same time social media is here to stay. We want to teach him to socialize, but to also do it responsibly and learn self control. We want him to be ready for the world when he’s an adult and not go crazy, but learn to have limits. Also, make them give you all their passwords. There is no reason that they need to keep passwords to websites from you, if they have nothing to hide.

You may not agree with me on some of what I expressed. That’s OK. What’s more important is that you have a plan for your family. If you haven’t even thought of this, it’s time you do. As a mom, it’s coming whether your child is 1 or 13. You have a husband that is also a part of your family to care for.

Last, if you suspect your husband may be involved in pornography addiction or sexual impurity, talk with a counselor from Setting Captives Free. You can go HERE. If you are suspicious that something is going on, go HERE. If your husband needs help, go HERE.

Blessings,

Becky