Time and encouragement...

Those are at least two of the many things it takes to be a good parent. Check out this video of a morning 'conversation' at the breakfast table. Time and encouragement. You can see the wheels grinding as Frank figures out where he wants to go with his story. And the 'work' his little brain did during that four minutes of make-believe play is critical in helping Frank grow up to be a creative, engaged, contributing adult.

Wheat Ridge knows about the important role parents play in health and wellness and have supported many creative projects that have parents as a critically important part.

Thanks Wheat Ridge! And thanks to Frank's parents and all parents for taking time and being encouragers!

The effects start early...

This is one of those things a 1st Century person is just not going to understand well.

I blogged a few days ago about advertising and the brain... As I was looking through the rest of the magazine I found a twist of irony: an advertisement telling of the negatives of advertising. Martin Lindstrom was pushing his book "Brandwashed" with a big full page ad of his own - turns out he writes for this magazine quite a bit.

The book looks interesting. There is huge money at stake. Have you talked with your kids about...advertising?

Wheat Ridge supports some excellent projects on the whole parenting thing...

Farms in Detroit...

Check out this story about farming in Detroit. Yes, the city. You may have heard and/or read about the problems in Detroit - and they are real - but this takes an interesting turn on gardens and agriculture in an urban setting. They want to use gardens to change lives.

Wheat Ridge knows about how important it is to change lives... and Wheat Ridge has a project in Detroit. Not growing food, but helping to grow strong children.

And Wheat Ridge also has projects with gardens as an important element in Everett, WA and one in Rwanda and in Napa, CA and Glen Ellyn, IL and DeKalb, IL .

They also have an excellent project for school chapels, Sunday School offerings, VBS offerings, small group Bible Study group projects, etc called Giving Gardens. The donations buy seeds for people in various parts of the world to grow their own food.

Advertising and the Brain...

I came across an interesting article about the brain and advertising. I'm still in a bit of a daze at all the advertising a person is exposed to these days. You really can't get away from it. And apparently it is doing its job since the companies keep investing in more and more of it as we keep buying more and more of what they want us to rather than what we need.

And I'm astounded at how much your scientists are learning about the brain. Put advertising and brain research together and you get some interesting results.

The article tells about how much power advertisers have over us, when we are not aware of what they are doing - and perhaps even when we are. They are getting pretty sophisticated and, dare one say, sneaky.

The article is a bit long but worth the read to catch up on brain scanning technology (very portable and powerful), the differences between MRI and EEG (MRI takes 5 seconds to register, EEG is almost instantaneous - and that means it measures our subconscious reaction - what the advertisers are really after), and how the technology is used.

The second to the last paragraph offers the most promising ways to use this scanning technology for community good rather than just to sell product for a company (allowing quadriplegics to control wheelchairs by thinking alone).

This is all a very long way from 1st Century life with very low key advertising and word of mouth. And I wonder what a brain scan would register when someone thinks of Wheat Ridge.

Moving Families Forward

Check out some excited, committed and energetic ladies involved in some important work in Saginaw.

Moving Families Forward is a project Wheat Ridge has helped fund that is part of a larger community outreach effort of Peace Lutheran Church in Saginaw, MI.

Cynthia Pape, Tammy Buckler, and Sally Landeryou (otherwise known as Mustang Sally!!!!) are heavily involved in leadership roles. They have the support of the local Elementary School Principal and other local agencies. A great partnership that is changing lives. I'm looking forward to a return visit.

Gardens and more...

Here is another exciting project that Wheat Ridge is involved with: the Rwamagana Lutheran School in Rwanda. You can see how the school is changing lives in a country that is on a road to recovery.

The school is helping students learn about whole person health and are doing very practical things with gardens and raising animals and more to help them help themselves. Check it out!

Water...

When you live in a place of instant access to water it is hard to understand how important water is to staying healthy and alive. And yet many people around the world live day to day with poor access to water, and sometimes only have access to dangerous water. Imagine a stomach ache all day, every day due to contaminated water. It is often much worse than that.

Wheat Ridge stepped in to help some congregations in Slidell, LA and Chicago, IL give some tangible help to the Kuwaa people of Liberia, West Africa. The project will focus on health and wellness through digging wells, providing pumps and filtration systems and building medical clinics that provide care for various tropical diseases.

Next time I take a drink of water I'll think of this project and the people who are getting clean water because of it - and I think I'll check into supporting Wheat Ridge for projects like this and many others.