The Story of Four Perfect Pebbles/Marion Blumenthal Lazan

This week we had the honor of meeting Mrs. Marion Blumenthal Lazan and her husband Mr.  Nathaniel Lazan. Mrs. Lazan is a Holocaust survivor who tells her amazing story. It is a hard story to hear, imagine, or even understand, but amazing in that she has been through one of the most horrific historical events ever and has come through with such unbelievable love and devotion to humankind. She spoke this week to many people in the community and many, many groups of school children telling her story so that it can be shared and the relaying the importance of it being remembered so that it does not ever get repeated.


Ms. Lazan spoke at the Gertrude C. Ford Center on the UM campus this week and we thought this would be something that would be great for our children(the older ones) to experience, and I really wanted to hear her story because I have always found that the people who have been through these situations have been so courageous in their experience, but also in their ability to share what they have had to endure in hopes that maybe our future will take what they have to say and turn it into an opportunity for positive growth. Her story was truly heartbreaking, what she, her family, and millions of others had to endure was truly beyond understanding. The images that she had to deal with daily for those years at that age most of us will never have to face. Several of my children are at the ages that she talked about during her days in captivity, and travel, and escape, an finally freedom. We have a 4 year old, 7 year old, 9 year old, 11 year old and a 17 year old. The idea of having to survive through that at those ages(at any age) is truly overwhelming.

The best part of the whole story was the four pebbles...it is truly a perfect description of a child's way of processing hope, courage and survival in the darkest of days. I encourage everyone to read this book definitely, but if you have the opportunity to see Mrs. Lazan speak and to meet her in person please take that opportunity. She is a beautiful person, an amazing soul,  and a true treasure in this world. I hope that hearing her and meeting her has made a lasting impact on my children because she has made a lasting impact on me.

We bought several copies of the book  and asked Mrs. Lazan to autograph them for each of the children so that they have a copy to remember the day they met her and also in hopes that it will be a treasure for their future to read, remember and pass along as their families may grow in the future.

Realigning Priorities

Apologies for my absence and negligence. I always intend to make sure a post gets done and somehow it just hasn't gotten done.  I find it interesting how being intent on something and having good intentions are so far removed from each other. One is an action and the other is a dream that will probably never be. I say this because lately my life has been flooded with good intentions that I just have not attended to. It is wonderful to have hopes and dreams, but action has to come in order to make it a reality. Unfortunately my good intentions in the last few months have been just that because of inaction. It  begins to permeate other aspects and before you know it life is swirling around you waiting for you to grab hold and take control. The time has come...


Ok, so yes I have started reading a new book that has inspired action...What's this great book, you ask? It's Dave Ramsey's newest book EntreLeadership. I began reading this book because it is time to go forward and make more out of this little business that we have started. Actually, I am really needing to go forward in so many aspects of my life and it is interesting how this book has set that in motion. Although it is a book about business, and Leadership and guiding a team, Mr. Ramsey's words are very far-reaching and can apply to so many aspects of life, not just business. I am about half way through the book and I can't wait to get to the end. The book serves as it's own work book that directs as you go so just like his other books, they can be life changing but it requires work. So thank you Mr. Ramsey for yet another book to ponder and work toward setting new life goals.

So here's to putting dreams into actions, setting goals and putting life into motion again instead of standing in the center of life's tornado watching it go by. One of my first goals again it to give our blog more attention and be more active in posting. So see you soon with another post.

Other books that I am in the process of reading right now: How to Win Friends & Influence People, and Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business. What are you reading right now?

Oh, if they could always sleep this peacefully!

I found out recently that there is a new "No-Cry" book out. This series of books has helped us out so much in the past years with our children. I am very excited about this new book, and can't wait to get our copy. Below is an excerpt from the book, it is very informative and explains very clearly why children benefit greatly from a good nap.

The Book is called: "The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime Problems" by Elizabeth Pantley

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Why Short Cat-Naps Are Not Good Enough
By Elizabeth Pantley, Author of The No-Cry Nap Solution

If your child's naps are shorter than an hour and a half in length, you may have wondered if these brief naps provide enough rest for your little one. You might suspect that these catnaps aren't meeting your child's sleep needs – and you would be right.

The science of sleep explains why a short nap takes the edge off, but doesn't offer the same physical and mental nourishment that a longer nap provides. It takes between 90 and 120 minutes for your child to move through one entire sleep cycle, resulting in a Perfect Nap.

It has been discovered that each stage of sleep brings a different benefit to the sleeper. Imagine, if you will, magic gifts that are awarded at each new stage of sleep:

Stage 1 - Very light sleep - Lasts 5 to 15 minutes
The gifts:Prepares body for sleep; Reduces feelings of sleepiness

Stage 2 - Light to moderate sleep - Lasts up 15 minutes
The gifts:Increases alertness; Improves motor skills; Stabilizes mood; Slightly reduces homeostatic sleep pressure (The biological process that creates fatigue and irritability.)

Stage 3 - Deep sleep - Lasts up to 15 minutes
The gifts:Strengthens memory; Release of growth hormone; Repair of bones, tissues and muscles; Fortification of immune system; Regulates appetite; Releases bottled up stress; Restores energy; Reduces homeostatic sleep pressure

Stage 4 – Deepest sleep - Lasts up to 15 minutes
The gifts:Same benefits as Stage 3, but enhanced

Next Stage – Dreaming - Lasts up to 9 to 30 minutes
The gifts:Transfers short-term memory into long-term memory; Organizes thoughts; Secures new learning; Enhances brain connections; Sharpens visual and perceptual skills; Processes emotions; Relieves stress; Inspires creativity; Boosts energy; Reduces homeostatic sleep pressure

Longer naps - For as long as your child sleeps
The gifts:Repeat all of the above stages in cycles

In order for your child to receive all of these wonderful gifts he must sleep long enough to pass at least once through each stage of sleep. Longer naps will encompass additional sleep cycles and provide a continuous presentation of gifts.

Newborn babies have unique cycles that slowly mature over time. A newborn sleep cycle is about 40 to 60 minutes long, and an infant enters dream sleep quickly, skipping several sleep stages. Infants need several sleep cycles to receive their full allotment of gifts. If your infant is sleeping only 40-60 minutes at naptime it is an indication that your baby is waking between cycles instead of returning to sleep on his own. We'll cover a plethora of ideas to help your baby learn to go back to sleep without your intervention.

Now you can clearly see why a short nap doesn't provide your baby or young child the best benefits of napping. You can also see why a mini-nap can fool you into thinking it is enough – since the very first five to fifteen minutes reduce feelings of sleepiness and bring that whoosh of second-wind energy that dissipates quickly, resulting is fussiness, crying, crankiness, tantrums and whining.

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This is a copyrighted excerpt from The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime Problems by Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, December 2008).
More excerpts (available for reprint) are posted on her website. http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth