Being A Foster Parent Has Ups And Downs, But Rowan County Teacher Wouldn’t Trade Experience

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A year ago Amy Vedeikis was beginning a 10-week foster parenting and adoption class with hopes of one day becoming a foster parent.

Today she is fostering three siblings, two girls, ages seven, six and a boy, one, and even though it’s been a difficult journey at times, she couldn’t be happier.

“Teaching them about how I grew up, about God and watching the three of them together, smiling and laughing are my favorite times together,” said Vedeikis, a teacher in the Rowan-Salisbury School System. “When I am able to see the things I have been teaching them or my family become part of their daily routines and actions put a smile on my face.

“Seeing the baby grow each day and develop into this sweet precious baby boy who babbles and reaches for you has been out-of-this-world fun for us all. Being called ‘momma’ or being told they love you warms my heart.”

There have been some bumps along the way. The sisters came to live with Vedeikis in early June, just weeks after she finished the foster parenting and adoption class presented by Nazareth Child & Family Connection. The next 10-week session beings Wednesday, March 4 with an information session set for Wednesday, February 5 at Nazareth’s office at 165 Mahaley Ave. in Salisbury.

On July 19 the girls were returned to members of their birth family, and Vedeikis, who is single, faced an empty, quiet house.

“That was such a hard day for me and my family,” she recalls. “We all mourned in our own way since we had grown so attached but were happy they were with a family member.

“During that time, I prayed for them and for my family. I prayed that if there was another little one out there who needed me to send them my way. If God thought I needed

 a break, then I understood.”

Vedeikis did her best to get back into a routine without the girls, but they were never far out of mind. School started and she returned to the classroom. Soon after, though, she got another call.

“One day I got a call asking if I would take my littles back at the end of the week. I of course said yes and got the ball rolling.”

Vedeikis knew the girls had a baby brother they had been living with and she didn’t want the youngsters to be apart again.

“During that week I did a lot of praying and soul searching. Something was weighing heavy on my heart,” she said. “You see, these two had a baby brother and if they came back this would be just another separation for them causing yet another trauma. With much prayer, guidance from my family and my licensing agent, I asked to have my board number upped to three and asked if I could get their little brother as well. Paperwork chains started, but it was ultimately up to DSS (Department of Social Services) and what they felt would be best.

“Fast forward a couple of days and DSS decided to have the baby come with me, too. I was now a single foster mom to three!”

Vedeikis said once the excitement of adding the baby to her tribe had subsided a bit, she realized there was much to be done before the baby boy, then eight months old, arrived.

“All of a sudden I realized I had not one baby item in my home! Thanks to my family, friends and members of a local church, I was gifted a crib, a playpen, a highchair, toys, clothes, diapers … you name it and people were offering to help. They even made sure to give things for the girls. I couldn’t have done it without all of these amazing people.”

Vedeikis believes that type of support plays a vital role in any fostering situation, but especially for single parents.

“I’m blessed to have an amazing family, friends and church family,” Vedeikis explained. “My mom, dad and both sisters have been able to watch the kids when they took turns being sick within the same two-week period and I couldn’t take another day off. They have been able to help with babysitting when I had a late meeting at work or if I needed to run to the store.

“I have some awesome foster-parent friends who I also call and talk with when I need to vent or to get suggestions. Friends offer to bring dinner over when they know I’m exhausted or just because. I’m also blessed with an amazing supervisor and coordinator who work with me when I need to take time off for doctor’s appointments or anything to do with the littles. I’ve used more sick days and annual leave days this school year than I have in 18 years.”

Despite sleepless nights, exhaustion, crying babies and the lack of naps, which she truly misses, Vedeikis has zero regrets over her fostering decisions.

“I get a lot of questions about being a foster parent but especially a single foster parent. Those that know me, think this was a natural step for me. I have always wanted to be a mom, so this was how I could be one,” said Vedeikis.

“Those that don’t know me, want to know about fostering, what it takes, support, who I went through, the ups and downs, etc. I’m always honest. I would never want to mislead someone. Is fostering easy? No. Is it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again and again if I could? A million times yes!”

Anyone interested in taking the free 10-week fostering and adoption classes which begin on March 5 or attending the information session on February 4, should call Shawn Squirewell with Nazareth Child & Family Connection, at 704.279.5556 EXT 111.

Flooding Tips: Quick Steps to Take After a Flood

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Flooding can happen. However, don’t let flood destroy your home. Don’t let flood destroy your property. Remember, you have worked extremely hard to furnish your home. That’s why you need to equip yourself with the right skills to deal with natural disasters such as flooding. On these lines, here are steps you can take and save your home from the effects of flooding.

Contact Your Insurer

Once the floodwater subsides, consider contacting your insurance provider immediately. However, it’s important to note that a standard home insurance plan doesn’t usually cover flood damage repair. Rather, it’s a separate policy that’s usually provided by the state government through the NIP (National Flood Insurance Program). So, whether you live in a low or high-risk area, flood insurance isn’t something you’ll want to ignore. Repairing home damage caused by floods can be costly. You want to get the help of an insurance company so that you don’t end up breaking your bank.

Protect Yourself

Even though the flooding might have stopped, it can still pose some dangers to you and your loved ones. If you had to vacate your home during the flood, wait until the authorities confirm that it’s safe for you to go back home before you do so. Before entering your house, take time to check for broken ceilings as well as cracked foundations.

Know Your Zone

Is flood zone AE bad in Florida? The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) categorizes flood-prone regions into three primary zones: A, V, and X. Zones A and V represent areas at high risk of flooding, whereas Zone X indicates regions with low to moderate flood risk. Within Zone A, there are three subdivisions: AE, AH, and AO. Among these, Flood Zone AE is the most prevalent, encompassing designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs). These areas are identified as having a significantly increased likelihood of flooding annually. Additionally, for properties located in an AE zone, flood insurance is mandatory if the property is mortgaged, as per lender requirements.

Quick Cleanup

The cleanup process must begin within twenty-four hours after your home has been cleared for hazardous damage. If the level of damage is quite high, you may want to consider contacting a professional cleaning service to perform the restoration work smoothly and more effectively. Don’t do the cleaning by yourself. It’s unsafe for you tom make direct contact with the floodwater. Plus, it’s also tedious and time-consuming.

Dry Your Staff

After cleaning furniture plus other home contents, go ahead and dry them completely. Remember, floodwater is contaminated water and needs to be removed. You might have to remove and dispose of porous materials, but the non-porous surfaces can be salvaged with proper sanitization and reliable drying processes. If it’s sunny, take your belongings outside and allow enough drying time. You’ll also need to utilize air removers and dehumidifiers throughout the cleanup and restoration process.

Deal With Mold Damage

If there’s water or moisture, then there could be mold growth in your building. Mold is more likely to develop 24 to 48 hours after a flood. To address its buildup, use cleaners such as soap and bleach, but keep in mind that this may not solve the problem completely. For instance, if the affected mold area is bigger than six square feet, you may need to contact a mold restoration professional to help asses and fix the situation.

The Bottom-Line

Of course, you cannot prevent floods from happening. However, there are steps you can take and save your home from the effects of floods. Plus, time is of paramount importance. Acting fast will save your home from the adverse effects of floods. The above steps are all you need to save your home from the effects of floods. Hire a reliable water restoration company and save your home. Visit here http://www.primewaterdamagerestoration.com/ for the best water restoration services.

Making the Internet of things work for your business

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It’s already used to help doctors monitor their patients’ health at a distance, to check soil conditions in farming and to keep track of stock in supermarkets, but what could the Internet of things (IoT) do for your business? By embedding sensors in more and more things, we’re creating a world that’s much richer in data. We’re also making far more of our devices autonomous, cutting down on the amount of human input needed to complete routine tasks. This will have growing implications for business for many years to come, as the possibilities are really only just beginning to be explored – but what can the right IoT development company do for your business now to help you get ahead?

An office that looks after itself

Managing a busy office becomes a whole lot easier when you can train your machines, not just your staff. A smart assistant like Cortana or Alexa can oversee regular tasks like scheduling and coordinating staff, while individual pieces of equipment can let you know if they develop faults before it gets to the point where someone needs to use a machine urgently. Smart printers can ask for help when they need more paper or ink and even order more from your stationery supplier when overall stock is running low. A Roomba hoover or similar cleaner can help to keep the floors clean, cutting down on cleaning expenses and promoting a healthy environment. You can even get a smart coffee maker to identify staff habits to ensure there’s always a fresh brew ready at the right time.

A faster, more successful hiring process

For the meantime, humans are still a vital component of any business, but they’re no longer the best at identifying talent in each other. The artificial intelligence behind Censia – one of leading tech investor Joanna Riley’s creations – can help you find the ideal pool of candidates for any given role, even if you prefer to make the final decision yourself. It does this by scanning literally thousands of online résumés – something that would take days to do manually – and using its machine learning algorithms to identify bits of data that might not seem significant to you but that it has found correlate to what you’re looking for. Increasingly, this kind of big data profiling is also using IoT to identify things like the number of hours individuals spend at their desks.

An eco-friendlier production process

There are lots of ways in which IoT can help you to run your business in a more environmentally sustainable way, starting by monitoring each aspect of your production process to make sure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It makes it much easier to integrate power that you generate yourself through wind or solar devices. It can enable you to heat map your premises; the first step to working out how to distribute heat more efficiently so that it doesn’t interfere with your processes while ensuring your staff are comfortable. It can even manage your LED lighting so that it changes subtly over the course of the day, making sure that there’s always enough illumination no matter what the weather is doing and keeping employees at the optimum level of alertness.

Smarter, faster employees – even out of the office

What happens when your employees are out of the office on business trips or attending meetings? With better integrated communications than ever before, you’ll find it easy to keep track of them whenever you need to, even doing so passively so that, for instance, other people can work on the same documents as they do in real time. You’ll also find that they don’t spend as much time commuting because smart transport will mean that everybody gets around more efficiently.

Incoming and outgoing deliveries you can track en route

As well as managing your employees more efficiently when they’re out and about, you can monitor goods – whether they’re coming or going. Sensors in packaging monitor things like temperature, light and vibration to help you work out what’s happening to them, as well as enabling you to track them geographically. They can also let you know when somebody tries to open them. All of this makes it much easier to ensure that nothing gets stolen or damaged – and that if it does, you know who’s responsible. Collecting data like this over time also makes it possible for you to adapt your approach to transport in order to make sure goods get where they’re going in optimum condition.

With all these advantages already and many more developments on the way, the Internet of things is something that your business needs to get to grips with. It’s also something that you’ll need to keep watching in order to make sure you benefit from what’s still to come.

North and South Carolina Governors Issue Statements About The Growing Coronavirus Fears

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Now that at least 6 people have died from the coronavirus in the US, fears are increasing about the community spread the CDC has been warning about.

In a statement posted to Twitter, NC Governor Roy Cooper said in part, “we do expect to begin seeing cases of the new corona virus in our state…”

In press conference this morning, the SC Governor told residents that the best form of protection is to wash their hands frequently, for at least 20 seconds at a time, and to wipe down all surfaces that will be touched. He also urged residents to cover their mouths when they sneeze and to stay home if they are feeling sick.

Additional preventative measures include;

Publix Just Broke Ground On A Massive $400 Million Facility in North Carolina

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Publix just broke ground on a massive new $400 million facility in North Carolina that will transform cold storage grocery delivery across the Carolinas and Virginia.

According to a press release from the company, the new distribution center is expected to create at least 1,000 jobs across the region with an average salary of $44,000/year.

The campus will include a 1.1-million-sf refrigerated warehouse, a 120,000-sf food manufacturing facility, and a 1.3-million-sf dry warehouse.

“The Greensboro Distribution Center will play a key role in supporting our growth in the region,” Jones said. “The hundreds of new associates who join the Publix family will help us provide the premier service our customers have come to expect.”

Publix leadership presented donations to two local nonprofit organizations during the groundbreaking ceremony. BackPack Beginnings and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina each received $2,500 in support of their programs to help alleviate hunger by providing children with backpacks of food.

The new Greensboro facility will be Publix’s 10th distribution center, joining Florida locations in Boynton Beach, Deerfield Beach, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Miami, Orlando and Sarasota; Lawrenceville, Georgia; and McCalla, Alabama.

The new facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

Massive ‘Chinese Lantern Festival’ Coming To Belmont This Year

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Explore Asian culture in Belmont during the Chinese Lantern Festival to be held Wednesday through Sunday from Aug. 28 through Oct. 18 at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.

The Chinese Lantern Festival will feature thousands of handmade lanterns, constructed by by masters of the craft in Zigong, the originator of the festival. Illuminated mythical creatures, flowers, trees, insects, and critters will glow throughout the Garden and interactive light displays and colorful archways will captivate all. Marvel at acrobatic shows, browse the marketplace featuring authentic Chinese folk arts and crafts handmade onsite, and explore the lush Asian-inspired garden displays. Throughout autumn, the Garden will offer continuing education classes for adults, programs for schools and home schools, and much more.

Tickets are expected to sell out on many evenings and visitors are encouraged purchase tickets online at www.DSBG.org. Tickets are $23.95 per adult, $21.95 per senior 60+, $15.95 per child ages 2 through 12, and free for children under the age of two. Prices increase at the door if tickets remain on select evenings. Garden members receive a 30% discount on tickets including up to four guests. Please note that the Garden will remain open daily for general admission from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and close from 5 to 6 p.m. prior to the festival.

For more information call (704) 825-4490 or visit https://www.dsbg.org/events-exhibits/exhibits/chinese-lantern-festival/.

NC High Schoolers Rank #2 in U.S. for Good Grammar

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Grammar nerds, rejoice! National Grammar Day is March 4th, and it’s the perfect day to celebrate the idiosyncrasies of the English language and study up on some of the common grammar mistakes. The world’s largest online homework help platform Brainly surveyed 1,000 students nationwide to learn about the most common grammar mistakes, their opinions on controversial grammar-related topics like the Oxford (serial) comma, and more.

The most shocking grammar-related learnings from the survey are:

  • Roughly 53% of single U.S. students said that bad grammar is a dating deal-breaker.
  • Nationwide, 66% of students said they prefer a writing style that uses the Oxford comma.
  • Nearly 8% of students said they think their grammar is better than their English teacher’s.
  • About 43% of students said their most common grammar mistake is not knowing when to use a comma or not.

The top 5 states with the biggest self-professed grammar geeks (students who said good grammar is very important to them):

  • Vermont (68%)
  • North Carolina (62%)
  • Delaware (59%)
  • Pennsylvania (57%)
  • Massachusetts (53%)

The top 5 grammatical spelling errors students said their peers make most often are:

  • They’re / their / there (32%)
  • It’s / its (22%)
  • Your / you’re (21%)
  • Too / to (13%)
  • Who / whom (12%)

The top 5 states where students admitted not knowing what an Oxford comma is:

  • Arkansas (21%)
  • Georgia (20%)
  • Alabama (19%)
  • Kentucky (14%)
  • New Mexico (14%)

The top 5 grammatical syntax errors students said their peers are most guilty of are: 

  • Run-on sentences (54%)
  • Punctuation mistakes (13%)
  • Subject-verb agreement errors (12%)
  • Pronoun agreement errors (12%)
  • Passive voice (9%)

“While grammar can be a common source of stress for both students and parents alike, it’s an important subject for people to master so they’re able to express themselves and their ideas effectively,” says Eric Oldfield, Chief Business Officer of Brainly.

“We find that peer learning is often the key to correcting common grammatical mistakes. We encourage students to have others review their written assignments before turning them in, so the student can be made aware of any errors and learn how to fix them. It’s also good practice for students to offer to peer review others’ assignments because it reinforces their grammar knowledge by having them explain grammatical concepts to others,” says Oldfield.

Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Unveils Massive New Multisport Facility at Charlotte’s Boys and Girls Club

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The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, the Kevin Harvick Foundation and Group 1001 today joined The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club to unveil a multisport playing field that will provide youth who need us most in Charlotte with a safe place to learn, play and compete.

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included Kevin Harvick, NASCAR Cup Champion and Kevin Harvick Foundation co-founder; Melissa Jacobs, vice president, sponsorships, Group 1001;and Steve Salem, president and CEO, Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation.

“We are so grateful to have another opportunity to partner with the Kevin Harvick Foundation and Group 1001 to open another successful Youth Development Park,” said Cal Ripken, Jr., Baseball Hall of Famer & Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation Vice Chairman. “We can’t wait to see the kids and local community in Charlotte benefit from the positive impact on the field and off of the field as well.”

The 52,000 square foot multisport playing field is lined for youth baseball/softball and soccer. The facility includes a synthetic turf baseball field and soccer field. It is complete with a digital scoreboard, backstop, dugouts, foul poles, bleachers and sidewalks. And all maintenance works on the turf will be done by the facility hired turf management contractors.

The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club will manage and maintain the field and work closely with the Ripken Foundation to create programs to engage at-risk young people. The programs will address a variety of youth development needs, which include character development, health and physical education, and culture and history.

“Being active and playing sports can teach kids so many great and valuable lessons,” said Harvick. “Thank you to the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation and Group 1001 for their hard work. This park is a great investment in the community and it will be in great hands with The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club.”

“Growing up and playing a number of sports, athletic facilities were the backdrop to where I learned a number of vital life lessons and skills that set me up for success later in life,” said Dan Towriss, CEO of Group1001. “In my professional career, I often credit my wins – big or small – to the skills I developed on the field.Group1001 is committed to helping the next generation in Charlotte to learn the same lessons and to live healthier and happy lives. We are so thrilled that by teaming up with the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, we are able to bring this beautiful field to life.”

Since 1934, The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs have served the youth of Mecklenburg and Union Counties. The mission of The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs is to enable all young people to realize their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens. The eight Clubs in the area serve more than 1,500 members in the Greater Charlotte Area.

To date, the Ripken Foundation has completed 91 multipurpose synthetic turf Youth Development Parks in 24states and Washington D.C. This is the fourth Youth Development Park in conjunction with the Kevin Harvick Foundation, and the fifth park in the state of North Carolina. Over 427,154 children have access to a Youth Development Park.

How to Embrace Becoming a Better Man

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Looking for a way to become a better version of yourself? The journey often starts with being true to who you are. As a man, you’re a sexual and motivated creature – so why not embrace that fact? There’s a difference between being lecherous and creepy, and a guy who knows exactly what he wants. Don’t be ashamed of your sexuality as a man, learn how to embrace it, and you could achieve the life that you’ve always wanted. While eating right and exercising are important long-term, here’s how you can start making a change to your life now by listening to your sexual side. 

Ask Yourself What You Want

First, you need to ask yourself what you’re looking for in a sexual partner. Do you want a long-term commitment, something short-term, or are you not sure exactly what you need yet? Knowing your goals when it comes to tracking down a partner will make it easier for you to present yourself as transparently as possible to someone that you’re interested in. At the same time, remember that just because you know what you want, doesn’t mean that the people who attract you will always want you in return. If you put yourself out there to connect with someone and they shut you down, brush it off, and move onto something new. 

Become the Right Guy

Think about the kind of person you’re looking for. Ask yourself what kind of man they’re likely to be attracted to. If you’re looking for someone who’s energetic, bubbly, and exciting, then there’s a good chance you’ll need to show yourself to have those characteristics too. Working on yourself can help you to become more attractive to the kind of opportunities that you want to embrace. Don’t be afraid to get some help when working on yourself too. There’s nothing wrong with seeking help from Manual.co for things like thinning hair or ED problems. Depending on your age, you might find that you’re dealing with a very common problem. 

Don’t Be Afraid of Life

Finally, once you’ve decided what you want, and you think that you’ve created the right image for yourself, make sure that you’re not holding yourself back because you’re too afraid of what might happen when you ask someone out or speak to someone that you find attractive. Today’s men are often too afraid of the possible repercussions of talking to someone and getting their advances rejected, to the point where we sit at the opposite end of the bar to the person we desperately want to talk to. 

Although it’s true that putting yourself out there is likely to lead to some rejection, it’s also the only way that you’re going to be able to get what you want. Try taking life less seriously. Even if you’re looking for someone that you want to share your life with, every interaction should start as nothing more than a simple conversation. If you go out with the intention to just speak to someone new, then you’ll be a lot less nervous about what you say.

How Casinos Use Technology to Increase Experience And Security

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Review is made by best online casinos South Africa experts.

It is no secret that everyone loves movies in which the smooth and suave gambler (or team of gamblers) finesses a casino out of millions of dollars. We all cheered with joy as the extremely talented MIT students with a gift of statistics counted cards and swindled Vegas casinos in the movie “21” (which was based on real life events). 

We all watched in amazement as Danny Ocean and his team of eleven robbed three Vegas casinos at the same time in “Ocean’s Eleven”. The movies provided a sense of thrill and wonder, along with incredibly smooth and deceptive tricks that made them extremely enjoyable to watch.

However, movies are nothing like real life. In real life, these “heroes” of the movie actually not only cause problems for the casino, they also cause problems for you – the gambler who is just looking to have a good time at the casino.

Anti-Cheat Measures of the Past

The casino has to keep a keen eye on everyone on the gaming floor and catch the “undesirables” – the people who are cheating. This prevents the cheaters from swindling you and the casino out of their money, despite online casino gambling. For example, the safest free credit casino Singapore gives an opportunity to it’s gamblers play at home. 

Traditionally, the casinos used trained and experienced security agents to catch these undesirables. The security agents had plenty of knowledge and experience about the ways in which these undesirables cheat. Using their knowledge and experience, they could catch the cheaters in the act and remove them from the gaming floor before they could cause too much damage.

However, these agents could not pay attention to every corner of the floor at once and spot all of the cheaters. Slowly, the cheaters began to realize this and came up with increasingly discreet ways to cheat undetected.

Just when it seemed that the cheaters had taken the upper hand, modern technology came to the aid of casino security. High tech security cameras and facial recognition was able to help the agents catch the cheaters in the act and ban them from the casinos permanently.

Advanced Modern Security Cameras

Advanced security cameras are the most important tool for helping security agents catch undesirables on the gaming floor. These allowed the agents to surveil suspected cheaters, and monitor their activities closely without them even realizing that they had attracted the attention of the agents.

With advanced security cameras that have a 360-degree field of view, and incredible zooming capabilities, the agents have an easier time spotting cheaters on the gaming floor. The wide field of view enables the agents to look in all directions around the camera, so there is no blind spot that existed with traditional cameras. Additionally, the zooming capabilities enable the agents to capture the smallest of details from far away.

For example, if an agent suspects a person of using a device to mark the backs of playing cards at a table, he can watch him closely with the aid of a security camera. It doesn’t even matter if the device that the person is using is so tiny that he can conceal it in his palm – when he takes it out to mark the card, the zoom on the camera is able to see it and capture the evidence. 

Since he does not have to physically move closer to the person to observe his actions, he does not raise any suspicion that dissuades the cheater to temporarily stop. The cheater can continue with his ways, and once the agent confirms that the person is cheating, he can take appropriate measures. These may include removing the person from the premises and permanently banning them from all casinos owned by the business, depending on the severity of the crime. 

Conclusion

In the past, cheaters were able to swindle casinos for exorbitant amounts of money. However, with the aid of advanced technology, casino security has made it nearly impossible to cheat on the gaming floor and leave undetected.