Grateful:Day 2

Grateful Day 2

America I am grateful for you and I am grateful for the opportunities we have.

America is a very blessed country. I love it. I wouldn't want my children or loved ones being anywhere but here. I am about to be brutally honest though, Americans are spoiled. Be honest with yourself we are spoiled. We have worked very hard to obtain our freedoms and our servicemen and women work everyday to assure that freedom. In many, many ways we are spoiled here in America. So many others have so very little in comparison. This happens to be a factor not only when comparing countries but also right here at home. We seldom take notice of all the many things, sometimes little things, sometimes big things, but these things are all things that we are so blessed with. We are so blessed that we assume others are as well. We also seldom realize that others would be blessed by our sharing with them. No now, I don't mean empty your purse in the hand of the nearest homeless person. I am saying there are those in our lives, communities etc...that are in need and sharing even a little of what you have, even just a kind word can make all the difference in the world to someone else.

Many people think of this time of year for charities. (I agree but please don't forget them the rest of the year.)

Everyday for the next week I am going to give you a list of common charities and of uncommon charity opportunities that you may not think of or know of. Please choose one this year if not two and make a simple donation of either your time or resources. 

Today's fun charity opportunity: Movember

Movember

This charity is so FUN!!!!!!! 

Movember is the month formerly known as November, where men and women across the globe join together to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues. Men grow and women support a Mo (moustache) for 30 days to become walking, talking billboards, for our men’s health causes - prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

Men who support Movember, called Mo Bros, start by registering at Movember.com. Mo Bros start Movember 1st clean shaven, then grow and groom their Mo, for the rest of the month, raising money along the way. Women who support Movember, called Mo Sistas, also start by registering at Movember.com. Mo Sistas champion the Mo by supporting their Mo Bros, organizing events, leading a team and spreading the important message of men’s health.

 You can even start entire team of Mo's and ask for people to support your team with all donations going toward the charity. Ladies there are opportunities for you as well read up on Mo Sistas. The site is hilariously full of mustache paraphernalia. It is an entire site for of styling tips, pictures and funny sayings. If you have a man you love in your life this site will both make an interesting read but help men's health.

Please Donate $5 today to my Movember Mo Sista Team.

30 days of teaching an attitude of gratitude

30 days of teaching an attitude of gratitude

Gratitude is defined as the state of being grateful : of having thankfulness. 

This is something that I have tried REALLY hard to impress on our kids. Some days they make me proud and do something that shows they heard and listened and retained that impression. Other days they make me want to scream! They are kids. It is part of the process. I am trying to remind myself of that.  I am thankful for having children that I want to hang by their toes sometimes, I realize others are not that blessed and would love to be able to have these experiences. 

That realization has made me think a lot lately about making the month of November more than just a month of eating, gorgeous autumnal colors and the anticipation of Christmas. I plan on taking the next 30 days to really teach gratitude to our children. I will be learning along the way too. After all you never really learn something until you teach it.

Thankful tree

Today is November 1st and as the day after Halloween we are going to have a Halloween Hunt. We have a hunt after every holiday. This hunt includes the kids going with me room by room and removing the holiday decorations with me. It makes the chore of putting the holiday things away a little less tedious and less depressing. : )

After our hunt we will be putting up a Thankful tree. Using paper bags from the grocery store we will construct a paper tree on our wall. This tree will hold all of our leaves. Each leave will contain something that each child is grateful for. Each day our children will pick out a leaf and write what they are grateful for and then we will hang them on the tree.  The point is to have the kids think about all of the blessings that they have on a daily basis. 

After our tree is up we will be taking a treat & card over to our neighbors and Pastor. We have great neighbors and Pastor and we want them to know we appreciate them very much.