You Are More Blessed Than...

If you have ever suffered loss, you will be thankful for the small things, you will love deeper and longer for each day is precious. "..

We take so many things for granted anymore, take some time today to say thanks for the blessings you have been bestowed. Teach your children to be grateful with the little things in life... teach kindness by practicing kindness & gratitude.

 

 

 

Have A Blessed Thanksgiving!

From our house to yours we wish you a safe and blessed Thanksgiving Day. Count your blessings, no matter how small, and praise our Father above for all the goodness he bestows upon us daily.

Happy Thanksgiving

Gratitude and Thanksgiving Lessons

15 Activities for kids: teaching them gratitude and being thankful.

                                                                    Source: blog.memetales.com via Lusine on Pinterest

Check out the Book, ‘Being Thankful‘ on Memetales.  It is a book about gratitude and is completely illustrated by children from all over the world!  It is a great conversation starter to talk about gratitude with little kids. The book even has pictures of the kids who contributed their work.
Credit to the website blog.memetales.com for such cute ideas, to get all the directions for each project, visit the blog here 


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Reflecting on a mission, one I feel called to...

What kind of mom's group can last for 10 years and still keep growing? The Mommies Network, that's who! I feel like its my mission field some days.

It began with just 2 mom's getting together talking, supporting each other, helping each other and grew from there, and grew and grew. Our local chapter here in the foothills of North Carolina is just a small piece of the "mommy puzzle" CentralfoothillsMommies was founded March 26th 2006 by Erin Moore, now lead by Chapter Manager Leslie Block (that's me).

CentralFoothillsMommies.com was born when two existing sites, HickoryMommies.com and StatesvilleMommies.com decided to join forces to better support the moms in their combined local area. Feeling that each site had a unique identity and wanting to bring both communities together, the management decided upon a new name to better describe their new, combined community. Thus, CentralFoothillsMommies was born!

We chat online in a private forum - discussing everything from the best photographers to the worst temper tantrums and all that lies between - and meet-up regularly at member-driven events around town. Whether it's a late night commiseration on a crying baby (there are 4 am posts to prove it) or a Mom's Night Out, CentralFoothillsMommies provides what our members need, when and how they need it.

But CentralFoothillsMommies is more than just a community of moms. It's moms in and for the community. Our members work full time, stay home full time, work part time, represent many races, are pregnant for the first time, are adoptive moms, were adopted themselves, recently moved to the area, have lived here all our lives, have twins, are happy with one, are single moms, are searching out schools and have watched their kids graduate. In other words, we are a reflection of mothers in the real world. And we help out our neighbors as much as ourselves through organized fundraisers and other charity events - specifically those focused on providing for mothers and their children.

We serve over 30,000 women in our mission to provide a safe and FREE place to find support and encouragement, advice and friendship.

Each dollar you donate allows our network to run for about 8 minutes. Your donation assists us in maintaining our chapters, expanding our network, upgrading critical technologies, and providing the very best place for moms to find what they are missing, online and in real life.

We’d love to tell you how great The Mommies Network is, but why not let our members tell you for us?

That is why as the Chapter Manager I wanted to reflect and reveal why I love TMN so much myself. Below is a great video from Charlottemommies that I love, then below that my reflections on being a member and mom within the network of TMN. A mission that I feel lead to continue for at least another 10 years I hope and pray.

 

My reflections as a Chapter Manager,TMN Advisor and member.

As the Chapter Manager and a member myself I can totally attest to the overwhelming support I have received from the awesome friends and sisters that I have found with my CFM mommies! They are my world, I am excited to share my life with them, little things that my family experiences I can't wait to get home and get online to tell my "mommy friends" , A new recipe I have tried, I love to share, A stupid moment with my husband, I have an outlet to ventilate or bounce ideas off a sister before I say something totally crazy and hurt his feelings.

I have experienced depression and PPD for many years and found others who have the same problems as I do, we have so much in common and it lets me feel like I am not alone crying at 3am, I have the support of my network right behind me.

When my father passed away from liver cancer and I had to go out of town, one of my best mommy friends came to my house to care for my pets, even washed windows for me. Again when my husbands father passed away I had support once again .

I recall a day my husband had to have back surgery and I was all alone in the waiting room of a local hospital, I was online on CFM to keep myself busy and from worrying. I got a phone call from one of our members who asked what my favorite flavor of "Starbucks coffee" was, before I knew it she was pulling up threw the breezeway of the surgical suite area, calling me to come out the door and get my "mommy coffee". She was on her way home from work and had a few minutes to spare, thought of a fellow mom in need and knew that a cup of "Starbucks white chocolate mocha" would absolutely make my day! And it did!

Another mom offered to drive 3 hours and pick up my kids when my husband was very ill and had to spend a few unexpected days in an out of town medical center. These amazing women are in every chapter of our network, even in the leadership of TMN. I think of many more instances just like these since 2007 when I joined The Mommies Network that another mom has been there and done something incredibly selfless just for me.
The founder and president of The Mommies Network "Heather Fortune" has become a wonderful friend herself to me, a shoulder to lean on, an outstanding example of servant leadership that will get right in the trenches and dig in to work with her team. I am also very proud to be a part of the Senior Advisor team of TMN, all volunteers that spend countless hours, up late hours all night sometimes just to make TMN the best place for all moms we can. I plan to spend another 10 + years helping to make TMN grow and serve our communities all across the US. into the vision that Heather has for TMN.
We need your help to continue our mission, please consider visiting the link HERE and donating even a small amount to help, it will be used to help women just like the women who help me.

Thank you so much for your time

Chapter Manager CentralfoothillsMommies.com

National Sr Advisor of Social Medial for The Mommies Network

 

 

Saturday blessings

Hello weekend,glad you are here! Praising God for all blessings whether they be great or small.

 

Gratitude Journaling ~ Go Ahead Say Thank You!

Being thankful is not just for November, it should be all year long, an attitude of gratitude and saying thank you and being thankful is a daily routine. There are so many things in our life that we can be thankful for, start teaching your children as babies to say thank you, to appreciate the smaller things of life and not always material things. They will grow into much more mature thankful adults that have an attitude of gratitude and not of selfish, me all the time. Show them the little things around you every day, and help them appreciate how small we are in contrast to the awesome world that God has created.  Thank you for reading :)

Have you ever made a Gratitude Tree? Sorta like an Avent calendar for "Thank you's" this will inspire your family to always be thankful for little things in life that they may never think about. This would even make a great gift for grandparents or teachers.


Go Here for print outs and further instruction:
http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/gratitude-tree-advent-calendar-with.html <---I love this little blog.

** At the start of the month, begin with a blank tree. Each day, take turns as a family mentioning something we are grateful for. As we do this, we will add a leaf onto the tree!

You can make your own gratitude tree for your family, too!

Possibilities are endless and you can make your tree design and cap designs however you like. I really like this idea.
 

If you wish, you can download your own set of leaves here.  I would love to see pictures if you make your own gratitude tree advent calendar!  You could even make a tree on your refrigerator and add leaf magnets every day during November.  **These leaves were made to fit my bottle caps, so you may have to resize these just a smidge smaller to fit clear glass pebbles.  Or just trim them up a bit!

Thank you to Oopsey Daisy for such a cute idea and cute little blog, visit her and share some blog love HERE 

Have a fabulous weekend!

An Attitude of Gratitude

 

A Dose of Positive Attitude

Shared from Godvine website ~

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood... or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim... or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining... or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter," Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live... or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

Michael continued... "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read "He's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes, I replied." The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

"Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. Matthew 6:34 states: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Enjoy each day, each breath and mostly... each and every friend.

And remember to start each day with an "attitude of gratitude!"