As I hope you know by now, I contribute to a great non-profit organization called Spirit Jump.  Their mission is to give hope and comfort to the many men, women, and children battling cancer.  They do this by sending cards and inspirational gifts to lift the spirits of those experiencing that difficult time.

I sent many cards and Self Symmetry jewelry to cancer patients in 2009, but this year I want to step it up a bit!  I’m leading a team in the 1st annual Cards 4 Cancer Day, which is April 10, 2010.  What I’ll be doing is gathering cards from now until then.  Then on April 10th, I will be delivering all the cards to Texas Oncololgy – Medical City Dallas.

So, I need your help!  I’m looking for team members.  All you have to do as a team member is gather cards.  These cards don’t have to be anything fancy.  They can be homemade or store bought.  They can be scribbles from a 2 year old, a fun drawing from a 5th grader, or an uplifting message from your coworker.  It doesn’t matter.  I don’t know who will get what card, so it doesn’t have to be addressed to anyone in particular.  The only requirement is that the message be positive!  It would also be great if “Spirit Jump” was somewhere on the card so the recipient will know what organization it came from.  If they find the card helpful and it lifted their spirit then they can log onto Spirit Jump’s website and register to receive more cards and gifts.

If you’re a team member all you have to do is help me gather cards.  You can gather 5 or 500, I don’t care!  You can ask your child’s school or classroom, your coworkers, church, family, friends….basically anyone you can think of.  Would be fun to have a card making party too!  Or, if you don’t necessarily want to be a team member but want to buy or make a card you can do that as well.  Just send me the card and I’ll get it to a person battling cancer.

I don’t have a number for a goal in mind, but let’s just say this…I want to gather a ton of cards.  This is so easy, so thoughtful, and it can mean so much to someone.  Just think how cool it would be to go to a radiation treatment and have a card or two waiting for you.  The thought of knowing that people care about you and are praying for you right before you have a procedure or right after you get some news about your disease.   It really can make the difference in someone’s day.

Let’s show those battling cancer how much we love and care for them.

If you’d like to be a team member, let me know!  Leave a comment, email me, let me know on FB, tweet me…just let me know!  If you just want to send a card that would be awesome too.  Again, just let me know.  I’ll get you my address.

I’m looking forward to gathering cards and doing some good.  Thank you SO much!

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My list of things I currently have that I’m ever so grateful for.

–These are in no particular order–

• My friends.
• My house with warm, clean beds, hot running water, full of great furniture, a playroom filled with toys, a pool, a fantastic neighborhood and schools, and most importantly, a place I call home!
• My car.
• That I have a solid marriage.
• My kids.
• My family.
• My Mac.
• My camera.
• My faith.
• That I have support.
• My health.
• That I am inspired.
• My motivation.
• My breath.
• My awareness.
• My ability to always see the bright side of things.
• My clothes.
• My hair, eyes, and sense of feel.
• My jewelry business that’s doing really well.
• My yoga and yoga students.
• That I get to stay at home with my kids.
• That I am free.
• That I have good food to eat.
• That I get older and wiser.
• That I live a dream life….my dream!
• That I have an amazing body to carry me around in.
• That I’m laid back.
• That I know who I am, and have confidence to just be me.
• The love in my heart.
• That I am able to give.
• That I am open to receive.
• That I get to make this list!

THANK YOU   THANK YOU   THANK YOU   THANK YOU

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I was recently approached, via email, by a girl named Apryle.  She has some friends (Tiffany & Zach Pifer) that have been trying to conceive for 3 years now.  Still not pregnant, they have decided to visit a fertility clinic.  According to the Pifer’s blog, “Fertility clinics are not cheap and unfortunately my insurance doesn’t cover a dime for infertility treatments.”  However, they are fortunate enough to have 2 great friends, Apryle & Ashley.

What Apryle & Ashley have decided to do for the Pifer’s is to set up a fundraiser to help them get the funds they need for infertility treatment.  How awesome is this?  So what they’re doing is selling bracelets and key chains that say “Growing in Faith”.  Everyone that buys a bracelet &/or keychain is entered to win fabulous gifts that have been donated by different people.

Here’s where I step in!  I have donated a pair of pearl & turquoise earrings.  I get approached like this quite often and I rarely say no (maybe not a good thing to tell everyone )!  But the reason I said yes to Apryle and the “Pifer Bean Fund” is because I have been blessed with 2 beautiful children and they have enriched my life so much.  I want to give what I can to help another family experience the pure joy of a child (or possibly 2 or 3 with treatment…haha).

So, if you’d like to help the Pifer family as well please click on this link!

You can click here for the Pifer’s actual blog!

You never know, you may win these earrings!

Thank you so much to Apryle & Ashley.  You guys are such beautiful people!

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So I want to follow up to a blog post I did a little over a month ago.  I, along with some other lovely internet people that I don’t really know, committed to a 30 day giving challenge.  Basically the idea was to give for 30 days…give a smile, kind words, a helping hand, just whatever you can give at any moment.  Here’s the actual post if you’d like to read it: CLICK HERE FOR 30 DAY CHALLENGE POST

I’m a pretty nice person in general (anyone that knows me can attest to that, but don’t ask the following 76 people…  j/k) so giving a smile or kind words wasn’t much of a stretch for me.  But I wanted to do the challenge because I wanted to see what it would be like to be aware of the giving rather than just going about my day.  And, I wanted to see if I could give more than I usually do.  Here’s what happened:

The first day was really good.  I smiled more at people and was kinder on the roads.  The second day was more interesting.  There was a guy in his car that was pulled way out from where he was suppose to be.  As I drove by him I gave him a dirty look and threw a hand up in the air meaning WTF!  As soon as I drove past him I realized what I had done.  I felt awful.  Did he really deserve a nasty look & a WTF sign (I didn’t flip him off if that’s what you’re thinking…just you know, a WTF)?  I mean, we all make mistakes, right?  I’m sure there’s been a handful of times that I’ve done that exact thing.  I wanted to turn around and give him a big smile and a “I’m so sorry” wave but I didn’t.  I thought that might be a little weird…he might have even given me a WTF sign then!  HA  I did, however, apologize to him and wish him well in my mind.

A few days later I was taking my little Max to school.  We were driving down the alley and there was a huge trash can in the way.  I decided to drive around it…after all we were running a bit late.  But, as I’m driving around it I’m thinking to myself “I know what I need to do.  I need to move it out of the way.”  I didn’t!  Again, I felt awful.  Luckily, it was still in the middle of the road on my way home from taking him to school so I was able to redeem myself!  (It’s an even better feeling when you give without someone looking.)

I loved doing this.  It’s such a good feeling to make someone’s day and to just be more polite in general.  I gave several spirit jumps (sending a small gift to a cancer patient to lift their spirits), and I always did my best to make the cashier, at Target, Walmart, or wherever I was, to feel better about their jobs (especially if I could tell they were just totally beaten down).  Being aware of what I was giving made me feel a sense of lightness, like everything is good and I’m not weighed down by negativity.  I just felt happier!

On the other side of the giving coin is receiving!  Here’s what I received out of this challenge:

–People were so nice to me on the roads.  I was going first at stop signs, people were waving me in to get in front of them, & I was even given a parking space when we both got to it at the same time!

–My husband took me on a surprise date because he wanted to let me know how much he appreciates me!

–On our date we went to an awesome sushi restaurant (Kenichi) and our entire bill was comped!

But…most importantly,

–I felt good.  I felt happier.  Period.

If you have stories on giving & receiving I’d love to hear them.  If you took the challenge with me, what did you experience?  Make a comment.

Now, let’s go out and keep giving…what have you to lose?

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I’ve got this great little book called “The Secret Daily Teachings”.  Everyday I open to the daily teaching for that day and see what it has to say.  Here’s today’s:

Here is something you can do that is one of the most powerful uses of the law of attraction.  This exercise is thirty days of an avalanche of giving.

Every day for thirty consecutive days, give.  Give joy, smiles, warm words, love, appreciation, and compliments to everyone you meet, including strangers, friends, and family.  Speak from your heart, giving the very best of you in every moment of your day, and make it your mission to make every single person’s day better with kind thoughts and words.

As you give the best of you, you will be staggered by the speed that it comes back to you.

So from today, April 20th until May 20th, I will be giving – giving smiles, compliments, love, a helping hand, basically whatever I can give in any given moment.

I would love to have you join me.  If you’re up for the challenge, please post a comment &/or send me an email.  I think it’ll be fun to do this together, and help each other out.  And, I know the rewards will be awesome!

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