Forming a Support Group

Amongst all the “getting ready for college” that we did this week we were  able to squeeze in a few social events.

One night Cali and I gathered with a group of other college bound daughters and their mothers.  As a result of the girl’s friendship, the mothers have become friends too.  During our evening together the girls gathered in the family room and the moms gathered in the dining room.

I am not sure what the conversation was in the family room but in the dining room the mothers were sharing their concerns, apprehensions and excitement for their daughters and for themselves.

During the years we have known each other some of the women have undergone major life changes – three of them have been divorced, one widowed.  Some of us work full time, some part time and others don’t work outside the home.

But one thing we discovered was that despite our differences we have a lot of the same needs – the need for friendship, support and love from other women.

In fact, we even decided to form a support group – gathering together once a month to enjoy being together, putting together care packages for our college girls and of course enjoying some good food!

One thing I was reminded of again this week during our dinner was that…

 despite our differences women are more alike than they are different

I believe that all women need support from other women.  When our daughters heard that we were forming a “support group” they laughed and thought we were silly.

But as I thought about it I realized – our daughters have formed a support group too.  Through their use of Facebook, My Space, email, text messages, instant messaging they stay connected.  They communicate with and support one another.

All women need support groups  – no matter what their age.   Whether your friends are next door or across the country we can support each other and stay connected through technology.

Several months ago my good friend Sherra and I were talking about this very topic – women supporting women and staying connected.  During one of our many conversations the idea for an online community for women by women was born.

So today I’d love to invite you to visit our brand new online community

I hope you’ll take a few minutes and watch our short movie which will lead you to our new website and the story will unfold from there!

Every Woman Movie.com

Sherra and I would so appreciate it if you’d share this link with some of your girlfriends too!  Help us grow our online community for woman by woman!  We hope you’ll want to be a part of it.

Be sure and check out the Sunday Surprise post for a chance to win our first giveaway.

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Happy Birthday Jim!

Today is my husband’s birthday.  I’ll be kind and not tell you how old he is.  I will tell you though, he is older than I am.

We actually celebrated his birthday on Sunday because early this morning he left on a business trip.  We celebrated with a yummy dinner (I’ll share the recipe tomorrow) and a homemade marionberry pie – his request.

After dinner we went to visit my mom and dad as my dad is recovering from surgery.  When we returned home we found a surprise waiting for Jim at the front door.  It was a birthday note from his good buddy Declan.

Declan’s mom had helped him make the card because, you see, Declan is five years old.

Isn’t he cute!

The inside of the card was pretty cute too…

A picture of Declan, Jim and a pile of mulch!

Declan’s mom had encouraged him to draw a picture of something that reminded him of Jim.

Each spring and fall we have a pile of mulch dumped in our driveway for our garden.  When the boys were at  home they were Jim’s helpers.  Filling the wheelbarrow full of mulch and pushing it to the backyard, trip after trip after trip.  They loved it – NOT!

Once the boys were gone from home Jim could never convince the girls to help him, so he was on his own, until….

Declan!

Declan loves to help Jim, each season he anxiously awaits the arrival of the mulch in our driveway.  In fact this spring five year old Declan was knocking at our door as soon as he saw it in the driveway.

He proceeded to knock on the door every 20 minutes for several hours to see if Jim was ready to come out and “work”. Jim tried to explain to him that he was working inside right now but would be out in a while.

Finally, on Saturday morning Jim and his buddy Declan spent hours “moving poop” as the boys use to call it.  Declan had his own little wheelbarrow and own shovel.  He worked hard and Jim was so cute and patient with him.  For his birthday, Declan received his own kids sized garden gloves from his buddy Jim.

When they were done working Declan wanted to know when Jim’s “mom” –  that would be me –  was going to make his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

That is the cutest part –  Declan really considers Jim his friend, his buddy, not someone that is older than his own father!

I guess that is one way to feel young – hang out with a five year old!

So Jim – Happy Birthday from your family and from your buddy Declan!  We love you!!

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Week at the Beach – A Dream Come True

We just returned from our annual “Week at the Beach”.   We had a wonderful time as a family, meeting Logan’s friend Becca (she loved her Wilkes Survival Kit) and we had our neighbors join us to celebrate the Fourth!  Our annual “Week at the Beach” is really a dream come true, let me tell you about it –

One of my favorite childhood memories is the time we spent at Silver Lake Resort in Wild Rose, Wisconsin.  We rented a cute little cottage – Doll House Cottage. To a young girl it was a magical place. We played for hours on the shores of the lake and enjoyed escaping from the  world.  I’ll never forget the time my mom stepped on a live frog as we walked through the woods!  (Well, at least it was alive before she stepped on it!)

I also grew up hearing my dad tell us stories of the summers he spent with his family in the little cottage they owned on Victoria Beach on the shores of Lake Winnipeg.  There was the summer we got to go to Victoria Beach.  I’ll never forget the sight of my Grandpa Best floating on his back out on the lake with his pipe sticking out of his mouth!

I fell in love with and became enchanted with the idea of a cottage on a lake.

For most of my life, whenever I would attend a conference or a meeting where they would ask you to write down your top goals one of mine was always…

Own a cottage on a lake.

When Jim and I moved to Oregon as a young married couple I discovered that Oregon doesn’t have too many lakes but it does have an amazing coast line. so the goal was revised…

Own a beach house

I didn’t know how or when I would get that beach house but I did know that my beach house had to be within a two hour drive of Portland.  It needed to be a “family” house  – big enough that we could gather as an extended family, a house big enough for when my kids would come home with their kids and that it needed to be in the quaint little beach town of Manzanita, Oregon.

But that’s as far as I took the dream/goal until…

…one evening Jim and I were out to dinner with some friends and somehow the topic of a beach house came us.  I told them that I had always wanted a beach house and that I knew exactly where I wanted it.  They too expressed that they had always wanted a beach house – end of conversation.

Well, about one week later we got a phone call from our friends.  They had gone to the beach for the weekend and had looked at houses for sale.  Our friends then went on to tell us that they had found one they liked and even put an offer on it, pending our approval of course.

The house was one and a half hours from Portland, it was in the town of Manzanita and it was big – 3,000 square feet and the bonus – it had a 180 degree view of the ocean!

Guess what – we bought a beach house!  Finally, my dream had come true.

View from our side deck…

Lesson Learned:  Open your mouth and share your dreams with others – they can help make them come true! Be specific about your goals. – within two hours of Portland, town of Manzanita, big house.

How many times when asked to write down our goals do we keep our hand over the top of our paper so no one close to us sees what we are writing down!?

How often do we write them down in our journal and then leave them there on the page? And then leave that journal on the shelf.

I have learned that one of the fastest ways to make your dreams come true is to share them with others.

I am not saying that every time you vocalize a dream or a goal that someone will magically appear and make that dream come true but it can’t hurt, can it?

You never know when someone you know may know someone who knows someone…..

So what is one of your goals or dreams that you haven’t said out loud or vocalized?  How about putting it out there, right now!  I’d love for you to share it with me via the comment box below – you never know who may read it and be able to help!

I’ll start by sharing one of my top goals/dreams with you – I want to live in England for a month each year.  Know anyone with a house for rent in the English countryside????

Just so you know, I haven’t given up on the cottage on the lake though – on my dream board in my office I have a picture of a quaint little cottage on the shores of a lake.  You never know when Oregon may grow a new lake or two!

Remember to click through to the actual blog to leave your comment if you are reading this through an email update or rss reader.

I look forward to reading about your goals and dreams!

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