Thankful Thirty #15 (A Giveaway)

I'm halfway through my Thankful Thirty and it has done so much to help me focus on the myriad of good things happening in my life.  Today I want to take a moment to thank you, my friends and family, who read my ramblings and every now and then chime in.  I love to hear from you, but even when I don't, it's encouraging just to know you're there.

I want to say thank you!  

Now, a gift from me to one of my loyal readers.  That's right, a giveaway only for you, the ones who continue to trudge along with me.  I will not be advertising this giveaway anywhere, so the entries will be low and your chances very high!  Here's a look at the gift I'm going to give and how you can enter to win:

Trappistine Creamy Caramels

Monastery Candy

I first discovered these melt-in-your-mouth little goodies in a Reader's Digest "Best of America" series.  I was fascinated that they are made by cloistered nuns at the Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, and I was immediately in love when I realized these ladies are whipping up their confections right in my home state!  

I'm pretty sure I've tried everything this candy operation offers and I guarantee you can't go wrong.  Each November their catalog is a welcome surprise in my mailbox and my mouth starts watering as I decide which sweet treat I'm going to reward myself with that holiday season.  This year, that's what I want to do for you!  Here's the information...

Giveaway

2 winners will receive their choice of (1)

~Hazelnut Meltaways (6.5oz box)

~Swiss Mints (6.5oz box)

~Chocolate Coated Caramels (9oz Gift Box)

How To Enter

Comment on any of my Thankful Thirty posts.

1 comment=1 entry

That's a potential 30 entries.

Giveaway Rules

~Giveaway open 12:01AM November 15, 2012-11:59PM November 30, 2012 

~Winners will have their choice of one item above

~Winners will be chosen by Random.org and have 48 hours to respond before new winners will be chosen.

Remember, if you're reading this post, then this giveaway is a special thanks to you! 

This is not a sponsored or compensated post. 

 Prize will be awarded out of my own pocket

as a special way to say thank you.

Thankful Thirty #14 (Organization)

I am grateful for organization in times of trouble.

Thankful Thirty #13 (Service)

Source: Uploaded by user via Michelle on Pinterest

My family is participating this year in Operation Christmas Child.  I first heard about it a few weeks ago on a blog I read from England.  Then, a second-time on a friend's blog in Iowa.  I decided to look more into it and decided it would be a perfect way to get my family thinking about other's as we head into this holiday season.

Operation Christmas Child is a program sponsored through the organization Samaritan's Purse.  Basically, you fill a shoe box with small items that will then be sent to a child in need in another part of the world.  I especially like it because it costs very little money on the part of the sender.  In the area I live there are always a plethora of opportunities to help needy families at Christmas time (angel trees, Toys 4 Tots, Sub 4 Santa, etc), but I always feel there's no way I could afford to fill the requirements for most of them.  With Operation Christmas Child, it felt completely appropriate to use free samples I've been collecting along with a few $1-$2 items we picked up at the store.  Actually, I'd bought 2 Crayola Activity boxes a little while back when they were on clearance and they worked out perfectly!  The box already had markers, crayons, paints, stickers, and play-do, so we only had to add a few things more.  

We filled our box tonight and I think we had success!  The boys had a struggle at the grocery store picking out one truck or car to "send to a little boy."  They wanted to pick out something to keep for themselves, of course.  But I talked to them about why we were buying them and was surprised when we got home that they remembered and didn't fight me about giving the toys away.  It was really cute to hear my 2-year-old telling his Daddy that we were giving a present to "a boy."  

I'm especially looking forward to this being an opportunity that we can draw on throughout the holiday season.  Part of Operation Christmas Child is being able to track where your package is going.  I'm hoping to use those updates as a chance to remind us all why we gave and what we should be focusing on at Christmas time.  

I'm grateful for the opportunity to teach my children to serve others.

Interested in participating in Operation Christmas Child?

Boxes are being accepted November 12-19.  

Click here to find a drop-off location near you.

Thankful Thirty #12 (Technology)

What did we do without modern technology?   I have grown so much closer to my sisters and other members of my family since joining Facebook 4 years ago than I ever was before.  I wonder how we ever knew anything about each other's lives before?  The truth is, we didn't.  And so, while I know that as with anything, it's only good in moderation, I'm glad for the connections that technology brings me.

Hopping over to the Facebook tab at the top of my computer screen right now, I'm finding out  the following things:

*the 60th grandchild is on the way in my husband's family

* two of my sisters are motivating each other to exercise while on vacation together

*My parents are going on a mission trip to Texas after the holidays

*My nieces had the cutest Halloween costumes in their entire town for trick-or-treating

*My in-laws are living my dream traveling with their kids in Cambodia

All that without making any effort to search or call or ask around.  Have you had the same experience with modern technology?  How do you keep in touch with your family?

I'm grateful for the ability to keep in touch even from far away.

Thankful Thirty #11 (Strangers)

Source: antonioandrade.tumblr.com via Michelle on Pinteres

We got hit with our first snowstorm of the season yesterday.  It's beautiful-everything is blanketed in white.  As the snow began to lightly fall I loaded my kids into the van and headed off to do my Costco shopping.

Costco carts are great (read: HUGE).  I had two carseats and both my older boys loaded in along with all the things I was buying.  We may have been a spectacle, but everyone was behaving and having a good time.  Then came the part of having twins babies I have not gotten used to yet...the attention.  I swear to you every other person in Costco felt the need to stop me and proclaim, "You have twins!  I can't believe you're out in this kind of weather."

Notice above that I did not say we were having a blizzard.  It was snowing...lightly...

Two of those dozens of people did touch my heart.  The first was a much younger mother whom I passed as she carted kids out of the bathroom and I toddled my in.  She remarked, "I thought I was brave bringing my three today."  She was wearing her baby in her Moby wrap and had two older boys the same age as mine.  It was refreshing in a sea of aghast faces, to feel like at least one other person in that store was like me.

The second person approached as I was standing in the check-out line.  She asked rather shyly, "Do you mind if I ask how old your babies are?"  I told her and she went on to tell me she's waiting for her babies to get out of the NICU.  They were born at 33 weeks and have been in the hospital for 3-1/2 weeks.  Everyone she knows has her panicking about taking them out in public once they're home and she was encouraged to see me out with mine.

I re-assured that sweet mother that babies are resilient and I'm sure she will have impeccable judgement on when her little ones are ready to venture into the big bad world.  Maybe, though, I should have fed into her fear.  Going out with twins does make you an anomaly people can't resist commenting on.  Better to know that now than being bowled over on Day 1 with an unexpected barrage of attention.

I'm grateful for well-intentioned strangers, even if they don't quite know what to say.