The Christmas season brings out the giving in all of us. This Christmas season consider volunteering your time to something near and dear to your heart. Your help makes a difference to those that can use a cheerful smile and are not able to have as Merry a Christmas due to circumstances in their lives. Today, The Gift of Life a nonprofit organization will be packaging bears and hats for over 200 families that will have babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and are not able to go home for Christmas.
I remember when my son was born 13 weeks premature and how upset I was because I was not able to bring him home and enjoy his first Christmas. But the kind gesture of an anonymous person who gave us an umbrella, a devotion book, and a rattle for our baby uplifted my spirit. It was not about the gifts, it was about the note that was attached, “I know that this is a difficult time not being able to take your baby home for Christmas, but we are here for you and praying for your little miracle.”
From that day on, my husband and I decided that we were going to make a difference and pay it forward. Today we are The Gift of Life, a nonprofit organization that started supporting parents of premature babies and their babies in the NICU. We started with cookies….you too can make a difference…
We could not do what we do without our ladies who knit and crochet from Good Samaritan Village and all over Central Florida and even as far as St Lucia!! These ladies knit and crochet with love and feel very honored to be a part of a baby’s life as they recuperate in teh Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. To learn more about our knitters or join our group please follow them at The Gift of Life Knitters
Today’s countdown is about reflection and letting go of the things that we cannot change. The holidays often bring out feelings in people that throughout the rest of the year are not felt. Often times these feelings come as a result of memories of a happier time in their lives with the wish that things would go back to the way they were when they were at their happiest time. We can’t change the things that happened in our past and bring that former life to the present, but we can change the way we look at things in the future.
Today I read about a friend’s husband who always had the tradition that every day before bed they would kiss, hug, and tell each that they loved each other.
Who knew that December 1, 2017, would be the last time that she would ever hear those words, “I love you”, or feel the warmth of his hug, and the intimacy of his kiss? That is what happened when she awoke on December 2, he had passed away in his sleep. Often times we go to bed angry with our spouse, friends, family, and angry at the world. Let us remember what it is that we are mad about and ask ourselves, is it worth the battle?
Author Rosie Moore has recently signed with Pen It! Publications, LLC to publish several of her books. Most recently we have released A Story of Faith.
Rosie Moore is an author of children and adult books. Her career paths have led her through being a master wedding and event planner, travel agent, nurse, mother, and founder of the non-profit organization called The Gift of Life. There’s nothing more inspiring than a story that touches the heart and grants insight into deeper truths. She presents her collection of impactful works in addition to A Story of Faith, a book where Rosie shares her struggles, triumphs, and takeaways about infertility and having a child born premature. Her lessons for children can be seen in the children’s books she has authored. These stories help children find comfort and confidence of fear, loneliness, and self-doubt. A percentage of the proceeds from all of Rosie Moore’s books go to support The Gift of Life, an organization that supports and empowers the parents and families of premature infants.
Rosie has three children, Christopher, Kayla, Kaleb, and one fur baby, Daisy the Basset Hound. She is bilingual in Spanish and holds a translator certification through Berlitz. She has worked for many years in the healthcare and legal field, where her compassion and love of people originated. Her hobbies include reading, writing, dancing, spending time with her kids, and her husband. Most recently Rosie Moore was crowned Mrs. Windermere and hopes to use the platform to raise awareness about The Gift of Life.
A Story of Faith: Sometimes you ask yourself, “Why do I go through the challenges that I go through,” and later on you find out that it is to glorify the Lord. But I tell you, at the time the challenge and trial is taking place, it is not the best time in one’s life. It often feels like the end of the world and like there is nowhere to turn. The emotions that one feels are personal and often it feels like the Lord has abandoned us. But, it is in those tough times, that the Lord is closest to us. He is guiding us and molding us into the Christian woman or man that He wants us to be. Rosie Moore devotes her time to the Lord and shares with you this inspirational book: A Story of Faith. It is her hope that it helps you along the way in your walk with God.
If you have any questions or require additional information in order to print this press release, it would be our pleasure to assist you. You may email Debi Stanton, President of Pen It! Publications, LLC at penitpublications@yahoo.com for more information.
Let’s face it, when you think about Valentine’s Day, everyone gets romantic and tries to find a way to tell that special someone they are loved. There have been some great poets and romance writers in our history. Today I want to bring you the story of Elizabeth Barrett and English poet Robert Browning.
Elizabeth Barrett was born in to a wealthy and very well-known family. Elizabeth was a poet, however she was disabled and lived in her father’s house. It was known that her father was a very domineering and controlling man. One day a friend of Robert Browning introduced him to Elizabeth, which he had known about through reading her poetry in 1845. When they met, despite her disability of not being able to walk, they fell in love. Elizabeth’s father did not like Robert because he thought he was only dating her for the family inheritance. Elizabeth and Robert dated secretly and wrote each other love letters. In 1846, hundreds of letters later, they eloped. The sad part of this love relationship was that her father disowned her and her brothers did as well because they felt he was just after their money. Elizabeth was in love and she did not let her family disowning her affect her relationship with Robert. Elizabeth and Robert eventually moved to Italy where they had a son in 1849.
She remained in Italy with her husband and published Sonnets from the Portuguese from 1845–1846 and published first during 1850. “This is a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Read there here .
I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett,-and this is no off-hand complimentary letter that I shall write,-whatever else, no prompt matter-of-course recognition of your genius and there a graceful and natural end of the thing: since the day last week when I first read your poems, I quite laugh to remember how I have been turning and turning again in my mind what I should be able to tell you of their effect upon me-for in the first flush of delight I thought I would this once get out of my habit of purely passive enjoyment, when I do really enjoy, and thoroughly justify my admiration-perhaps even, as a loyal fellow-craftsman should, try and find fault and do you some little good to be proud of hereafter!-but nothing comes of it all-so into me has it gone, and part of me has it become, this great living poetry of yours, not a flower of which but took root and grew .. oh, how different that is from lying to be dried and pressed flat and prized highly and put in a book with a proper account at top and bottom, and shut up and put away .. and the book called a “Flora,” besides! After all, I need not give up the thought of doing that, too, in time; because even now, talking with whoever is worthy, I can give a reason for my faith in one and another excellence, the fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought-but in this addressing myself to you, your own self, and for the first time, my feeling rises altogether. I do, as I say, love these Books with all my heart-and I love you too: do you know I was once not very far from seeing .. really seeing you? Mr Kenyon said to me one morning “would you like to see Miss Barrett?”-then he went to announce me,-then he returned .. you were too unwell-and now it is years ago-and I feel as at some untoward passage in my travels-as if I had been close, so close, to some world’s-wonder in chapel or crypt, .. only a screen to push and I might have entered-but there was some slight .. so it now seems .. slight and just-sufficient bar to admission, and the half-opened door shut, and I went home my thousands of miles, and the sight was never to be! Well, these Poems were to be-and this true thankful joy and pride with which I feel myself.
Valentine’s Day can be very difficult when you have experienced the loss of your significant other.
Recently I received a message from someone that had lost their husband. She said:
“My husband died a year ago and people are expecting me to be the life and soul of the party but I still cry and grieve over him and miss him very much. In the evening I prefer to stay indoors and read a book rather than go out with friends and they are ringing less and less because I never return their calls. If only they would understand that my relationship was perfect and we were meant to be together forever so I cannot just forget him and move on as though nothing has happened. His death has finished me off.”
It is hard to move on when someone you love passes on. You feel like a piece of you has gone with them. Losing a loved one no matter who they are can be difficult. It is hard during the times of birthdays, anniversaries, and when you hear a special song or something that reminds you of them. Everyone grieves differently and they go through the five stages of death but sometimes we get stuck at one of them or something else happens that brings us right back to the beginning.
No one can tell a person how to grieve and when to let go of grieving. It is something that is so individualized. Sometimes people who have never been through the situation, may say rude things like, move on, he has been gone a year, you will meet someone new. Those are all the wrong things to say to someone, although some may mean well. Retreating to your own space to get away from the negative comments that may be upsetting in the first place, may sound like a good idea at the moment.
One thing to ask yourself is what did the two of you like to do together? This will help you understand what things you are remembering about your love. What makes him who he was that you fell in deep love with him? You may not be able to bring him back, however his memory can live on forever through something that you did together. For instance, if he loved playing with dogs and the thought about helping every stray dog that was out there, maybe a great way to keep his memory alive is to donate your time to a pet rescue where you can give love to a dog that has been abandoned by a family. You will feel fulfilled at the end of the day, because you will see that the thing that someone meant for harm, you turned around to good.
Something else that can help is going to a place of peace for you, maybe a park, the beach, walking through gardens, whatever that place is and if you pray, asking God to help you and get through this with His help. Reading a daily devotion, can also help uplift you daily. If you find that the mornings are hard when you wake up because he is not there, that is the time that you can take to read that inspirational devotion to uplift your spirits as you go through the day. If at night is the hardest, that may be the time to invest yourself in a hobby that you enjoy like dance, painting, sculpting or book clubs, depending on what you like to do. It will also help you meet new people who will not judge you because you don’t know them and they don’t know you. You are there to enjoy a hobby and nothing more so you can be yourself and just not worry that anyone knows anything about you.
