in eight easy steps.
First, make sure you have their attention.
Next, act very, very sweet.
Be patient…
kind…
and persevering.
No matter how difficult it may seem…
be brave…forge ahead…and I promise…
you, my love…
will win.
{ Those We Love }
“Often we assume that the people around us must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown.”
President Thomas S. Monson
A Blessing Way
When my pretty little niece Emily was expecting her very first and much prayed for baby daughter–after 5 boys!–a good friend threw her a well deserved baby shower…but with a twist.
In the invitation we were told that this was not just a baby shower but would be a “Blessing Way” as well. I’d heard of them before, but had never been to one. Wanting to know more, I searched online to better understand.
Turns out that while a typical Baby Shower is a way to help parents celebrate and prepare for the new baby coming into their lives, a Blessing Way is a ceremony designed to honor the new mother and the change her life is about to make. The idea too, is that she is surrounded by the women that she loves most in the world as they offer her their love, support and blessing as she moves into this sacred place.
Isn’t that lovely?
My favorite part about this event was that we were all asked beforehand to choose a bead or token of some type with the new mother in mind. Something that made us think of her in some way.
We would have the opportunity to give her the bead and explain our choice at the party–if we wanted to. Some friends chose to write a personal note rather than tell everyone.
So much love went into each choice that just talking about it made many of us mush-heads cry. It felt like a gratitude ceremony, not only to the new mom–but for mothers and women everywhere that have blessed our lives.
At the end the beads and tokens were all strung into a beautiful necklace for mom to keep and treasure for always.
It is such a beautiful thing to be able to put your hopes and wishes into an actual physical thing that will remind a dear one that she is so loved, so blessed and so valued every day of her life.
If you’d like to know more about a Blessing Way–you can do what I did and go HERE. There are plenty of ways to add extra tenderness and meaning to a Shower for a new mama in your life.
{Showing Love}
“We should remember that saying “’I love you” is
only a beginning. We need to say it, we need to
mean it, and most importantly we need consistently
to show it. ”-Elder David A. Bednar
In Celebration of Sisters
Today–in honor of National Sister Day–we’d like to take this time and space to recognize the sweet sisters in our world.
Ladies, here’s to you…
“Sisters are different flowers from the same garden.”
~Author Unknown
She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities.””
~Barbara Alpert
“If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.”
~Linda Sunshine
“More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you’ve been bad and good.”
Linda Sunshine
“What’s the good of news if you haven’t a sister to share it?”
~Jenny DeVries
“A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.”
~Isadora James
“Sisters touch your heart in ways no other could. Sisters share… their hopes, their fears, their love, everything they have. Real friendship springs from their special bonds.”– Carrie Bagwell
“One’s sister is part of one’s essential self, an eternal presence of one’s heart, soul and memory.”– Susan Cabil
“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.”
Author unknown, attributed to a 4-year-old named Lauren
