#ThankfulThursday: The Elderly

This week's opportunity for Thankfulness involved the elderly. The Daughters and I decided to decorate miniature pumpkins and deliver them to a local nursing home. We spent most of Tuesday night painting the gourds and then we delivered them Wednesday afternoon.

I took the girls to a nursing home where My Daddy had spent a few weeks after a debilitating stroke. I thought it would be a good time to visit with The Daughters about their Grampy, and we could talk about being thankful for our health and being thankful for long lives.

We had to be buzzed into the home and Daughter 2 wondered who was in there that was so important. Is the president's grandmother in here? Maybe a former mayor? OH! Maybe a movie star from the 80s is in here! Cool!

When we had to be buzzed out, she wondered why there had to be so much security. We had a good conversation about how residents didn't always like being there, didn't understand being there and weren't able to care for themselves if they were to wander outside the walls of the nursing home. It was a sobering lesson in the final days of life.

Since we arrived at nap time (which may be all day for all we know), we opted to decorate the tables in the dining room instead of giving them to specific residents, none of whom we knew personally. There was a couple sitting at one of the tables that thanked us for the decorations. Other than that, we received no official thanks ... and I was perfectly fine with that.

My sweet (and fuzzy) girls decorating the dining room.

It's good to do things without the expectation of recognition. In fact, we should do nice things everyday without expecting to be recognized for it. Another great lesson learned.

On the way out we noticed a post on a bulletin board asking for craft supplies. I imagine that nursing homes are often forgotten when people are looking to make donations. We have the requested supplies, so we'll be visiting them again.

Did you visit a nursing home this week? Tag your post and your pictures with #ThankfulThursdays so we can all be thankful together.

For next week: Let's be thankful for our health. Make several get well cards and deliver them to a local hospital. If there's not a hospital close by, deliver them to a doctor's office. Ask the nurse(s) to pass them out to patients who need a lift. You might also want to make some cookies or take some snacks for the nurses who tirelessly care for those patients.

Come back next week and check in--I want to hear how your #ThankfulThursdays are going!

#ThankfulThursday: Helpers

Last week, we were grateful for the helpers in our lives by baking some muffins or cookies or cakes or pies and delivering them to our neighborhood servants.

The Daughters and I made some yummy pumpkin muffins by plopping a can of pumpkin into a spice cake mix and baking them. The Daughters decided they didn't like pumpkin nor did they like spice cake mix, and they were very grateful to take the muffins to our fire department and not have to eat them themselves.

We talked about how, at any given time of day, for any need that we have our community has people who are willing to stop what they are doing, risk their lives for us and serve our community in any way ... such as eating pumpkin spice muffins that your mother made you make.

Daughter 2 was the spokes person of our group when we delivered. "We're counting down to Thanksgiving, and we wanted to say thank you and give you these muffins."

When the fireman replied that he loved pumpkin, The Daughters did not make any gagging noises or any pukey faces. That's progress, my friends.

Probably the most important part of this week's activity came when we got back into the car to drive home.

"What are we doing next and for whom?" (Really, she said 'for whom'--her momma is an English teacher, yo.)

"I like the way you think, honey," I smiled. 

So ... this week's #ThankfulThursday does not involve baking or cooking anything good or nasty.  

We need to remember across generations that there is as much to learn as there is to teach.-Gloria Steinem

This week, we're going to be thankful for the generations who have gone before us by visiting a nursing home and taking some fall decorations. 

If you wish, you can create several--as many as you can--crafts of your choice. We plan on painting several mini pumpkins and making a few pumpkin posters as well. We'll deliver those to the residents of a local nursing home. (Please be aware of small breakable pieces and dietary restrictions when you visit your local home.)

Check back next week and share about your #ThankfulThursday experience.

Thankful Thursdays: Week One

Last week, Daughter 2 and I had an experience with a street person. It struck a chord deep in my heart that made me want to be more intentional with our family's thankfulness this fall. Each week, we'll be celebrating Thankful Thursdays by honoring someone or something in anticipation of Thanksgiving. I hope you'll come along with us and report back how you and your family celebrate each week as well.

This week, we're thankful for helpers.

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." ~Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers

With your family bake some muffins and deliver them to the helpers in your community. Maybe you could take the muffins to the Fire Department or the Police Department or the Emergency Room or the Ambulance service. There are helpers all over our communities. Find them and celebrate them with a batch of muffins.

My family and I are making pumpkin muffins from this recipe, but feel free to make any kind of muffins you'd like. On Sunday, I'll share our experiences with this.

Report back either on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Pinterest (send me an email for your invitation to the group board). Use the hashtag #ThankfulThursday

Next week, we'll be thankful for elderly.

Let's count down to Thanksgiving with a celebration a week!

Thankful Thursdays: Come along with us

CLICK.

Daughter 2 reached over the locked the doors as I stopped at the intersection.

"Whew," she sighed. "That was close."

"What was close?"

"That homeless man was standing right there with his sign and our door was unlocked!"

Not the actual sign--
even I knew better than to snap a pic at that moment.
Source.

It stopped me cold. Our town isn't known for peddlers but we are seeing more and more here and there. And, we have traveled to the bigger cities on several occasions and have seen the peddlers and beggars and have visited with our kids about who these people are and what they do.

I know ... I know ... a lot of them are scam artists, but I'm not on this planet to judge or interview or audit them. I'm on this planet to love them and to help them in whatever way I can. And I was really taken aback that Daughter 2 locked her door at the sight of this poor man holding his sign.

The light changed, and I turned onto the highway and drove straight to McGaggles. I bought him and his companion a couple of meals and some waters. I also talked to Daughter 2 about empathy. If we were in that situation, how would we feel? How would we feel when someone helped us? What would we want someone to do for us? So, we also got them a couple of fried pies.

We returned to the couple, and Daughter 2 opted to stay in the car while I delivered the food. She rolled down the window so she could hear me talk to them and to hear if I "yelled for help." We have a long way to go.

Brian and I have gone great lengths to make sure our girls understand that we are ALL (collectively, as a human race) in this world together, and we are called to do one thing as far as our fellow humans go: Love them. I'd like to believe that Daughter 2 does love the man with the sign, but she's not entirely certain how to do that ... and she's not entirely certain that it's okay. Since she's only nine years old, being a skeptic bodes well for her. This really did need to be something that I, as her momma, leads her in.

So, we're going to count down to Thanksgiving every Thursday. Come back here (www.Minivan-Momma.com) every Thursday--starting in TWO days--for the Thankful challenge. Each week, I'll post a challenge for you or you and your family to expand your world, be thankful for your life and love people.

We'll have a link to our Thankful Thursday Pinterest board. (Email me at Minivan.Momma.2{at}gmail{dot}com and let me know you want to contribute to the group board). We'll reveal our Twitter/Facebook/Instragram Hashtag.

You do not need to be a blogger to play along.

I can't wait to do Thankful Thursdays with you!