Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Jennifer Snelling
Christmas is the season of giving, love and miracles. We all need all three in our lives. The question is, are you a miracle worker to someone?
Helen Keller was a child lost in darkness and silence when Anne Sullivan became her teacher, and did the seemingly impossible by communicating with her in the language of people who could see and hear. For the rest of her life, whatever obstacles or opportunities arose, Anne Sullivan was with Helen Keller as a teacher and a friend. When Helen Keller went to college, Anne Sullivan sat with her in class, busily scribbling the words of the professors into Helen Keller’s hands so that she could learn the same lessons as everyone else. Anne Sullivan appeared in shows with Helen Keller, showing the world her abilities and proving to everyone that she could be a star, too. Helen Keller became an inspiration to not only the disabled, but all people; and Anne Sullivan was named a “Miracle Worker.”
When Helen Keller was given an honorary degree at Temple University in Philadelphia, she said, Read More »
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Tamara Belinc
Parents all over the world will light candles December 14th at 7:00 p.m., in honor and remembrance of their children who have died in an annual candle-lighting ceremony sponsored by the Compassionate Friends organization.
The Compassionate Friends organization strives to help families move toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child at any age and to provide information to help others be supportive. The support group was organized over 40 years ago in England when a chaplain at a hospital brought together two sets of grieving parents, realizing they could support each other better than anyone else could.
The Society of the Compassionate Friends was born. The organization came to the United States in 1978. Today, Compassionate Friends is made up of over 600 chapters in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Patricia Loder is the executive director of the Compassionate Friends organization of the United States. Her children were killed in a car accident in 1991, and a few months later, she found a chapter of The Compassionate Friends to attend. Later, she established a chapter of Compassionate Friends near her home. Her husband serves as the public awareness coordinator.
Members of Compassionate Friends are dedicated to bringing hope back to parents who may think life is over once their child is gone. The organization doesn’t discriminate based on when a child was lost and includes parents whose children were stillborn, died as young children and teenagers or as adults.
The candle-lighting is traditionally held the second Sunday in December at 7:00 p.m., local time. Candles stay lighted for one hour in each time zone creating a virtual 24-hour wave of light. It is believed to be the largest mass candle-lighting ceremony in the world and has hundreds of thousands of participants. For anyone who cannot attend one of the formal candle-lighting ceremonies, you are invited to hold an informal one in their home.
To find a ceremony near you, visit the Compassionate Friends website.
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Marie Monroe
The holiday season is a season of expectation. We expect to celebrate, enjoy friends and family, give and receive the perfect gifts. We want the house manicured and the decorations displayed. We expect to be happy and to make others happy as well. We want perfectionism … just like a Norman Rockwell painting.
Holiday Deadlines & Expectation
Anticipation builds as we look forward to specific events. Most of us will plan multiple events that are scheduled with exact dates and times … the school play, the Christmas concert, dinner at Aunt Susan’s, shopping for presents, the holiday office party … the list usually fills up very quickly. We will watch our calendars inflate with “happy deadlines” as we work in everyone and everything we want to include. Read More »
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Tamara Belinc
When Norris Carden of Tullahoma picked up a camera after a 10 year break from photography, he wanted to create images that matter to people, not editors, as he had in his past career as a photographer. Now, he is doing just that by volunteering his time to Operation: Love ReUnited, a non-profit group of photographers who lend their creative energies to raising the morale of men and women serving in the military. He heard about the group on a forum on the Internet.
“I wanted to join to give back to the military,” he said. “I was in the military, also, but because of an injury at my civilian job, I wasn’t able to serve in Desert Storm as a combat photographer.” Norris was also a member of the Tennessee National Guard with the 278th out of Knoxville. His other work included video production out of Nashville for other states and the Pentagon. He was working in Shreveport, La., as a news photographer when he was in a helicopter crash resulting in shattered vertebrae. “Within a few weeks of the accident, they wanted me to carry a camera in the desert, and I couldn’t,” he said. “I want to give back to the people who served in my place.” Read More »
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Chris Bennett
Editor’s Note: It the difficult times we are facing with financial and job crises, the need for volunteers in every community is growing. We are tempted to focus on ourselves because of the fear and uncertainty seemingly in the news every day. It is our hope that after reading this article you will see that volunteering not only helps others, but it helps each of us. Approaching volunteering with gratitude will leave each of us feeling better and greedy for more of this feeling every day.
Even to most amiable of people, mental ruts seem to find their way to the forefront of any given personality. Signs of such an impersonal emotion are strong amounts of irritability and discontentment mixed with downright ill tempered attitudes. These traits more than likely do not represent who you are, hence the term ruts.
For me, mental ruts are extremely frustrating because I am consistently on the go and my life moves very fast. So I ask … how is it possible to not only find a simplistic way of relieving that unwanted crabbiness but also find a way to channel that off-putting energy to good use? Read More »
