R.A.C.K. Wrap Up

So Christmas has passed and I've finished my R.A.C.K. It was definitely a different experience than I'd originally planned, and I hope to be able to stick more closely to my preplanned R.A.C.K. activities in the future, but it was nonetheless meaningful to me. I spent the season caring for others' needs and doing what I could to brighten someone else's day. I gave compliments to strangers, had sweet conversations with passerby, gave gifts to those I could, left notes of gratitude and good tidings around for those serving me as well as people who randomly found them, and several other things just generally hoping to remind everyone that this season is truly about us loving each other, not getting so caught up in commercialized commitments and traditions that we actually forget what we were meant to focus on. It was a wonderful activity and I look forward to doing it every Christmas with my family!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We've spent a great week with my family so far and are still enjoying the great quality time. It truly is a wonderful life. Tomorrow being New Year's Eve I'll be writing a post telling you my resolutions for 2014, where 2013 has brought me, and where the blog will be headed in the new year as well!

Merry Christmas, all!

I had originally planned on posting this week but I've decided to enjoy the holiday with my family and start posts back next week. I hope you all have a wonderful time with your family and friends!

R.A.C.K. Update #2

Another week of R.A.C.K. has passed, and this week has been again family focused acts for me. We had a loss at the very beginning of this week, so I have spent most of my time trying to keep my sons out of everyone's hair but also trying to provide everyone with what they need. Since I'm southern, a lot of food was involved. A chicken pot pie, a cheesecake, some pasta salad... what can I say, when things get stressful and upsetting, I've been trained to cook. Other than fattening people up, there's been a lot of effort to comfort those around me in whatever way I could. Holding lipsticks, giving bear hugs, and generally being there for my family. It wasn't my original plan for R.A.C.K., however, apparently God had something else planned for me.

Today we leave Minnesota to make a drive down to Florida and spend some time with my family back home so I think my R.A.C.K.'s for the coming week will involve more strangers this week. Hoping all of you who are traveling like us this weekend make it to your destinations safe and sound, enjoy your weekend!

Shopping for Good: Charity

So it's Thursday night - apologies for the slacker late post. Tonight is the last post of the Christmas Shopping for Good series and I'm focusing on gifts through charities. There are a million amazing charities out there that you could support and give your loved one a great card or small gift explaining that their gift was spent to support a charitable cause - tonight I'm focusing on two.

First I want to tell you about Heifer International where you can support several different causes and choose from a lot of various gifts from as little as $10 to $15,000 - that's a lot of variety. With Heifer Int. you are choosing a gift to benefit those in need in different ways. For example, you can buy an Earth Gift Basket for $60 will provide a hive of bees and seedlings of trees to a family. Or you can pay $50 for a Hope Basket which includes a gift of rabbits and a starter flock of chickens. Families also receive training and education in the animals' care to make sure their hope becomes a reality. Giving a Boost of Nutrition for $36 provides fruit and vegetable seeds to start a small farm, chickens to raise and help maintain it, and training in sustainable farming and nutrition. You can even spend just $10 to buy a share of various things such as rabbits, pigs, or tree saplings; they let you know the number of shares it takes to provide the full donation. 

There are really so many amazing options that would allow you to give a much better gift to a family member and know that you have helped a family or village so much with a life sustaining gift! Please, go peruse the site and see what they have - it's truly amazing. 

 Next up, I want to share Athena's Warehouse (AW) with you. This is a great organization run out of Atlanta, Georgia. AW uses enrichment programs, different initiatives, and positive female role models to give tools and resources for at-risk, disadvantaged girls attending Title I schools to reach and celebrate their fullest potential. You can donate in two different ways to help this great organization and support a community of young women in need. First you can donate financially (either online or by mailing a check the old fashioned way), or you can be a part of the The Prom Project and donate prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, homecoming dresses, cocktail dresses, and formal attire in any size or color. Be sure to check their website for more specific information about what they cannot accept, but as a woman I know I have shuffled through at least 6 or 7 formal dresses at this point - why not donate them to a young girl who might otherwise not be able to experience her prom in a dress that allows her to feel as beautiful as she is?

I want to also let you all know that there's an aspect of AW that makes it truly amazing. The Prop Project with Athena's Warehouse requires participants (meaning the girls who will end up with your graciously donated dresses) to spend time volunteering at a local nonprofit, with the understanding that it promotes self-empowerment through public service. This is particularly great in my opinion due to the fact that I think that public service - generally a life in service - is one of the best things we can do with our lives. I love that AW is working so hard to teach young girls this as well as what a privilege it is to help others. - Go check out their website or follow them on Facebook!

Like I said before - there are a ton of other organizations you can support and I will be sharing more with you in the future through spotlights and interviews, so stay tuned for new great causes you can support all year long! Enjoy your Christmas season and hopefully you've been able to make your Christmas shopping do a little extra work for you and your loved ones!

A Special Update

Saturday posts here are reserved for special occasions - and this is one of those times. Yesterday afternoon, the Martignago family was informed that this Wednesday morning, December 18th, exactly one week before Christmas Day, Luke Roper will legally become a Martignago as well. His adoption will literally be Megan & Adam's best and biggest Christmas present this year. 

This little man who has stolen hearts, kisses, and cuddles will finally legally be a part of a family that is big, loving, and full of an all-encompassing kind of sweetness and compassion. His grandparents, aunts, uncles - and all of us who love him outside of the family tree - will wrap him up in thousands of hugs and miles and miles of love.

While Luke will now be a part of the family officially, Adam & Megan still have a lot left to pay on their adoption loan. So your help is still very appreciated and needed. If you can send a little Christmas gift to this amazing family and help ease the incredible burden of this debt even a tiny amount - they'd be so incredibly grateful. It's hard enough being a young family in today's economy (trust me, this I know), let alone being a one tied down with the baggage of their struggle to become that family.

As always, you can donate to The Martignago Family's GoFundMe site here. Perhaps make a little donation as part of your holiday charities and kindness this season! You are welcome to share this story with your friends and loved ones using the share button at the bottom of this post and remember to stay tuned as I'll continue to post periodic updates about Adam, Megan, & Luke here at Law of Bambi. 

Below are their other websites that you can follow along with as well:

The Operation Eventually Facebook Page
The Martignago Family Blog
The Martignago Family Adoption Fund

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

R.A.C.K. Update

Well, the first 12 days have passed and while I have had to change my original plans for the days' assignments, I've still done what I could to do a Random Act of (Christmas) Kindness each day. Due to a lot of things going on here in the personal life, my R.A.C.K.'s have been more family centered instead of stranger centered. I've cleaned the house we're staying in, shoveled walks, decorated for Christmas, baked cookies to raise spirits, brought groceries to family, cooked meals, done laundry, written a letter telling someone how much they have meant to my life and a few other things. I still plan on some of the bigger assignments I'd originally chosen, however due to personal constraints right now, the days are just being shuffled from the original schedule.

Hoping you're all having a wonderful and mindful December so far - enjoy your weekend! Here are a couple fun links for you, Happy Friday, all!

Kid President Shares Your 'Things We Should Say More Often'

A Basic Wine Guide

World War II Today

December 1st means R.A.C.K.!

Last year I read a few different blog posts via Pinterest about a great concept used to celebrate the Christmas season and Advent called R.A.C.K. - Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. It's really a simple concept with huge payoffs for everyone involved. Each day a random act of kindness is assigned and then you perform the tasks throughout the month up to and including Christmas day! Today I started mine and I'm excited to go through the month bringing smiles to peoples faces. 

I got a few packages of simple paper treat bags and numbered them (when we get home from our Thanksgiving trip next week I'll hang them as a kind of advent calendar). Each day I'll pull the task out of the bag and go forward getting it done! I think that this will be a great tradition for us to do every year to keep Christmas as a holiday of compassion and love instead of "wants" and commercialism. Throughout the month I'll post and share with you how my R.A.C.K. is going and I'll post pictures to share various activities as well. The first picture above is going with candy canes to be taped to ATM's around town, and below I've been working on Christmas cards to hand out to a local nursing home with some gifts and crafts we'll be making this week. 

Happy Monday, everyone. Enjoy your first week of December wherever you are!

Wishing you all a warm and tasty holiday!

While Law of Bambi is on vacation this week, I wanted to let everyone know that we hope you have a happy and thankful holiday!

This season I have been thinking every day about how thankful I am to have this amazing husband of mine and our two gorgeous (albeit rambunctious) sons. I'm thankful for ALL of my wonderful family - those by blood, by law, and by the grace of kindred spirits. I'm grateful for being fortunate enough to travel and spend the holiday with my husband's truly sweet grandmother as well as staying for an extended visit over the next 10 days to spend time with her as well as my mother in law. I'm humbled by how wonderful my life is. My oldest son is picking up words and communicating more every day, working to overcome his speech delay and it has been so rewarding to watch him learning so much. My youngest has taken to walking over the last few weeks like a fish to water, and watching the two of them bonding is one of the most adorable things I've ever gotten to spend my days watching. I'm thankful for having the opportunity to work in school and move closer to my dream job. I've especially been grateful for the networking and connections I've made to some amazing people through social media like the great program in Brooklyn educating students and teaching them the art of hip hop and MCing, Rhyme Factory. Or the fantastic local urban garden program in Cleveland I recently found out about, Green in the Ghetto. There are more but I'm so excited for all of the things I will be able to newly support and learn from in the coming year. 

Hoping you all enjoy a wonderful holiday weekend with your loved ones, stay warm & enjoy some delicious food!

Simply Grateful.

Buy this beautiful print from Beach Cottage Life on Etsy

Today I wanted to just quickly say how thankful I am to have the family and life I am so privileged to wake up with every single day. I grew up with amazing parents - I realize their true worth with more certainty with almost every passing hour. It's crazy to me that they never killed me or my sisters for all the stunts we pulled. Those sisters of mine are beautiful women who continually teach me more about myself and who I want to be. They are miles away from me now but never waste a minute before they let me know how much they love and miss me and my family. Each of them has a place in my heart that no one else on Earth could ever fill. 

With Thanksgiving coming this week, who are you grateful for? Have you told them how much they mean to you?