Information on two more of our Love Bomb nominations...

Sister #3 - "Maria" - wife of a farmer - last year they were forced out of their home due to flooding.  After spending the summer with her family and finally being able to move back in and clean up, they dealt with the drought of this summer.  Through it all, she works two jobs and keeps a wonderful attitude of "it could always be worse".  A little pampering sent her way would be a beautiful indulgence that she doesn't often enjoy. 

Sister #4 - "Catherine" - After much hard work and sacrifice, finally landed her dream job, one in which she excelled, only to lose this job due to budget cuts.  A year later she was offered another job at the same location, which she happily accepted.  However, it is not utilizing her talents to the fullest or allowing her to shine as she did before.  She never complains but a little encouragement and appreciation for her would be appreciated. Hopefully her patience and persistance will pay off in the future and let her return to an area where she is intended to be.   

This has been so true with Sister Hugs for me.  The more love and compassion and prayer and items that I give, the more I feel my heart filling, ALMOST to a guilty point, but not quite!  I am filled with so much admiration for the women I am having the honor of meeting, both as nominees and as nominators and as supporters.  I just can't get enough of all of you!!!  The items that you donate are important, because they are the physical hug presented to our recipient.  However, it is the love that goes with the gift that truly showers our recipients and helps them through their trials and moments.  I am going to try to balance your need to get to know our recipients a little with their need to remain anonymous.  Remember, they don't know their story is being shared.  While they may be ok with it, I don't want to release more than we have the right to know.  Someone has given me this information and trusted us with our usage of it.  Our usage is to throw some love and hugs in the direction of a sister, to brighten her day and let her know that always she is in our hearts and on our minds; she is never alone.  

Sister #1 - "Monica"  - devoted grandmother of a 5th grader.  She and her husband moved to Nebraska from Louisiana about 4 years ago following the death of her son in Afghanistan.  "Monica" has been the guiding light in her grandson's life - helping him with the grief of losing his dad, life in Nebraska, and academic and social challenges.  Last year she underwent cancer treatment and recently another tumor was found which will require surgery and additional follow up treatment.  She will feel uplifted if she knows she has some "sisters" praying for her and keeping her in our thoughts.  There is no mother in this picture so "Monica" and her husband are the world for this boy. 

Sister #2 - Marcie -  26 year old diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.  Admitted to a hospital in MN in January, 2012.  She had a stem cell transplant June 2.  Marcie is currently struggling with a bacterial infection and will learn the next step in treating her cancer once the infection clears.  She is a small town cowgirl with a lot of fight in her:)  She is not allowed to eat anything with sugar or wheat, which means no food in her love bomb.  Chapstick, scent free lotion, etc would be ideas that she could use.  Notes of encouragement would be appreciated.  She does get visitors but knowing her support goes beyond immediate friends and family would be very encouraging.  She has a caring bridge page which I will find out if I can share with you.  I am using Marcie's real name.

Stay tuned for Sisters #3 - #9 as this day progresses...

We have so much to be thankful for - included at the top of the list is YOU!!  All of you bring such happiness to my day - and remind me of my many blessings.  I have health, family, friends, food, joy, employment, and purpose.  I have my faith, which enables me to get through the trials and value my gifts. I have Sister Hugs, which has provided me a great joy of giving.  The more we give, the more I want to continue giving more and more.  It is a beautiful cycle that I hope you are all able to experience too, through Sister Hugs.  Since November is the month that we concentrate on giving thanks, I want to continue with our normal Love Bombs.  I have had a number of requests already -
*for a mom who lost her little girl and is expecting a new baby - bittersweet blessings...
*for a friend who is really missing her old job - a job she excelled at - she is great at her new job but it's not her passion and meeting her talents to the fullest.
*for a friend who recently found out she has cancer and the outlook is pretty scary.
*for a friend who has health issues to deal with concerning family and herself, yet she is always the first to be on hand for anyone needing ANYTHING.  Deals with a lot of stress yet is always the strong one.
*for a friend whose family was displaced with last year's flooding, then this year's drought.  She works two jobs to help make ends meet yet always faces each day head on, ready to go.

These and any more that we can meet will be our November Love Bombs - for December, I would love to reach out to women who may not have much and try to do a little bigger bombing - for example:

*I am waiting to hear back about a Grandma who has taken in her grandchildren.  It hasn't been easy but they are doing their best.
*for a friend whose husband is hospitalized with probable West Nile - they have 4 young children and she's not sure how she's going to have ends meet.

I am open to any other nominations for a regular November Love Bomb or a needs based December love bomb.  Let me know if you know of someone who could use a special Sister Hugs Love Bomb!!  (BTW, these friends aren't people that I know, they have all been nominated by sisters and are their friends, or friend of a friend)  If any touch your heart in particular, and you'd like to donate specifically to one of them, let me know with your donation that intention. 

I know that I get a little strapped for $$ in December with my own Christmas shopping.  For that reason, I am putting out this plea early in the hopes that we can still generously help some sisters without straining ourselves.

OCTOBER - BAKING BOMBS
NOVEMBER - REGULAR LOVE BOMBS
DECEMBER - LOVE BOMBS FOR SISTERS WHO MAY NEED A LITTLE EXTRA LOVE THIS YEAR...

Gratitude

We did a fast Love Bomb this week - how joyous to be able to get a request and fill it almost immediately.  Thank you for stocking our supply so generously.  Sometimes the need is one that we can work on for a few weeks and sometimes the need is immediate and a hug needed NOW.  In this case, I asked sisters who knew her to also send notes - I can only imagine how much they will mean to her.  Whether we have our regular Love Bombs or baking bombs or color bombs or shining light bombs(yep, that's a new one!), a note is going to be the special touch that grabs the heart and makes the bomb personal and meaningful.  I include a note with every bomb that goes out - would love to have your notes too.  Today we had about 10 notes included in the bomb - what a gift!

Baking bombs are going out in 2 weeks.  Look at the list I received via email yesterday - these two are going to be making a huge difference in the hearts of many women in a couple of weeks -

ok, I can't actually share the list with you right now because some of you might be on this list:)  However, it ended with the fact that they have ELEVEN people on their list and expect to make it 12 - wonderfully crazy!!! 
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Baking Bombs

"For her, she will love the love inside the bomb but it's imperative to me that she understands that it's not from me but others who love also. Thanks! "

I love this quote from one of our sisters/nominators.  This is the feeling behind our next baking bomb.  While you are going to be doing the baking and the delivering, it is bigger than that as it is our entire group all working jointly to spread as much joy as we can during these 2 days. 

I am asking anyone who is interested in doing a little baking/sharing to sign up to bake a treat for someone of your choice - family, friend, neighbor, coworker, church aquaintaince, etc. I will supply a special tag to attach and then on Oct. 20/21, we are going to bomb these friends/family/neighbors with a little bit of sister hug love.  You can choose to leave it anonymously or you can deliver it in person.  I will be sharing pictures of our NZ sisters' bombs but presentation is part of the specialty.  You can bake anything that shares the love - a favorite recipe or a new fall experiment.  We are working to brighten as many hearts as we can during that weekend so if you choose to do more than one bomb, that's great, if you only want to do one, that is fine, too.  I am asking for each of you to take a picture of your baking bomb before you deliver and we will make our own baking album - I can't wait to see how many bombs we can do in one week-end!!!  I've already picked one neighbor in particular that I can't wait to bomb but am looking to see who else I can surprise with some love on Oct. 20/21.  I will also be doing some intense pinteresting for new ideas - anyone else with me?!!
 
MMMM...looking pretty tasty!! :)  Those of you who are following but not around here - we would definitely love to have you spreading the love in your state/city as well.  Tags will be available for everyone interested. 

My email is:  sisterhugs19@gmail.com 

Can you feel it?  Hugs are almost on the way!!!!!

Color Bombs...

It's Color time!!!  How fun would it be to get something like this with a color theme to celebrate the wonderful person you are?!!!  We are going to be bombing 8 ladies with a color bomb so put on your creative, funky thinking caps for fun color items to add to these bombs.  I will be collecting donations for the next 3 weeks, ending Sept. 21.  Here is a brief description of our wonderful ladies...

Red "Husker"  - Active in EVERYTHING - always has a smile and willing to lend an ear or contribute. 

Pink "Rocky" Has battled cancer and won, all the while maintaining an upbeat attitude and presence.  An inspiration for all of us.

Pink "Miss Nightingale" A beautiful example of someone who faced unbelievable challenges and abuses as a child, but didn't use that as an excuse to become a bad adult.  Instead, she is the best friend and nurse anyone could ever ask for.  Loyalty and caring are two of her strongest characteristics. 

Green "Adventurer"  Willing to try new things with a free spirit, sweet as can be, a wonderful friend to all.  About to become a young mama and ready to step into that role with the same enthusiasm and gusto that she does everything else.  The person you want on your team.

Purple "Tiger"  No matter how chaotic or what the situation, this lady has time for everyone and also with a smile. Maintains organization and calm in the midst of a tornado. Is also on top of everything.

Yellow "Sunshine" Another person you want on your team. She is a strong advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. A very loving, sweet soul who makes you feel that you are the only one around when she's talking to you.

Orange "Momma"  We all know that person who makes us feel at home and welcome, even if we've just met?  "Momma" is that person and accepts people for who they are, not who she thinks they should be.  Loving acceptance is what we all strive to find - she gives it!! 

Blue "Miss Heart"  Extremely sensitive, in a positive way.  Knows when someone needs something and is always striving for peace and happiness among everyone.  Maybe she should run for office as she would run on the campaign "let's all sit down and be friends".  A kinder soul was never met. 


Wow - your nominations are wonderful.  Each is so deserving and it's obvious the world is a better place because of them.  Thanks for nominating them and for your donations.  Feel free to contribute to one or all:)  If you don't live in the area, you can always mail a contribution to Sister Hugs to be included. 

**** We also have one regular LOVE BOMB that we are also collecting.  She is a retired teacher , with visions of traveling and hobbies dancing in her head.  Unfortunately, fate had other plans and her health went downhill.  She is now receiving kidney dialysis and is weak.  She worries about her mother, who is miles away, while her mother worries about her.  Her husband is working in NE while she lives in another state so they only see each other on weekends.  A love bomb would brighten her day.  Prayers for Eliza.