The Blind Side. See It. Now.

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When the movie ended, I literally wanted to watch it AGAIN! SOOO good!!!! Seriously a must see! Went to bed smiling last night after a wonderful evening...an inspiring movie and time with some inspiring girls! Thanks Tracy & Diane! Love you guys!

Sledding

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Got over a foot of snow yesterday, and the kids are lovin' it! We "hit the slopes" on "hospital hill" with my friend Shannon & her little guy. Little did we realize before we left the comfort of the warm, cozy house that the wind-chill was well below 0, but the kids were die-hard sledders and we still had to pull them off the hill to go home for supper!

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Brenin, Max & Luca

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Max & Shannon ready for take-off!

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Every trip seemed to end in a facewash for Max...

ooh, that just can't feel good in subzero temps!

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It's the cliiii-iiiimb!

(Oh, I've been listening to TOO MUCH Hannah Montana!)

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Flight attendands, prepare for departure.
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Their cheeks are actually frozen this way,
but it made for a good picture anyway.
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Luca let me ride with her the first couple of times down, but then Little Miss Independent needed her space and had to go by herself. At one point she lost a mitten, and when I went to put it back on, I realized she had snow caked inside her jacket around her wrists, but she wasn't about to stop the fun to deal with it!
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A little snow angel!

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Taboggen full of fun!

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The sun is shining today, and our transportation will return to the motorized sorts! I'm going to The Blind Side tonight with a couple of friends (each in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia!), and can't wait to see it and spend some time with the girls!

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Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

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Snow Days!

Got enough snow to shovel last night, so the girls and I decided to warm our shovels up for the big storm coming our way tomorrow! The fridge is stocked with goodies and we're ready to be snowed in!

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Milwaukee

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Had an early Christmas in Milwaukee this weekend, and it turned out to be SUCH a nice time!! The girls got to swim for HOURS in the pool, and we got some really great R&R (I even got to read a book that was written for real live adults to read!!!!) We had a great visit with my mom's side of the family, and the girls LOVED playing with their cousins!

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The hotel was decorated so beautifully for Christmas!

What a wonderful way to kick off the Christmas season!

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Santa & Mrs. Claus were there too!
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Brenin stalking Santa from our floor. :-)

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Items on agenda: Breakfast, candy cane, swimming!
Ahhhhh.....does it get any better than this?!?
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Two peas in a pod...love these two SO much!

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Luca started the weekend swimming with her swim noodle, and by the end she was jumping in water over her head without the noodle and swimming to the shallow end all by herself!

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Brenin swam approximately 4,573 miles over the weekend...

what I wouldn't give for a fraction of that energy!

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My sweet girls.

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So excited for "Princess & the Frog" to open this week...seriously like a holiday in this house! Also looking forward to our first major snow on Tuesday/Wednesday...they're talking blizzard warning!

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Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Made By Survivors

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Went to an awesome party last night at my friend Ginger's house, sort of a "Tupperware party" with a heart (and on steroids). Only instead of Tupperware, she was selling beautiful, handmade pieces of art. The most amazing part though is that the hands that made the art belong to women who have been rescued from human trafficking and modern day slavery (WHAT?!?!?) !!!

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The idea behind the project is to empower women who have had their most basic human right, FREEDOM, taken violently from them and to give them an opportunity to take their life back and create beauty and INCOME for survival, all the while educating them in the ways of business!!! Is that not the SMARTEST thing you have ever heard?!? Me too!!!

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In some of these countries, the value placed on a woman is much less than a man simply because she is a woman (and of course less capable of bringing home the bacon). Top that with the stigma related to a women who spent years in sexual slavery, and the future looks dim at best.

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All of a sudden, this gal is supporting her family and finding healing. Many women find so much more than healing though.

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They find themselves.

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They find power. They find strength.

They find self-respect. They find hope.

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Hope is a beautiful thing.

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Speaking of a beautiful thing (or a hundred beautiful things!), check out the amazing pieces these women have created and consider placing an order and taking the hand of a sister.

(Click on patch)

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This is the piece I'll be wearing to all my Christmas parties...Can't WAIT to get it!!

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A eye opening statment from madebysurvivors.com

Where does Slavery and Trafficking Happen?
Currently, the regions of the world with the most severe trafficking problems are Southeast Asia (the Mekong region including Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar/Burma), South Asia (the Indian subcontinent, including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), the former Soviet Republics (including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic).
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But every country in the world is involved in the web of human trafficking. Most of the victims come from poorer countries, which serve primarily as source countries or countries of origin. Richer nations, such as the US, Australia, or Japan, are primarily destination countries, where victims are taken to. Many countries serve as transit countries, where victims are held temporarily en route to destination countries. For example, many women from the former Soviet republics are trafficked to the US through Mexico. Israel is another transit country for people sold into Europe. The FBI estimates that as many as 18,000 are trafficked into the US each year, to work in brothels, strip clubs, nail salons and massage parlors, or as domestic servants, nannies, and farm laborers. People can also be trafficked within their home countries, often from rural areas to large cities. Trafficking can be transnational, meaning across country borders, or internal, meaning within one country.

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