Wrapping Party 2009 for the Frank Iovieno Caring for Children Foundation was a huge success!  (Check out the new web design!)  When all is said and done, over 230 children will have a merrier Christmas thanks to the efforts and generosity of hundreds of sponsors and volunteers.  Big Girl and I drove to Boston to attend the event, my first ever Wrapping Party, and came home with swollen hearts and many new friends.  It was a fabulous way to spend my 40th birthday, focusing this milestone date on the calendar in sharp perspective.

People seemed shocked that, not only was I not at home in my bathrobe  locked in my bedroom with a bottle of wine and box of tissues, but that I was genuinely happy to face my “big day” with a smile on my face.  I keep wondering if I should be more depressed since that is what everyone seems to expect from me, but I can’t quite bring myself to wallow.  I have been blessed with 40 glorious years on this planet, and have everything worth wishing for….what is there to be sad about?  I do have to stop that little voice in my head that wants to mark it as a halfway point…but I guess  it’s all about perspective.  Why waste my precious time lamenting the passing of another year, when I can be celebrating the fact that I have had another year worth celebrating?

And although I was too busy to give my camera a good workout, I did take one photograph worth sharing.

Isn’t he wonderful?!  🙂

So, remember I told you awhile back about joining the Board of Directors of The Frank Iovieno Caring for Children Foundation?  Well, the Holiday Kick-Off has begun!  Things will be ramping up tremendously over the next month, and I’m so excited to see how it all unfolds on this, my very first, holiday push.

As is true with any charity, the more new sponsors we can gain each year, the better.  Obviously, the more sponsors we have, the more children we can help. 

Please don’t feel obligated to participate…I am simply passing along information in the most efficient way I have at my disposal.  I know we are all stretched over the holidays.  However,  if you are so inclined to learn more and perhaps join the charity as a sponsor, please visit the website and have a look around.  (The website is currently in the process of being updated—one of the first tasks I was able to participate in—so as soon as it is rolled out I will let you know so you can take a peek at it.) But the information for sponsors is current.

To read about what we do——->  Click here.

To read about the different ways in which you can help———>  Click here.

And if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me off an e-mail to my usual address if you know me, or to Zanskd@gmail.com if you don’t.  🙂

Many blessings on you and yours this holiday season….and thanks for indulging me!

Let me first say that being a stay-at-home Mom has been a blessing of mass proportion.  I love being “present” to my family and I feel very fortunate that I have been given this opportunity.  But…

And that “but” has been a source of near desperate guilt and frustration for awhile now.  Guilt because I have believed I *should* be satisfied…frustration because I am not.  I have been drifting, wondering how to fill the hole in my soul that teaching used to fill.  Unwilling to sacrifice my family’s present level of stability to return to work, I have examined other opportunities only to be left knowing that they weren’t right for me right now.  Drifting more…wondering if some of the decisions to bypass opportunities were the right ones. 

And then, one little conversation opened up an opportunity that I never would have envisioned for myself.  And yet….I recognized it nearly at once to be the anchor I had been looking for.  In the midst of a dinner conversation with my dear friend Mrs. Mokturtle (my tea-drinking pal) I mentioned my above dilemma.  Right away she said, “I know what you could do!!!”  As it turns out, she is on the Board of Directors for a charity called The Frank Iovieno Caring for Children Foundation and has been for years.  The mission of this foundation is to help children with life threatening illness, primarily those struggling with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Boston, Massachusetts area, and the area surrounding Albany, New York.  They need someone with a fresh perspective, and someone who can dedicate time to fundraising pursuits, including grant writing.  No experience required.  It was like watching gears *clickclickclick* into place, and I knew this was the opportunity that I had been waiting for.  I need to feel useful.  I want it to matter that I walked this planet.  This is an answer to a prayer.

I remember so clearly a dream that I had many years ago when I was really torn about my impending return to work after my maternity leave with my second daughter.  She was 13 months old and I was feeling very sorry for myself that I would have to “leave” her to go back to teaching.  I had a most overwhelming dream one night about two weeks before my return.  There was an older gentleman sitting in a chair and I was standing in front of him.  He was in off-white monk-like robes tied with rope.  He was bald and severe looking.  He looked at me with disapproval and said to me in a very scathing tone, “I gave you a talent and I EXPECT YOU TO USE IT.  Now stop whining and feeling sorry for yourself and do what you were meant to do!”  I woke up so suddenly and completely, heart pounding, yet with my answer before me.  That dream was a comfort to me then, and yet it has haunted me since I quit teaching.  Perhaps this will be a way to use my “talents” AND be home for my family, which is my other purpose in this life.

So be prepared to follow me on this new endeavor.  My addition to the Board happens officially on July 1st and I will be serving an initial term of one year.  After that, a decision will be made as to my continued service based on my fit within the organization.  If any of you are grant writing gurus and I don’t know about it, please let me know so I can pick your brain!  And please feel free to visit the organization’s website.  Hopefully there will be some new, updated information coming soon.  The foundation is very much active.

Oh, yeah….and wish me luck, cause I’m gonna need loads of it!