Just Pure Lovely

Welcoming a Fur Ball

On March 18th, we fell in love with a little rescue puppy, who had been abandoned in town with her two little sisters.  Her sisters were adopted over a 3-day arts & crafts festival weekend, but nobody wanted the black puppy....until we came along and fell in love! Who couldn't?

She has been expensive...

...she has become part of the family....

...and she has been a little bit spoiled...just...just a little bit.. And she has triped in size! This photo was taken just three weeks after the first photo - when she was 11 weeks old....

Welcome to this crazy family, Rivière.  

 

How to Help Make a Child's Wish Come True

Making memories is one of the most important parenting goals for me, and it's part of the beauty of being mom and dad:   you get to make dreams come true.  In fact, our eldest two children are right now on a road trip across America with their grandparents from California to the Florida border. Since I believe in making memories, Make-A-Wish® is my favorite charity, and I'm so happy to share how to help them this month...

What is Make-A-Wish? 

  30 years ago, a boy's dream came true when he became a police officer for a day.  His wish inspired the founding of Make-A-Wish®, and since 1980, Make-A-Wish has granted wishes to thousands of kids with life-threatening medical conditions.  This year alone, Make-A-Wish will grant over 10,000 wishes! 

 

When you help Make-A-Wish, you not only help a child create a memory, but you may also be helping the child become healthier!

A granted wish often gives the child renewed hope and strength. Parents say the wish strengthens the family bond.  And medical professionals say the wish is often a turning point in the child's battle for health! That's enough incentive for me!

How can we help Make-A-Wish make more wishes come true?

Since 75% of the wishes requested involve airfare, Make-A-Wish is collecting air miles and dollars to use to help make more wishes come true!  When you donate in April, WWE® Superstar John Cena® will personally match every frequent flier mile, up to 4.5 million.

Every mile and dollar donated reduces wish costs and allows Make-A-Wish to reach more kids with life-threatening medical conditions.  

Help in April through April 29th, World Wish Day by: 

• Donating your air miles
• Sending a donation to Make-A-Wish 

This year, 10,000 wish kids and their families will travel for a Make-A-Wish® experience. That's 50,000 roundtrip tickets or 2.5 billion frequent flier miles. In honor of World Wish Day®, the day of the wish that inspired the founding of Make-A-Wish, visit wish.org/tickets and donate miles and dollars – and help wish kids take flight.

It is such an honor to help a child's wish come true. I hope you will join our family in helping Make-A-Wish!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Make-A-Wish®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Flying Away

And...they're off!  

We flew our teens from Florida to California, so they could drive across America with my parents, their grandparents.  They've seen the Sierra Nevada Mountains and San Francisco so far.  Tomorrow, the Pacific Coast beaches (and surfers!).  

 

My Teeny Bopper

My teeny bopper took this selfie today.

She is a gift straight from God, and I knew the second we met that we'd be close friends. Her calm balances my spaz; my confidence balances her insecurity. We both cannot resist a beat even if the lyrics are sketchy; we both find God in nature; and we both get girly at the things guys do (me with Daddy).

I have enjoyed spending 15 years with this kid.

An Update on My Sanity Manifesto

On January 30th, I wrote that I'm working on my little sanity manifesto and I'd "share it with you soon," but I guess two months isn't "soon," because it's not ready yet.  

        I've tried.

I have tried.  But in February, our ballerina was very ill on a very important, long-planned, expensive-and-paid-in-full trip to dance at Disney World. 

She came home, got better, started doing schoolwork again, life was getting back to normal, and I started working on my little manifesto again....

...and then the flu bug hit.  It hit hard.  We were down for 10 days with high fevers, coughing, and weakness.

What's ironic is that the manifesto is supposed to help me in times of insanity to find peace, but I can't find enough peace to create it.  

        Isn't life too often unkind like that?

But, sickness, rain, dreary days, and the devil himself can't stop me.  I will win. 

 

Have you written yours?  Here's where I got the idea.

An Everyday Shot: Nobody Here But Me Today

~an everyday shot: a moment preserved, a glimpse into my everyday, where I seek beauty in the ordinary.~

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The Croods Looks Like Such a Fun Film! 100 Seats are Reserved for Alabama Coast Readers (for you! for free!)

Our 15-year-old and 10yo daughters and our 13yo son  just watched The Croods previews with me and we all cannot wait to see the movie!   Our 10yo said, "I want to see it! I want to see it!"  She jumped up and down when I said, "We sure are." I have 100 local (Alabama Coast) seats reserved, so you may join us for free!  See below for those details.  

Here's more on the movie, The Croods, which was created by DreamWorks and is in theaters on Friday, March 22nd....

THE CROODS (20^th Century Fox)

Release:              Friday, March 22^nd

Rating:                  PG

Run Time:           98 Minutes

Cast:                      Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke

The Croods is a 3D comedy adventure that follows the world's first modern family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always been their home, is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods are rocked by generational clashes and seismic shifts as they discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures -- and their outlook is changed forever.

Learn more about The Croods here: 

http://www.thecroodsmovie.com

http://www.facebook.com/dreamworksanimation

http://twitter.com/dwanimation (hashtag: #TheCroods)

Local Readers:  Want to Join Us in The Croods 3-D Screening? 

I'm excited to have you join me in my first movie screening!  Eeeee! 100 seats have been reserved just for Just Pure Lovely readers (that's you!).  They are 100% free, and each reader may have up to 4 seats.  

The location is in the Alabama Coastal area, the screening is of The Crood, in 3-D.  Our viewing is at 11am on Saturday, March 16th in Daphne, Alabama. 

Do you want to join us?  If so, just follow the instructions in the flyer below (Here's the link. FYI: GoFobo is like TicketMaster, without charges to the user.  You will need to register, as this helps them keep track of potential abuses, such as duplication of tickets.  No information will be sold or shared.  I registered, and it was quick & easy). Once the seats are gone, my code (JUSTPLF0) will be no longer active. 

Note:  I only have tickets for the Daphne location.  Look for The Croods in a theater near you on March 22nd, and watch for my review after our screening! 

An Everyday Shot: Is It Warm Enough Yet?

~an everyday shot: a moment preserved, a glimpse into my everyday, where I seek beauty in the ordinary.~

Stepping to the Music She Hears

 

This one would have a hard time in a traditional American public school. She needs to sing, to dance, to draw, to flit & flutter.

 

She was born this way: a creative free spirit.

 

Arithmetic can be learned later. She wants to paint today. 

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An Everyday Shot: My Little Ballerina at Starbucks

~~~an everyday shot: a moment preserved, a glimpse into my everyday, where I seek beauty in the ordinary.~~~