Help Make A Difference...

I have had such a busy year and one thing that fell by the wayside was this blog.

It seems like this week is the week to catch up on some of the things I haven't found the time for in a long time.



Right now I am busy supporting my 12 year old daughter Rachel raise money for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) she was diagnosed this past April.
Pain in her side sent her to the ER where tests revealed cysts throughout both kidneys. So after many tests and doctors visits we are still learning about PKD and how it will impact her life.

PKD is one of the most common life-threatening genetic diseases, affecting 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million people worldwide.In fact, it affects more people than Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and sickle cell anemia --combined! Still, few people know about it. There is no treatment and no cure... YET.

We are walking to change that.

Rachel learned about the PKD foundation and decided she wanted to become involved & take an active role in raising money and awareness. At Rachel's request I set up a team & we are participating in the Walk for PKD – the Foundation’s signature fundraising event. She has set a challenging personal goal of $1500 and a $3000 team goal to raise money to fund vital patient education and research into a treatment and a cure. Let's help her get there!

You can check out her page here


We are getting a team together and walking for a cure on:
Mercer County Park
West Picnic Area
1638 Old Trenton Road
Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
Registration: 10:00 AM
Penny Kid's Dash: 10:45 AM
Walk Starts: 11:00 AM
Walk Distance: 1.5 or 3 Miles

Together, we can make a real difference.

You can make a secure donation online by simply clicking the links at the bottom of this message. Whatever you can give will make an impact - no donation is too small! I truly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on our team's progress.
If you are inerested in walking please join our team "Ray's Kidney Beans"...we would love to have a huge crowd at the event! Rachel is working on designing a team t-shirt and plans to give one to all her team members.

Thank you for helping us find a cure for PKD!

Happy New Year!!

I can hardly believe I haven't blogged in over a month. I have been very busy with my coaching business, family, the holidays, and just life in general.

2008 was a great year and I am looking forward to more adventures in 2009!

I am not much for New Year's resolutions, but I think maybe I will make one little one to blog more often...lol...but you know how most resolutions go.

I hope you all are doing well and wish you a fabulous 2009!!

My Upcoming Book Study

As most of you know I have started my own coaching business. I am enjoying my course work and busy getting my coaching hours. This is part of the Academy for Coaching Excellence certification program I am enrolled in. You can check out my coaching website here.

I have noticed that in these tough economic times many of my friends and family have expressed negative feelings or fear around money. In response to these concerns I am offering a book study on Maria Nemeth's book, The Energy of Money. In this course you will build a powerful relationship with money, blending spiritual and practical techniques. The course will be offered as a telecourse, making it easily available to most people. See the flyer below for details. Please spread the word among your friends and family. The principles covered in this book are useful to all of us. Also, a diverse group makes for an even more interesting course.

Thanks to all of you.

I hope you will join me.

Let me know if you are interested or would like more information.

I will post more later on some scrapbook projects I am working on.

Twilight Midnight Madness

I have been on a mission to find a book that would hook my 11 year old daughter who is dyslexic enough to have her want to read for pleasure. When someone has a learning difference it can sometimes be difficult to get them to develop a love for reading. So when I heard about the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer I thought I should give it a try.


I went out and bought the first book, Twilight. I decided that since it was a teen book I should read it first to be sure it was appropriate. Well, once I started I couldn't stop reading until I finished the book in under three days. It was just such a fun read. I handed it over to Rachel and it was the most amazing thing ...my little girl who has always struggled with reading got sucked in to the story and was reading every chance she got. This is no little book. It is about 500 pages. She was so thrilled to tell me what part she was on and report how many pages she had read. What a transformation!

I knew the movie was coming out soon and this gave me an idea. I would offer to take both girls to the midnight showing on the release day as a reward for finishing the book. Rachel finished in plenty of time and handed the book off to Kailey who was able to finish it just hours before the movie was released.

Last night, or technically first thing this morning we headed over to the theater. Kailey, Rachel, and I were surprised by how many people were there. We arrived at 11:15PM and we had to search for a place for us all to sit together. More than half of the people there were wearing Twilight t-shirts.

Everyone in the theater was excited and it reminded me a bit of going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show as a kid...minus the water guns and toast. People were rowdy, laughing, clapping, and generally having a good time.

The movie was a bit of a disappointment as is often the case when seeing a movie made of a book you love. The characters rarely live up to what your imagination has created.

What was so fun and fabulous about the whole experience was hearing my girls discussing the book as compared to the movie. Hearing their obvious enjoyment of reading. I loved that they thought it was so special and cool to be out late at night with their mom. I hope they remember this for a long time...I know I will.

How well do you think you know me...

Debbie, a friend of mine who was tagged by Kim, also a friend and one of Crop Addict's Creative Team members, tagged me.

Even though we've all been tagged several times this year, I think it is always fun to find out a few more things about our friends.

Here are the 7 things you may not know about me:

1) I recently started my own business and I am in the process of becoming certified as a professional Life Coach. You can find out more about it on my website...Grace Coaching and Consulting.

2) I really dislike watermelon. Something about the texture is just yucky to me. Although I love watermelon flavored things. One of my favorites are Watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

3) I have the most romantic husband ever. A few times of month we have date night and he cooks gourmet meals for me. He has been teaching himself to cook and it has been so much fun.
My favorite recipe so far was the scallops with roasted corn salsa...yummy!!

4) Clutter is attracted to me. I love a neat and organized house and I am constantly trying to keep it neat and everything in its place. Yet clutter still seems to find me every time. Recently I have learned to be more peaceful about it.

5) I won a poetry contest when I was 10 years old. The poem was published in the local paper and I received a $50 savings bond. Even now 30 years later I think that is pretty cool...lol.

6) I am an amateur face painter. I taught myself a few years ago so I could work at a street fair for my Rotary Club to raise money for flood victims in the town of Bound Brook, New Jersey. I really love it and have considered doing kids parties for extra money.

7) I have a dream to own a home in Costa Rica. I participated and also lead a number of mission trips there. We worked in the rain forest, fishing villages, and an orphanage. While I was there I fell in love with the country and the people there.

So now, onto 7 more people to share 7 things about themselves...Sorry if you have been recently tagged as well...but here it goes...

Gabi

Morgan

Jenn

Jennifer & Amy

Carla

Nicole

Can't wait to see what 7 things you all share!!

Boo!!

I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything on my blog. I have been a bad bad blogger. Usually though that means I am way to busy with fun stuff in my life to even put anything up here. So I guess that is not such a bad thing.

Well anyway...so sorry...here are some Halloween pictures of the kids.

We had a fabulous time and the kids got way too much candy as always.

That is Caleb on the left and Connor on the right

Rachel lying dead on the sidewalk. Our very own zombie prom queen. I had so much fun with the make-up. The wound is a toilet paper glued to her face and painted. Totally cool.

Just had to throw in the close-up. I was so amazed at hopw well this came out. Really super creepy I thought.


Kailey is Rachel's first victim...you know zombies love to bite people.



Kailey was the prettiest prisoner on the block.

Our gang with two friends ready to go out and collect the loot. Kim, Alexandra, Rachel, Kailey, Caleb, and Connor.

Dancing my way into my skinny jeans!

OK I have decided to try a new approach to exercise. Don't laugh...but I am dancing my way to better fitness. I have traditionally been treadmill girl, but the results just haven't been what i was looking for, plus I hated every minute of it.

So one day while playing on the XBOX 360 with the girls we decided to throw in Dance Dance Revolution. The next thing I knew two hours had gone by & I was a sweaty mess. It was super fun.

So pretty much everyday for the last month I have been getting up early to dance. Since it is a game I keep wanting to beat another level or my last score or whatever the challenge is. So the hour just flies by. The best part is I am losing weight...woo hoo.

So you may laugh, but I will be laughing all the way into my skinny jeans!!