July-Resources
www.usawarriorwives.org
Dear Warrior Wives and friends,
We need your help! As you may recall, last month our theme was “vision quest” and Warrior Wives is recharging our vision. When meeting for the first time, less than two years ago, our small group of six women had lots of “vision” and a heart for outreach. I use the term “recharge”, because the vision and heart hasn’t changed, yet the implementation of that vision has not been fully achieved. While we could offer many reasons for the delay in our progress, the most obvious one is…Life! We’re all busy, we’ve all been thrown some curve balls and we’re all still wives, mothers, daughters and everything that goes along with that. While keeping our lives in perspective, we realize that’s where you may be also. That’s why we need your help.
Volunteerism is one of our main goals, however, a very important gap for Warrior Wives to bridge is in the area of Resources. There are many military resources that can be found online and through one’s unit command. Some of the resources that we feel are important to share are those that can’t always be found at the first click of a mouse. We would like to build a resource list that can help military wives on a local level and show us, as an outreach organization, how we can better fill the gap for you.
For the next week, we are asking for you to help us build our list. Consider this…
When faced with a daunting “life situation,” what piece of information or knowledge do you wish you had known ahead of time or what did you learn that might help another woman avoid the struggles you had to go thru?
In case you need an example to get your memory jogged, let me provide one of my own. While my husband was deployed (of course), I had a water pipe break while I was away from home for nearly 12 hours. I had learned from my previous water pipe mishap the LOCATION of my shut off valve (good knowledge to have-you can get thru CERT training!), however I didn’t have a clue where to get a good, honest plumber. Actually, I didn’t even know where to find a bad dishonest plumber! I now have the name of a good plumber that I would highly recommend, but it took quite a time for me to get to that point. Your “life situation” is more than likely very different than mine, but I’m sure you’ve got one that makes you think “I wish I had known…” If you wish you had known, someone else will too. Help us to know what that is so we can either provide a list of who to call or even better, we may be able to provide the training so that others can learn. We want to reach out to military wives in the Ozarks, but we need your help recognizing the needs. Will you help us?
Everyone that participates in this project from Friday, July 16th until Friday, July 23rd, will be entered in a drawing for a $5 Andy’s Frozen Custard gift certificate. Just send an email to Julie: 1warriorwife@usawarriorwives.org or reply to this email with your info. Please include any contact info that may be helpful if you have a resource or let us know what you would like to be prepared for and we will do our best to find the resource to do it. We will be discussing this topic at our meeting tonight, so if you can come just bring them with you.
I do want to pass along a website that was shared with me just this week. I believe it provides a great service for filling the gap for others. The site is www.servesomeone.org and it is very basic and self explanatory. It provides an opportunity for you to serve someone, by sending you either text or email reminders as often as you request. No last names are required and you can request a reminder to pray, send a card, call and even buy groceries for the person you want to serve. I hope you will check it out and whether you have someone or not that is on your heart to serve, please consider adding Warrior Wives to your reminder list. We will be best served by prayer as we continue to Lace up our boots, make up the hedge and stand in the gap for others. Will you stand with us?
Warrior Wives meet every third Friday of the month.
Friday, July16th from 6-8pm
Pat Jones YMCA
1901 E. Republic Rd. Springfield, MO
(Childcare provided)
Upcoming Meetings:
August 20, 2010
September 17, 2010
October 15, 2010
June Newsletter-Making Lemonade
Lace up your boots, make up the hedge and stand in the gap!
Are you taking the heat well? The summer temps are quickly rising and each day brings new signs that the season is changing. It is easy for one to get caught up in day to day activities and miss the small, yet important details that make up our lives. In Missouri, there is a very distinct difference between seasons and perhaps my favorite is the transformation between spring and summer. There is so much life evident during this time, that each year can make one in awe of the constant change. Aside from the tremendous heat and humidity, there is much to look forward to.
When looking at the evidence of this season, the benefits are in the eye of the beholder. One may look at longer daylight hours and see an opportunity to enjoy more of their life, while another may look at the same and see less time to rest. Some will see an undergrowth of thorns and vines along fields and roadsides and dread the coming insects and extra yard work. Yet, others will see the same vines and thorns and wait in excitement for the berries and fruit that will be yielded from them. The difference between the “beholders” isn’t their circumstance; they both have the same amount of light and time. The difference is what they choose to do with it.
It is with this thought that I bring you a situation that happened to me recently. Much of the time, I gain wisdom and revelation through my daily activities and this experience was no exception. It was a very muggy June day, so I decided to turn the water sprinkler on for my kids to enjoy. I methodically put the sprinkler in the shade, turned the water on and after finding a “safe” distance, set my chair down to watch my kids enjoy the water. After a short while, my kids decided they wanted to change settings on the sprinkler and with instruction from me, was able to do it in a click. This change seemed to be working great until it came back around my way and my “safe” spot suddenly turned on me and a shower of cold water took my breath away. My immediate response was shock and anger. Angry for what, I don’t know! Quite possibly the fact that I was an unsuspecting bystander and was not prepared for the blast I had just received. After the initial shock, I realized the sprinkler incident gave me much needed refreshment. While I did move my chair a bit, I left it in a place that I knew I would be occasionally cooled off again. I decided that if I was going to sit and take the heat, I might as well enjoy the refreshment along the way!
This example, while fun in nature, can be a lesson for other more serious issues in life. Some situations are unexpected and can leave us in shock. While we may not be able to control our immediate response, we can choose how we let the situation affect our lives. One of my favorite quotes is from Dr. Viktor E. Frankl, a Jewish survivor of Nazi concentration camps. “I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.” After learning a small amount about this man’s life, it is easy to see that if he can make the best of a hard situation, probably anyone can.
Our upcoming Warrior Wives meeting will be a summer social, but our theme is “Vision Quest”. Everyone is served a “lemon” at some point in life. We want to know what you’ve done with your lemons. Maybe you are still trying to figure it out. That’s great. You won’t be alone! Come and share our lemonade and be a part of our “Vision Quest.” We promise you’ll leave feeling refreshed. Bring your favorite summer dish or dessert and a lawn chair. If the weather permits, we will meet at the YMCA playground and children are welcome to be a part of our gathering. We will provide the lemonade (and I have heard homemade ice cream!) If the weather doesn’t cooperate, we’ll meet indoors. See you on Friday!
Great Quotes:
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Believe you can and you’re half way there.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
“If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right. ”
~ Mary Kay Ash
“When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.”
~ John F. Kennedy
Warrior Wives meet every third Friday of the month.
Friday, June 18 from 6-8pm
Pat Jones YMCA
1901 E. Republic Rd. Springfield, MO
(Childcare provided)
Upcoming Meetings:
July 16, 2010
August 20, 2010
September 17, 2010
May Newsletter
Welcome to May, Warrior Wives! May gives us events to celebrate with Mother’s Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Memorial Day, and the end of the school year!
We would like to wish our Warrior Wives who are mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day! We hope you had a truly enjoyable day with those you love most. Maybe you were able to relax a little bit and pick up the slack on Monday.
On the other hand, we are all military wives! In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the Friday before Mother’s Day to be designated as Military Spouse Appreciation Day. Since then, each President and Senior Military Leaders have echoed the sentiments of appreciation to military spouses. We are the backbone of the military family. I love Proverbs 31:10-31, The Wife of Noble Character. You could call it the Poem of a Military Wife. 10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. 11Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. 12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. 25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. These are things that describe the military wife.
Memorial Day is always observed the last Monday in May and will be May 31st this year. It was formerly known as Decoration Day, commemorating United States men and women who died while in military service. It is currently known as “let’s go camping” or “let’s have a BBQ” day. So while you are camping, or BBQ-ing or just sleeping in having a lazy day turn your thoughts to those who gave all for our great country, past and present. I will be doing it from St. Louis at the Cardinals game.
An event you may be interested in attending with your family this Saturday, May 22nd at 10:00 am is the first Soldier Salute event. It will be held at Second Baptist Church in Springfield and is free to attend! Check out www.soldiersalute.org for more information! Our own MO Army National Guard soldiers will be landing the Blackhawk!
Our next meeting will be Friday, May 21st. Our guest speaker is Tessa Coltrin and she will be discussing Frugal Living and Money Saving ideas and Couponing! Her methods can save you hundreds of dollars with a little work! We look forward to seeing you there!
Warrior Wives meet every third Friday of the month.
Next Meeting Friday, May 21st, 2010 from 6-8pm
Pat Jones YMCA
1901 E. Republic Rd. Springfield, MO
Upcoming Meetings:
(Childcare Provided)
June 18th, 2010- Summer Social -Details to come, but you know “social” is a synonym for food to us Warrior Wives, so it is not to be missed!
July 16th, 2010- Health and Nutrition- Details to come, and even though it couldn’t be more opposite of our June meeting, it is also not to be missed!
Earth Day-Help Warrior Wives Recycle
Recycle for Warrior Wives!
As earth day approaches, it is a good time to turn our thoughts to recycling. Beyond the paper, plastic, and cans – www.terracycle.net offers other recycling opportunities that benefit our warrior wives group.
As of today we are signed up for the following brigades:
Drink pouches – capri sun, kool aid
Candy wrappers – skittles, starburst, M&Ms, twix, milky way, snickers
Chip bags – lays, cheetos, doritos, fritos, sun chips
New
Cookie wrappers – all nabisco and keebler
New
Lunch kits – any Oscar Mayer lunchables type top wrapper
New
Elmers glue – empty tubes and sticks
New
Scotch tape – used clear scotch tape dispensers and cores
There are many other opportunities if there is interest, such as aveeno, huggies, Scott. Check it out at www.terracycle.net and let us know what products you can recycle for our group!
Also, as summer approaches remember to look for the products we recycle at family functions, picnics, kids sporting events, church functions and pot lucks. Every little bit counts.
If you are in a group that would like to recycle and support Warrior Wives, please sign up on www.terracycle.net and select Warrior Wives-USA as the organization to receive your donation.
Thank you for your help!
April Newsletter
April is such a busy month for all of us. We are all trying to spring clean, get outside more and work in the yard, and finish out the school year, just to name a few. It is also the beginning of the baseball season, the beginning of the planting season, and the beginning of new life! As a military spouse with children you can also add Month of the Military Child to the list of April events. According to the Department of Defense, there are 1.7 million American children and youth under 18 with a parent serving in the military and about 900,000 with one or both parents deployed multiple times. For this reason, April is designated as the Month of the Military Child, to recognize the important role our children play in the Military Family. Our children serve when their mother or father is called to duty and April is the month to remember their service. We hope you can join us for a night of fun and recognition this Friday from 6-8 for Military Appreciation Jump Night! Your kids will have a blast!
Military Family or not, April is also the month when we remember our beautiful home with Earth Day. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and with that we celebrate a cleaner, greener earth! Can you believe that just 40 years ago there were not many law enforced standards for releasing pollutants, waste, and toxins into the land we live, the water we drink, and air we breathe! To mark the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, the EPA is asking everyone to “Pick 5 For the Environment”. Make a commitment to Pick 5 things you can do to help make our earth a cleaner place for our future generations. Visit http://www.epa.gov/pick5/ for more information on 5 things you can do today to make the earth a better place.
If you have never been to a Warrior Wives meeting, make this month your first! We already know April is the month of new beginnings, and we are looking forward to meeting you!
Warrior Wives meet every third Friday of the month.
Next Meeting Friday, April 16th, 2010 from 6-8pm
Pat Jones YMCA
1901 E. Republic Rd. Springfield, MO
Upcoming Meetings:
(Childcare Provided)
May 21st , 2010- Frugal Living and Money Saving Tips with Tessa Coltrin
June 18th , 2010- Health and Nutrition—Details to come
Military Appreciation Night
Warrior Wives is pleased to announce our Military Appreciation Night for the second year in a row. We extend an offer to all military families, but if you’re a Military Wife without children, THIS NIGHT IS STILL FOR YOU! There will be a resource room with free chair massage, body care, one of a kind jewelry, Free YMCA membership details and information on Emergency Preparedness. There will be free food and many door prizes.
PLEASE REGISTER even if you don’t have kids, so that we can have plenty of food for everyone! Those who register on the website will automatically be entered into the door prize drawings and can register again the night of the event.
We look forward to seeing you all there. Pass along the information to all the Warrior Wives you know!
