Wishing You the Happiest of Holidays!

In this season of giving, we want to take a moment to thank all of you for your support of Esperanza Renovada. Whether you've made a gift in honor or in memory of a loved one, "liked" our Facebook page, or helped us spread the word, we are sincerely grateful.  

There is still time to help us reach our goal of 1,000 "likes" by December 31.  We'll be awarding a one week stay at our current cabin in Maricao, Puerto Rico to one person who has liked our Facebook page.  Click here to visit our Facebook page, then click "like" and spread the word!

We wish you all a very happy holiday season, spent with all of those you love the most, and the best year ever in 2015!  From our house to yours...

Season of Giving

Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting.  It is happiness because we see joy in people.  It is forgetting self and finding time for others.  It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the values.  

~~Thomas S. Monson

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.  

~~Robert Louis Stevenson

It's the Season of Giving--the first day of Hanukkah, just over a week until Christmas.  We are all busy trying to find or make the perfect gifts for our loved ones, preparing for the kids to come home, and anxiously awaiting the annual visit from Santa.  

This holiday season, make a gift to the lodge project at Esperanza Renovada in honor of a loved one, in memory of one who has been lost, or simply because you care. You will be providing hope to cancer survivors, their families, and their caregivers. With your help, we can accomplish the goal of building a place where survivors can experience a free restorative escape after cancer treatment.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and wish you joy in this season of giving.

A Time To Give

The holidays are a time for giving--giving back and giving forward, giving care...and giving hope.  

When you're making your list this year, please consider making a small gift to Esperanza Renovada.  Just as "many hands make light work", many small donations add up to make it possible to build a lodge where cancer survivors and their families can enjoy a free "restorative escape" after treatment.  

In the coming days we'll give some details on how you can help.  In the meantime, please visit our web site, www.esperanzarenovada.org to learn more about this project.  

Twelve Days of Thankfulness - Thanksgiving Day: Support

On this Thanksgiving Day, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the enthusiastic support we have received for our project.  Your comments, donations, and your help in spreading the word is appreciated more than you know.  

We are about one fourth of the way to the first 1000 likes on our Facebook page. Remember that for each 1000 likes we receive before December 31, we will be awarding a one week stay at our vacation cabin in Maricao, Puerto Rico.

Please keep sharing our web site, encourage your friends and family to like and share our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter.  And and keep the lodge project in mind when you're making your holiday gift list.  Make a donation toward the project in honor of a loved one.  

Thank you...and have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Click here to visit our web site!

Click here to like our Facebook page!

Click here to follow us on Twitter!

Twelve Days of Thankfulness - Day 2: Laughter

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."  ~~e.e. cummings

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face."  ~~Victor Hugo

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."  ~~Woody Allen

"Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand."  ~~ Mark Twain


On this eve of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for laughter.  

Even on the darkest day, laughter is like a ray of sunshine.  When going through treatment, or any other rough patch in life, it truly helps to surround yourself with humor and laughter. Listen to your favorite comic, watch a funny movie, or just go to YouTube and find videos that make you laugh.  Who could stay grouchy watching this??  (By the way, Micah's dad in this video is ripping up a job rejection letter!)

Smile at someone today.  Make someone laugh.  You never know how it could change their outlook.  Here's to laughter!

Twelve Days of Thankfulness - Day 3: Music

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me - like food or water."  ~~Ray Charles

"Where words fail, music speaks."  ~~Hans Christian Andersen

"I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music."  ~~Billy Joel

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."  ~~Plato

On this third day before Thanksgiving, I am grateful for music.  If you know me at all, you know that music is a huge part of my life and as necessary to me as the air I breathe.  It's the "universal language".  We all have that song that can instantly transport us to another point in time, and it always amazes me that sometimes I can't remember what I had for breakfast, but I can remember every word to the songs I listened to growing up.

On the cancer journey, there are many who have "chemo playlists" to get them through treatment.  Music can pump you up or calm you down.  A great song can mean different things to different people, but everyone has a favorite.  It's a part of every culture on earth.  

Take time to listen to your favorite music this evening, or listen to something new.  Be grateful for music.

Twelve Days of Thankfulness - Day 4: All of Life's "Moments Between"

My previous post was about being thankful for each new day, from sunrise to sunset and every moment in between.  To carry that one step further, today I want to express thanks for all of life's little details, those "moments between"...the things we don't see until we take the time to notice.  Here are a few examples:

• Lying on your back watching the patterns and shapes in the clouds
• The smell of fresh cut hay
• Curling up with your cat on the couch
• The moment your favorite song comes on the radio
• A hawk floating on the spiraling air currents
• Butterflies on a purple coneflower
• Slipping between flannel sheets on the first cold night of winter
• The feel of warm sun on your skin
• A bright red cardinal against a backdrop of newly fallen snow
• The first hint of green on the willow trees
• Reading a favorite book with a child
• The smell of apple pie baking
• Your dog waiting at the door for you at the end of the work day

You get the idea.

Today I invite you to look around, stop and take notice, and be truly thankful for all of those little moments we too often take for granted.