Give and YOU Shall Receive

From our twelve calender months, which month would you say requires the most adjustment?

I'd have to say September.

Summer is still wadding in the back of my mind, yet I'm up at the crack of dawn yarding the poor kiddos our of bed for school. Then there's making lunches, pickups, rushing this one to practice and that one to dance. There's getting the kids to exchange playtime for reading and homework. And that doesn't even touch upon the change in laundry and groceries--both of which are nightmares in my household of six. Um...yeah. We have schedule changes galore.

If you live in a college town as I do, the kind-of-sort-of twentysomethings are back, taking up extra parking stalls and tables at our favorite local diner. But finally, we do adjust, until...

...the excitement of Homecoming & prowling the neighborhood on Halloween night strikes the kids and we're back to square one. Once the dance craze and sugar high wear off, we settle down again.

So with the start of November, I like to concentrate on what's ahead for the last eightish weeks of the year. The closer we journey toward the holiday season, the more I think about the last ten months and all the good that has come my way.

That's exactly what we did here on Oasis for YA. For the month of November we asked you to pledge to donate books to your local library, local schools, or an organization of your choice. Of course, we offered a prize. So today--after my long-winded intro--I'm here to announce the winners of our GIVE THANKS, GIVE BOOKS campaign!!

ERIC LUPER you're our TOP WINNER!!

You'll receive a new copy of Untamed by P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast and a $15 iTunes gift card

JANNA JOHNSON is our second place WINNER!!

You'll receive a SIGNED copy of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White and a paperback copy of The Hollow

Your generosity will not be forgotten.

CONGRATS!!

Have any of you donated a book just for the sake of giving? Who did you give it to, and how did that make you feel? 

Thankful Thursday: Charity Begins at Home

I'm amazed at how much my children both understand and remember.  I'm blessed to be able to send my girls (ages 4 & 5) to a private school.  Not that I'm religious myself, but the school is Christian and it emphasizes charity and giving back to the community.  I LOVE that!

Last week my girls came home with a paper sack and were asked to add either a can of soup, a jar of peanut butter, or a jar of jelly to give to the needy.  Rather than grabbing something myself out of the cabinet, I let the girls pick what they wanted to donate.  Surprisingly, they choose to give away their own favorite foods.  (Now, come on moms, if it'd been you, you'd have grabbed that can of soup that no one's touched in a year, right?)  And as we carried the bags in on Monday morning, my five year old asked if the food was for the people whose houses fell down.

She was remembering how we brought in donations for the victims in Haiti.  Amazing!  They do remember giving -- start your kids young and you'll make a life-long impression on them about the importance of sharing your blessings, no matter how small the contribution.

If you need some ideas, here are some suggestions for getting your kids involved in the spirit of giving and thankfulness:

*  pick a gift from a giving tree and let your child select the presents to give (within reason, of course)

* let your kids select food to give to a local food drive

* sign up for wegivebooks.org and read to your kids online. For every book you read, a book is donated to charity.  It's a free way for you to contribute.  How cool is that?

* gets your kids involved in our Give Thanks, Give Books contest.  Let them pick out some books from their collection that they don't read anymore and want to give to less fortunate children.  I assure you that are many LOCAL charities out there who will gladly accept your gently used books.  Think homeless shelters, family shelters for abuse victims, boys or girls homes, children's hospitals, your local Guardian ad Litem program.  As long as you commit to donating a book or books (up to 10), you can enter our contest to win books or tunes yourself.

(And please, tweet about our book drive with the hashtag #givebooks !)

Any other ideas for sharing your blessings this November and teaching your children the value of giving back?