Hey, y'all! Happy Wednesday!
It is my hope that this blog finds you all well and in good spirits like me. I feel good today, y'all! I just completed a 21-day Daniel(ish) Fast with my church and it has been a LIFE-CHANGING experience! Let me know if y'all wanna hear more about it and I'll be glad to share it with you. As promised, the last blog of the month will highlight one of our very special single moms. Since they are all special, we will simply be taking turns. This month, we will be highlighting Autumn Walters! Autumn is the baby of our village and she relishes every moment of it. Autumn is kind, loving, and absolutely adorable. She has two babies, Zaire who is 4, and Zion who is 1. These are my faux grandbabies, just so you know. Autumn also encouraged her mom, Erica, to join and now they both are a part of our community! I told y'all it was a family affair. Autumn and I had a chat this week to talk about IAMSK and here is what she had to say; Me: What do you love about IAMSK? Autumn: I could go on and on about the things I love about IAMSK, but what I love the most is the sense of community. I always feel included, like I can be myself with no judgment. I love being part of a real, active village of love, support, and even useful resources and learning. Me: What keeps you coming back to IAMSK? Autumn: What keeps me coming back is the fact that there are endless opportunities to learn and grow. I feel like being part of IAMSK is helping me to develop into the woman that I want to be and I love that for me! In one of our previous Zoom sessions ( you know, the ones we have every other Wednesday and every Friday?), Autumn shared with the group that she had been at her job for over a year and that she could not have done that without this village. Because Autumn has been provided with a safe space to discuss her work struggles and to be bestowed with the wisdom of her sisters, she was able to take away valuable insights and carry them back to her workplace. A 23-year-old staying on her job for a year is a BIG deal! Thank you for taking the time to read these emails. I hope you all enjoyed learning more about Autumn and the many ways IAMSK is a benefit to single moms in our Memphis community. Don't forget! Y'all can respond to these emails. Please feel free to share any thoughts or questions you may have. And let me know if y'all wanna hear more about the Daniel(ish) Fast. Signed, YOUR Founding Keeper
0 Comments
Hey, y'all! Happy Post Valentine's Day!
Yesterday I set out to type this super cute and insightful blog about love and the single mom, but the words just would not come. If you know me, you know that words are rarely my struggle. I sat and stared at this laptop, I typed a bit, then deleted a bit. Finally, my daughter suggested that I sit with it for a moment. I was tired so I decided to sleep with it. 😊 When I woke up this morning, it was abundantly clear. I could not write the blog I wanted to write because I was trying to write it using rose-colored words. Being a single mother isn't always "super cute" or "insightful". Being a single mother is often lonely and overwhelming. On days like Valentine's Day, single moms often feel discarded, unwanted, and possibly unloved. While we know with our heads that none of this is true, it is often hard to convince our hearts. Those in relationships post about what their significant other bought for them or did for them, while we often only receive gifts from our children and our parents. We realize that "love is love" and that all love matters, but sometimes there is another love we long for. The intimate (not always sexual), understanding, and adult love we are often missing. This is where I remind our moms (and myself-maybe you all too) that our focus may need readjusting. Many times we aren't blessed with what we seek because we haven't learned to appreciate all that we already have. There are often things we still need to learn and/or let go of to fully embrace the love we have currently been blessed to receive, and so that we may be fully prepared for the love we seek. My intention was not to make this a sob story about the loneliness of the single mother, only to shed a light on what sometimes goes on in our hearts and minds on days like yesterday. Oh, yes! I would be remiss in failing to remind you of how YOU can show your love to the moms of IAMSK by purchasing a ticket to our 4th Annual Fundraising Brunch w/a TWIST. Feel free to use the following link to do so: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/517259134997. 😉 As always, thank you so much for reading our emails. It means a lot. Signed, YOUR Founding Keeper Email: iammysissyskeeper@gmail.com Business Phone: 901-505-1010 Happy Wednesday, Keepers! This email will be one of my shorter ones (enjoy it while you can). 😉 As shared last week, our office hours at the Shelby County Youth and Family Resource Center began yesterday so a Keeper is a little busy. Also in my email last week, I shared some single-mom statistics with you all. I also shared how important the work of IAMSK is to the single moms of Shelby County. This week, I want to ask you to lend a hand in our work by purchasing a ticket to our 4th Annual Fundraising Brunch w/a TWIST on March 12! 🎉 Purchasing a ticket for this Brunch enables IAMSK to continue fighting the good fight for single moms in Shelby County. We are honored to be able to host this event at the Junior League of Memphis (the location for our initial Brunch), to have the amazing musical talents of DJ Spaceage, the delectable eats from the Golden Pineapple, LLC, and the intriguing mixer activities by Dr. Lauren Norton ( our resident Planner Babe). This year's Brunch will be a bit different than it has been in the past. Rather than a regular, sit-down affair, we will have a mixer-style, networking event. It's gonna be cute and trendy. I know y'all will love it! Please share this email with anyone in your network who has a heart for single moms. Almost all of us know a single mom, someone who was raised by a single mom, or someone whose life was changed by a single mom. Join hands with IAMSK to change the lives of single moms today! As always, thank you so much for reading these emails. You can always respond if you feel so moved. ❤ Signed, YOUR Founding Keeper Email: iammysissyskeeper@gmail.com Business Phone: 901-505-1010 DID YOU KNOW
As a way for YOU to help us widen our reach, we are offering a few volunteer opportunities. As you may or may not know, we have one outing each month for our moms and we like to feed them at these outings. This is where YOU come in! We would be so grateful if you all could prepare AND/OR send food items for our moms for these outings. There are about 20 of us and the dates are as follows; March (TBD)-Horseback Riding May 7-Mother's Day Outdoor Social June 18-Safari Park July 15-Axe Throwing August 19-Game Night September 16-Paint and Sip. Additionally, we would love it if YOU all sent in affirmation cards. You know, things like "you're doing great", "this world needs you", etc. Please feel free to make or purchase cards and include your own personalized message. We will distribute them to moms in our village (for birthdays, holidays, etc) as well as to moms we encounter at community events. Please feel free to reply to this email for more information about both of these volunteer opportunities. As always, thank you for reading these emails. I have been enjoying the feedback so keep it coming! Signed, YOUR Founding Keeper Email: iammysissyskeeper@gmail.com Business Phone: 901-505-1010 |
Archives
March 2023
|