Blissful Escapes 2013

Our weekend starting out with SUNSHINE!!!  We were about to be fully blessed! 9 moms arrived Friday evening at Three Capes Lodge in Oceanside, Oregon. Shawna Farrar, a cancer mom from our very first Blissful Escape has come back to be a co-facilitator. We spend the day making beds, making two crockpots of homeade soups, laying goodies on pillows, placing flowers in rooms - kindly donated by Staceys Flowers and lighting candles from Sorella Naturale - all in preperation for a self-care weekend. 

Our first event Friday evening was Mandalas by Kirsten Carpentier - http://www.artcreateshope.com/. A few tears fell, a few smiles and new revelations were all inspired by this art activity.

Supports wholeness and health

•   Fulfills a need for spontaneous and authentic communication

•   Integrates the right and left brain, creative and rational functions

•   Speeds recovery

•   Reduces stress and promotes well-being

•   Enhances self-esteem

•   Encourages facing fear creatively

The remainder of our evening included playing a "get to know you" game on 

a very surfaced level. We got "comfy", brewed tea donated by Sorella Natural and  then moved on to sharing our stories. I am always reminded that although our stories are all different, different diagnosis, different treatment - chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, transplants -we all have similiar emotions. . . those of exhaustion, anger, unwavering faith, peace, hope, sadness, grief and then some. It was a safe place to "just be and cry". 

No explanations, just a quiet understanding. Next time I will need to remember to purchase

tissue boxes!!! 

Our evening did not end early. New connections were being made and old ones revisited. Throughout the week I will continue to share the journey of our Self-Care Weekend. 

Thank you to all those that have contributed both financially and other. 

A few words from the moms - 

• I had such an amazing time with all of you!! Thank you for being so incredible !

• Thank you again for the fabulous retreat in Oceanside.  I was in such a rut for months before the weekend and I feel so refreshed and ready to take on life again now.  You have such a big caring heart and you are so passionate.  A true inspiration.  

More to Come!

With Love!

Sharla Vellek

Empowering Grace

Do I really need those boots??!!!

Boots, scarves and Jeans are some of my favorite things to wear. . . . and we are upon that season of short boots, long boots, black boots, grey boots . . . . for some reason I can find a reason to need all shapes and sizes!!      I recently read this post on a friends blog. . . . I thought as well that it was a great reminder of how consumerism consumes us!! 

Here’s how it goes for us.  About two weeks before Thanksgiving, the first “Christmas toy catalog” accidentally finds its way into the house and all the kids get the GIMMES. Suddenly, they “want/need/must have” many things that they were blissfully unaware they needed the moment before they saw the catalog. I sympathize with this situation, since it is the story of my life.

For most of the year- I find myself thinking I’m doing all right generally, but then I see a J Crew or Pottery barn catalog and I immediately feel like a shabby piece of crap. It becomes crystal and relentlessly clear that the only thing that will restore me to wholeness is a new slipcover or neon yellow scarf. It’s ridiculous, but true. The catalogs are the bosses of us. They tell us we are less than, so we need to buy more. They promise us happiness, but they lie. Trust me, I KNOW they lie. I have bought almost ALL of their happiness and it only lasts for about twenty minutes because they keep CHANGING the definition of happiness every month (Skinny jeans! NOT SKINNY JEANS,  WIDE LEG JEANS YOU SHABBY PIECE OF CRAP! UGH, NOT WIDE LEG JEANS, BOOT CUT JEANS, YOU MORON!)  and so it’s really a hamster wheel aimed to distract us from things that might actually make us happy and ending in ickiness and bankruptcy and frankly, way too many pair of jeans. Especially for someone who only wears yoga pants. It’s ALMOST like these companies are not even WORRIED about our happiness. It’s almost like what theyreally care about is tricking us into giving them all our money. I know. CAN’T BE. But it sure feels that way sometimes.

Glennon at Momastery.com

This season I challenge you. . . .no more boots (or whatever your fetish)!! (Yes, I am speaking to myself as well!!) - Let's donate these funds to a worthy cause. . . . mine will be http://daisyfund.org/.  What will yours be? 

Shar

The Diamond Tea

 Inspiring and Couragous! That is how I would describe a recent event that Empowering Grace had the honor of being a special appeal recipient of. A room full of 300 women who, together are inspiring one another to reach their dreams. The Diamond Tea raised approximately $15,000 for Blissful Esapes, a program of Empowering Grace.

I want to personally thank The Diamond Tea ladies for working so hard to create a beautifully, successful event! Thank you Keri Murphy for speaking on Courage, walking out your destiny! Thank you to Shannon Bex for singing such a beautiful song!

Dreams are sometimes difficult to fully achieve. They take courage, discipline and faith. Dreams mean walking through one door, just to realize that door is closing and walking yet through another one until you are guided into a beautiful magnificent room called destiny. When I walked out of the ballroom at The Nines Hotel I knew I had entered the Destiny Room. Thank you for supporting me, all of you in my dream! I hope to do the same for you!!!

As Keri Murphy says so well - " Dream it, Live it, Be it"!!!

Sharla

“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

7 Secrets to a Confident Woman

Dear Confident Girl ~

A confident woman knows she is loved ~ Do you have a circle of fun trustworthy girlfriends?

A confident woman refuses to live in fear ~ Do you live in fear or faith?

A confident woman is positive ~ confidence and negativity do not go together

A confdient woman recovers from setbacks ~ Do you let your mistakes teach you?

A confident woman avoids comparisons ~ do you compare or love yourself?

A confident woman takes action ~ have you set goals?

A confident woman does not live in "if only" and "what if" ~ Do you live in the moment?

I recently read a post on The Diamond Tea blog and I would like to leave this with you today. . . .

http://www.thediamondtea.com/reflections/stronger/

This post spoke to the core of who we are as women, our struggles, our silent thoughts, our courage and perserverence. . . .

May you find blessings today and be filled with resilient strength!!

Shar

Re