Raising Figure Skaters

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

Written on May 18, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Encouragement, Inspiration, Making a Difference

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I can relate to the concept of being a survivor: Being a Survivor. I think we all can. Who hasn’t gone through some hard times?!

Stronger | Seattle Children’s Hospital

Yet, my hard times can’t begin to compare with the hard times many individuals face. I want to share a moving video you might have seen on YouTube. I learned about the video from Shannon at Blog Frog’s Mom Loop.

This video was created by Chris Rumble, a 22-year-old hockey player/filmmaker who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. He brought together the hemoncology floor of Seattle Children’s Hospital for an inspiring remake of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” Published on May 6, the video has already had 1,980,235 views.

If you’d like to know more about how the video was made, check this out: Extended Cut – Making Of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Here’s more about Chris Rumble from the Huffington Post: Chris Rumble, Seattle Children’s Hospital Cancer Patient, Creates ‘Stronger’ Video.

Small Hands Creating Hope

I’m happy to say that I’m participating in a fundraising project going on right now to help the American Cancer Society. The Small Hands Creating Hope eBook and print book was organized by MaryAnne from Mama Smiles blog. MaryAnne was diagnosed with cancer at 22 months and is celebrating 30 years of being cancer-free.

Small Hands Creating Hope Collage

Small Hands Creating Hope symbolizes hope in the face of cancer. For the book, MaryAnne brought together 40+ kid bloggers to share crafts, tutorials, and many stories that inspired the projects. Children can make the projects to bring hope to cancer patients.

I was inspired by my own parents, who are both cancer survivors. Here’s more about my part of the book: Free Counting Book Printable for Any Theme and One Small Part of Small Hands Creating Hope (at Living Montessori Now).

Ultimately, I wish for a cure for cancer. For now, there’s the strength and depth that comes to anyone who’s a survivor. And there’s always hope for the future.

“What Doesn’t Kill You” Word-Art Freebie

Photo at the top of this post by Michael Deeble at Flickr Creative Commons.

Tags: American Cancer Society fundraiser, being a survivor, Chris Rumble, encouragement, Inspiration, Kelly Clarkson, making a difference, Seattle Children's Hospital, Small Hands Creating Hope, stronger, Survivor, What Doesn't Kill You

“What Doesn’t Kill You” Word-Art Freebie

Written on May 16, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Freebies, Word-Art Quotation Freebies

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Here’s a word-art freebie from the lyrics to Kelly Clarkson’s song “Stronger”: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” The song was written by Jörgen Elofsson, Ali Tamposi, David Gamson, and Greg Kurstin. Kelly Clarkson’s song was inspired by the Friedrich Nietzsche quote from The Twilight of the Idols (1899): “What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.” (Word-art freebie).

To download word art (without watermark), click here, then right click on the image and choose “Save Picture As . . .”

I have lots of word-art inspiration at the Raising Figure Skaters Facebook page and on Pinterest!

Background Photo by zavulonya.

Tags: digital scrapbooking freebie, Kelly Clarkson, stronger, What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, word art, word-art freebie

Enjoy Being a Good-Enough Mother!

Written on May 11, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Encouragement, Parents' Role

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So many of us mothers want to be perfect mothers. But that’s obviously impossible. I’ve grown to like the concept of being a good-enough mother.

I remember wanting to be a more-perfect mom years ago, and I can only imagine how much worse the Internet has made things for moms with perfectionistic tendencies today. Who can possibly be a saintly mother happily creating even a fraction of all the wonderful materials, amazing activities, and fun foods found on Pinterest alone?

I love this post by Jennifer Kunst, Ph.D., at Psychology Today: Searching for the “Good Enough” Mother.

And I REALLY LOVE this post by April Perry at The Power of Moms: Your Children Want YOU!

Whether you’re a sports mom, homeschool mom, career mom, or any other type of mom, I hope you’ll give yourself permission to be happily imperfect. Here’s a post I wrote at Living Montessori Now about learning what my kids really needed: Top 5 Homeschool Lessons My Children Taught Me.

Despite my imperfections, my now-adult kids turned out great. I’m incredibly proud of my kids. I’ve learned that being a good-enough mother is good enough!

DChitwood_TheIdealMother

“The Ideal Mother” Word-Art Freebie

Happy Mother’s Day weekend! Enjoy being a good-enough mother!

Linked with The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions at Milk and Cuddles and Crystal & Co. and Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Tags: good enough, good-enough mother, happily imperfect, ideal mother, Mother's Day, perfect mother

“The Ideal Mother” Word-Art Freebie

Written on May 9, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Freebies, Word-Art Quotation Freebies

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Here’s a word-art freebie from the quote “OF COURSE I’d like to be the ideal mother. But I’m too busy raising children.” From the comic strip The Family Circus by Bil Keane

To download word art (without watermark), click here, then right click on the image and choose “Save Picture As . . .”

I have lots of word-art inspiration at the Raising Figure Skaters Facebook page and on Pinterest!

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday.

Tags: Bil Keane, Bil Keane quote, digital scrapbooking freebie, I'm too busy raising children, Mother's Day quote, Of course I'd like to be the ideal mother, The Family Circus, the ideal mother, word art, word-art freebie

Enjoy Your Life!

Written on April 27, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Happiness, Motivation

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I wonder how often we’re simply afraid to enjoy life. I love the following video. It made me laugh out loud when I first saw it.

A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE

“To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium we placed a big red push button on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. A sign with the text ‘Push to add drama’ invited people to use the button.”

Wasn’t that fun?! It’s interesting that the button wasn’t pushed immediately. Most of us tend to be too afraid to live fully.

I shared a great graphic from Smile BIG, Love Everybody on the Raising Figure Skaters Facebook page. It says:

“When we reach the top, we tend to forget how we got there. It’s on the way down we suddenly remember the journey. Without the lows, there wouldn’t be any highs. Life is exactly like a roller coaster. Always sit in the front row.” Jesse Magoon

Whether we need to spend more time in nature or just be open to life as it happens, I hope we can all start to truly enjoy our lives.

“The Moments That Take Our Breath Away” Word-Art Freebie

I’ll be on spring break from blogging at Raising Figure Skaters next week. I’ll still add my quote of the day and share word-art inspiration at the Raising Figure Skaters Facebook page. But I need to spend a bit more time enjoying the outdoors! So I’ll skip next week’s blog posts. See you here on Wednesday, May 9!

Photo Credit: Image at the top of this post by Sumayah Essa at Flickr Creative Commons.

Tags: a dramatic surprise on a quiet square, happiness, motivation, the moments that take our breath away

“The Moments That Take Our Breath Away” Word-Art Freebie

Written on April 25, 2012 by Deb Chitwood in Freebies, Word-Art Quotation Freebies

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Here’s a word-art freebie from the quote “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.” The origin of the quote has been attributed to a number of people, but the quote most likely came from an anonymous male Canadian writer for Carlton Cards in the mid-1970s.

To download word art, click here, then right click on the image and choose “Save Picture As . . .”

Background photo by Yang Jun.

I have lots of word-art inspiration at the Raising Figure Skaters Facebook page and on Pinterest!