Giving (Glee) Contest

It's the end of October!!  My November SuperRomance, UNEXPECTED GIFTS, has been available here

on eHarlequin this month, but next week, it's available at online bookstores and will be coming to a bookstore shelf near you!  And I want to celebrate by giving away some books, so....Let's have a contest!

Now, I tried to decide what kind of contest to have, and it occurred to me that my heroine in Unexpected Gifts, Eli Cartwright, lives a life of service.  She runs a teen parenting program for her school district,  Now, while it's her job, she didn't begin the program for the money.  She started it because there was a need and she could help.

Helping.  Volunteering.  Giving in general. Those are themes that show up over and over again in my books.  I've spent my life volunteering at the kids' school, working with breastfeeding moms, with our local teen parenting
program, reading to kindergarten.  But those kind of volunteer jobs aren't the only way people give.  Recently, our neighbors came back home from Florida, and rather than moving back to their house, they're staying at a local nursing home.  They don't have any family, so we've adopted them.  We visit and take them little things they want/need.

But Giving Glee doesn't require even that much commitment.  I was on a flight to a conference once and a gentleman sat down next to me.  We had a great conversation.  He worked for the airline and had all kinds of stories to share.  At the end of the trip, he told me he flew almost daily, but hadn't talked to anyone in a long while.  I asked why he'd taken the time to talk to me and he said, "You smiled at me when I sat down."  Wow.  A smile.   Even things that seem little to you can mean something to someone else.  I was crutches for a long period of time and I can't tell you how much it meant when people went out of their way to open doors or help load groceries in my car.  And how about all the stories of people buying the next person in line a coffee?

So, giving (glee) can be something as big as being your PTA president or starting a teen parenting program, or as small as offering someone who's having a bad day a smile or visiting a neighbor in a nursing home.

That's  the theme of the contest....GIVING GLEE!

Here's how it's going to work.  Send me an email at HollyJacobs1 (at) aol (dot) com and tell me how you've given glee lately.  Something big, something little...doesn't matter.  By sending me the email, you're allowing me to reprint your post (I won't be giving names, though you're welcome to out yourself if you like <g>) here on the Giving Glee Contest Blog.  At the end of November, I'll draw three random winners and send them some backlist books and other fun prizes.  Yes, you're trying to win something, and yes, the contest is a great way for me to promote UNEXPECTED GIFTS, but think of all the glee we can give throughout the month!  That's something.  Giving glee--it's a...well, it can be an unexpected gift (oh, that was bad...I know it!  LOL)!

So, send me your entries and let's all spend the next month Giving Glee!!

Holly 

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ENTRIES:

1. A couple of months ago I was given the cutest little bags that had held potpourri and it dawned on me that they would make really nice little bags for a treat for some of my favorite friends. So I started collecting. I got some hand lotion, some angel shaped soap, a masque and some great samples. Then the perfect opportunity came to give them out girls lunch. I probably spent less than $3.00 a bag but that little treat did seem to give some glee to my very sweet and very special friends. It was the least I could do for all the glee they give me just by being a part of my life.

2. My hubby and I try to spread glee wherever we go. We are naturally smiley, bubbly people, so nearly everyone gets a smile from us...which is why, 12 years after moving to NYC, people still think we're tourists :) One thing we do on a regular basis is give...we support a lot of causes, and most times, we'll make our donations in the names of friends, family members, new babies, etc... We know that when people do things like this for us, it inspires us to pay it forward. We also give to our local homeless people. Since we live just outside the city, there aren't many homeless people here. But there are two who are here all the time. The guy outside Dunkin Donuts always gets our spare change and a smile. And there's another guy who hangs out at the end of our block, and I always see him on my way back from the grocery story...I'll typically grab a banana or granola bar out of the cart for him, or any loose change/bills that I might have in my pocket. We also love to organize give-backs. Last Christmas we got our group of college friends together and we chose a needy family - 3 kids and the parents had lost their jobs. Then we bought them presents, wrapped and shipped them so they would have a merry Christmas. Wishuponahero.com is a great place to find people in need and to give back.

3.My aunt lives alone and doesn't like cooking for herself so we have her over to dinner and I take her over dinners, too.

 4. Summer time in my town brings HOT WEATHER and there are many families who are not able to afford air conditioning or even fans to stay cool (or relatively cool). Every year one of the television stations collects fans or donations so that the organizations who check up on these families can give these families fans to help cool them down. And every year I donate to the cause because nobody should have to suffer 100° heat with no way of cooling down.

5. I actually had a really good glee-giving filled weekend this past week. I went on a camping trip with several friends from my church singles group. One of the women who went had a stroke 6 months ago and on top of that, she has lupus. As a result of the stroke, she has short term memory problems and her sister was worried that she would wander off in the woods or something and forget where she was and who she was with. So I volunteered to bunk with her so someone would be with her in case she had a memory lapse. I actually rolled out my sleeping bag directly in front of the tent door so if she woke up middle of the night, she'd have to climb over me and that would wake me up. So I became her personal partner all weekend, walking with her everywhere, which was good since a few times her legs were so weak or sore she needed my help to stand up or to continue walking. But that's really all just background info to the real story.

On Saturday, we decided to go on a hike and my friend was hesitant to go but decided to challenge herself and see if she could make it. I was the watch crew who stayed with her if she had to stop for a break. But she kept on going using her walking stick to truck on and holding on to someone if she needed extra support on tougher parts of the trail. I'm guesstimating we walked about 2 to 2.5 miles that afternoon and she was right there the whole time. She was hurting really bad by the end of the hike but still kept going. She kept telling me over and over again how she was so proud of herself for giving it a try and how excited she was that she knew she'd be able to finish the hike. I kept telling her I was very proud of her for trying also and was thrilled she could finish it. I was talking to the unofficial camping trip coordinator and told him we needed to do something special for her at the return to our campsite. I wanted to create a finish line for her by drawing a line in the dirt and having all of us cross it right before her, so we could be cheering her on when she crossed. Another girl had a camera so she was to be the photographer for the "event." Well, our coordinator, who is a very experienced camper/hiker had a roll of toilet paper in his back pack. So he pulled that out and we made a finsih line with it, for her to break through. She was SOOOO excited to have her own private event. As she broke the "ribbon" at the finish line, she had this huge smile on her face and her arms raised in a victory sign. I was right there, holding one end of the finish line, yelling and cheering for her.The whole weekend was a wonderful time, but even if the weather had been miserable or the trip had not gone well, just seeing that smile on my friend's face as she crossed her own personal finish line, would have made the entire trip worthwhile.

 6.The latest way I have been giving glee is Making sure once I week I provide something new for Daria's 1st grade class. This last week I bought 25 pie pumpkins. You know those not so big but yet not so small eithet pumpkins. I bought these so the kids could decorate them. The teacher had been talking about wanting to do something like it but not having the time to stop and get the pumpkins. So I volunteered. I also bought them some little puzzles at Hobby Lobby My absolute favorite store. The puzzles were of halloween characters. They get to color them, themselves. They loved them. I bought Thanksgiving and Christmas Puzzles as well. The weekly snacks though are normally little goldfish crackers or individual packs of cookies. See they don't have time for a snack everyday but I drop them off once a week and she usually gives them to them as a Friday afternoon incentive. It goes over great. That is what my little Glee has been about lately.

7. Smiles always make me feel good so I always try to smile at people. I volunteer with an organization that provides services to youth and families in need. With the recession, we've been scrambling to keep funding. Sfaff have taken voluntary furloughs, some staff had to be released. Through it all the staff and board have pulled together and have put in many volunteer hours to keep the programs running and we haven't had to close any programs yet. There has been much giving in terms of time and treasure (dollars) by many people to keep things going. Hopefully we will weather the storm without having to cut much needed services to these youth and their families.

8. Yesterday I was nursing my 10 yo son back to health from the swine flu and pneumonia when the cutest dog showed up on our front porch. A little Japanese Chin. She is thin, fluffy white was now dull cream and knotted. She was hungry and wanted to be loved. Only problem, she didn't want to get close to me. For over an hour, I sweet talked her and bribed her with food into my back fenced in yard. I have two small dogs and coyotes are every where here so I keep them in the yard.

She was starving. It was cold outside, so I made sure she was okay in the yard, checked on my son, turned the heat up in my house, opened the back doors in my home and had a trail of food leading into my home. I just wanted her to warm up. 

I took pictures of her on my phone and sent them to my parents, telling them if I didn't find her a home, she was their new daughter. They agreed.  I spent the next two hours trying to get her to come in but she only wanted to play with my dogs, but hide from me. When I would go to pet her or even come within 3 feet of her, she would take off running across the yard to the other side of the fence.

I called the local animal shelter, which I can't drive by without crying, and asked with hope in my heart, 'has anyone reported a Japanese Chin missing?' They called me back with a number- dog had been missing for over a week and with the weather, coyotes we have-it was virtually impossible for a little dog to survive. I called the number excited wanting to find this little baby's mom. A lady answered with that all knowing voice when someone doesn't know the number.

I have a little dog here that could be yours.'  The lady started to cry, asking me all sorts of questions: does she have this, collar, etc.

'No collar, but I can't get close enough to see any other markings.'

She told me it would take her 20 minutes to get to my home, but stayed on the line with me telling me the story.'Big girl is what we call her'

I yelled 'hey big girl' and her ears perked up. She came closer to me, only to jump away. 'YES, she answered to big girl' I smiled knowing it was her dog.

Big Girl is four years old, rescued from a puppy mill and has had a few liters of puppies. She was abused and was a rescue dog. She is very fearful of people, expect her new owners who she has been living with since summer. Somehow she got out of their fence. They had feared the worse since she had been missing for a week.

When Big Girl's mom showed up, her tail began to wag and ran to her mom. I cried b/c I couldn't imagine the ordeal the family or Big Girl has gone through the past week. The mom started to cry and couldn't thank me enough. I told her it was my pleasure and it WAS! I felt so good making that family's YEAR!!

9.I think I give glee almost everyday when I take a walk with my little Shorkie puppy, Oliver. He's so adorable (if I do say so myself) that I never get far without being stopped by someone wanting to hold and cuddle him

10. <<My father passed away last year.  I try to call mom every day, and we go out together at least once a week.  I don't know if this should count, because the time I spend with her gives me glee, as Holly would say. :-)

11. << Reading these stories of sharing glee has given me some glee today with the kids screaming and fighting! I was involved in some glee-giving just last night. A friend is pregnant and due in a month. She lost two babies before this one at different stages so she’s getting pretty nervous (although all looks great). Last night we surprised her with a girl’s night out and pamper package (a book, chocolate, massage cream for her aching feet with a stern note to hubby to tell him to apply it!). She smiled last night for the first time in ages, I think it took some of her worries away – at least for a while. =)

12. I give glee by sending packages of goodies to our military members in harms way through 

The appreciation repays me ten-fold. And the fact that so far all "my" solders have come home safe is the best glee possible.

13.Well since I get paid to smile at everyone for a living I don't think I can count that.
Although I do try to make each customer happy that they came to my store, it doesn't always work out that way.
I think the best way I can describe my "glee" moments are "I didn't kill him today" I have a husband who works very hard and some really weird hours. He is THE jack of all trades and does all our home repair and maintenance. We acquired a like-new furnace in April from a friend who was upgrading. Plenty of time to install it before the snow hit again..NOT. It is still in my dining room. My hubby had a back injury that he had to recover from and then I had retinal surgery and then and then. You get the idea. Well hubby announced yesterday that if I can manage to stay injury free he might be able to install it before the kids come home for Thanksgiving. At this point I did not kill him. If Thanksgiving dinner has to be served on TV trays in the living room I may change that.

14.My daughter has been stressed out more than normal latey, so one day I wanted to just treat her to dinner after work with no kids, a nice adult meal. She was so happy about it, even though we never made it that night, she forgot she had to work her other job, it cheered her up so much. We will do it another time, but it's nice to just make someone smile without trying.

15.I did an act of kindness last night as I offered to make dinner for the gang over at Grammy ReRe's as she always supplies everything and the least I can do is to help with the cooking which I like to do anyway. I made my meatballs, yeah three lbs of them and we had...
Halloween dinner -Saturday
Garlic to ward off Vlad on sweet breads,
algae from the bottom of the lagoon,
Blood over brains with gonads,
Ghoul drippings,
and for dessert you want s' more?
Bwahahaha
in other words...garlic bread
tossed salad
red sauce over spaghetti with meatballs,
soda, and
Halloween s' more's.

16.This isn't about me, but I still think you might count it for your contest. My 12 year old son's friend had his candy stolen by some older boys and my son gave him half of his. I don't think I've ever been so proud of him. He's such a nice kid who definitely gives me glee.

17. Holly said little things counted, so yesterday morning, I let someone out of a parking lot onto the very busy road I take to work. They smiled and waved thankyou. There's lots of roadrage, to I figured Holly would like if I gave a little road glee. :-)

18. One way I have been giving glee is a few months back I went to a garage sale and ended up buying almost one hundred Heartsong Presents books. Heartsong is another publisher that specializes in Christian Romance. I made the decision that as I finish reading them if I am not planning on reading them again I give them to my church library along with any Love Inspired I have.

19. Yesterday I was at the post office. There was a long line. There was a woman in line that said to someone that she had a whole book of stamps that she could not find so she was waiting in that line to buy a stamp. I heard her and I still had five stamps left in my person. I went up and gave her a stamp. She looked shocked that someone would do that. She asked me if I wanted the money for it. I said "no" I just couldn't see you standing in such a long line for one stamp. She gave me a big smile. I was happy just to do one small thing to bring a smile to someone.

20. In 1985 I lost my second daughter to SIDS and then in 1990 my third daughter died in utero the week before Christmas so I expanded my Christmas that started in 1985. I took what the family would have spent on presents for their little sisters and searched all year for wonderful presents for little children that were put on clearance just to put joy in little ones eyes. Then in December my children would take to the police dept (that had a Santa Cop Program) the gifts. Our best year was when Montgomery Ward shut down we brought in two LARGE garbage sacks full of stuffed animals, rag dolls, cars and trucks. When the officer asked my son Chris's name to put down as a contributor he corrected the officer saying these were from his angel sisters. Now I am unemployed but out of habit every time I enter a store I head for the clearance dept then grab my necessities and for $25-30 I can fill a sack again, with $3 Barbies and cars and trucks and balls for $1-$4 this is my Christmas present that I can stretch out all year!

21. Last night I was a parent driver for the Youth Group trip to see the comedian Charles Marshall at Grace Baptist Church. On the way home, the 5 students in my mini van were talking about ice cream. I pulled into McDonald's and bought them each a soft serve vanilla cone. They were all so grateful and suprised!

22.My husband and I recently signed up for Angel Food Ministries. For those of you who might never have heard of them, you can get a month's supply of food for a family of four for a month -- including steaks, etc. You have to be financially challenged to receive their services. We had heard of it before, but didn't realize they take food stamps. They do! Yay! You do have to pay for your groceries, but it is not a lot of money If you are on food stamps, you have to go to the
Angel Food Ministries to place your order, and they will call and get a number for your OK. If your're not on Food Stamps, but can't really afford to buy groceries, you can make your order over the Internet.
We are so pleased at this opportunity that we plan to volunteer to hand out groceries on delivery days. Hopefully we can give others glee as volunteers.

23. On Friday I phoned my neighbour and invited her over for dinner. She had an appointment but I managed to get the meal ready before she had to go and she was very appreciative.
She lives alone and doesn't cook much.

24. When I serve my Thanksgiving dinner, there will be my neighbor and his family included. He has been out of work for six months. That's the least my family can do to help them.

25. Something I will be doing soon is cat-sitting for my friend while she travels back East. I have done it before.I drive to her house every morning to feed Miss Kitty, change the potty tray and also water her plants. She would do the same for me if I had a cat.

26. My husband and I buy Beanie Babies on the 'net and give them out at Christmas, usually to local children's hospitals. But this year we also gave them to small children who came to our door for trick or treating, and the parents and kids all loved it. There's nothing like a soft, squishy Beanie to put a smile on your face :)

27. Today I danced with my kids and laughed when all I really wanted to do when I got home was crawl into bed. Life has been such a joy because of them. They are my glee and in 10 days my eagles that left the nest return for our first Thanksgiving together in 4 years. To quote a certain commercial PRICELESS.

28. I am going to give you two examples:
I am a coach for two LEGO robotics teams. We finally have our robots working and faces are lighting up. We plan on competing soon and even if we do not make it to the winning circle, we are still winners beause we did not give up. We continued trying to and have fun doing so. What a lot of glee onthier faces.
My family is in two differnt spots this year for Thanksgiving. In the interest of giving glee, we are having two full Thanksgivings. It will be my oldest daughter's second time hosting Thanksgiving and she is gleefully planning everything right down to the minutest detail. Should be fun.

29. Yesterday I was out raking leaves, I was bagging them. It was going to take a me awhile, then my neighbor came over and said he could rig up a tarp for me to pile the leaves on and he'd use the lawnmower to dump them in the back woods. I took him up on the offer, what would have taken all day took me a couple of hours. I thanked him for helping out, when I went in after raking I decided to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies for him. I brought them over and found out he loves chocolate chips. So we both were giving glee yesterday. '

30. One thing I do that I hope gives as much glee as I receive from it, is giving a ride to a blind friend to Bible Study. I Love the time with my friend and her guide dog. She loves the opportunity to get out so it's a mutually gleeful time.

31. haven't had too many occasions to be able to give glee lately, but sometimes it's the little things in life that have the big impacts. My father is now in a nursing home. His roommate has Parkinson's and may have had a stroke at some point as well. He rarely moves more than just his hand, and he speaks so softly and indistinctly that it's hard to hear him. (In fact, my father, who has Alzheimers and has lost a lot of cognitive ability, frequently tells me his roommate is dead.)
We always speak to Mr. M. when we come in to visit Dad and leave, even though he hasn't shown any signs of hearing us. Anyway, the other day, he was clearly agitated. He was pounding his hand on the arm of his wheelchair and was muttering. I've tried before, mostly unsuccessfully, to understand what he's saying when he just starts speaking with no one else in the room. So, I dreaded walking over to him because I was uncomfortable, knowing I'd have to ask him repeatedly what he needed and STILL might not be able to understand him. I figure that must be uncomfortable and frustrating for him, too, to repeat something over and over and not have someone understand you.
Still, he was clearly agitated, so I felt I had to try. I asked him if he needed something, and he started mumbling. I practically had my head on his chest trying to catch what he was saying, but eventually I thought he said, "Down." So, I asked if he wanted to lie down instead of sitting up in his chair. He barely whispered, "Yes."
So, I called the nurse and told her I thought he wanted to lie down. He grabbed my hand with his and, for the first time since the beginning of November, looked me directly in the eye. I think that was his way of saying, "Thank you!" Now, whenever I come into the room or leave it, he opens his eyes and looks at me. I figure I either gave him glee, or he's thinking to himself, "What an imbecile! How did I get stuck with a roommate whose daughter is so irritating!" I choose to think it's glee.

32. I'm entering your contest - A friend came to me with a request that I help her with a very good cause...her e mail said:

Hawk,

I have Dana Canedy as guest Over Coffee. I could use some help with support. You have some connections to more inspirational and non-fiction people that I don't. Would you help me get the word out?

I wrote back:

I'll be over to visit your site and I'll put a side bar up for her info, I'll send a notices to two links I'm on and I'll do a shout out!

She wrote back:

Thank you, You're a sweetheart.

This is what you'll see on my blog...for Jordan, because this story touched me heart.

A REAL LIFE LOVE AND ROMANCE OF THE HEART

A MUST BUY BOOK see below for more info'

SHOUT OUT THIS WEEK!!!

EVERYONE!

SIA's having Dana Canedy as a guest Over Coffee. http://siamckye.blogspot.com/
Dana wrote a memoir, Journal for Jordan, about losing Jordan's father in Iraq. In 2005 First Sergeant Charles King began to write what would become a 200 page hand written journal for his son in case he did not make it home from war in Iraq. When he was killed, a month before coming home, Jordan was 7 months old. Dana read the journal and later began to write a book around that journal. A book that would give Jordan a clear picture of who his father was. This woman has been on Oprah and asked Sia to feature her on her blog!
Let's go visit and take a look at this interesting interview and hear about this wonderful book, written with love.

Holly, I did it for a little boy who will never know his father....but because of his mother...now he and all the world will know his father's love.

Welcome to my world where romance is reality...if only for a loving moment in time
http://www.houstonawknight.blogspot.com

www.HollyJacobs.com

A ONE-OF-A-KIND FAMILY, Harlequin SuperRomance, 2/10
UNEXPECTED GIFTS, Harlequin SuperRomance, 11/09 *still available at eHarlequin!

SOMEBODY ELSE'S BABY, Harlequin SuperRomance, TBA
A FATHER'S NAME, Harlequin SuperRomance, TB