American Goulash, Green Beans with Bacon, Cookies

Words at times can't express emotions felt, especially when the emotions are felt really deeply !!  I had a whole week of joyful emotions & will try to express myself the best I can.  And where do I start ??!!

On Monday while feeding the homeless at Santa Rita Park Jeannette Packard walked over to us & presented a Ben's Bell to me.  What a surprise !!  I had heard a little bit about it, but didn't know the whole story.  For those of you who never heard of Ben's Bells here is the link to their website.  The stories are quite remarkable !!  :)

When receiving my bell from Jeannette I couldn't stop crying I was touched so deeply & kept hanging onto dear Jessie, who helps me serve the food every week & who nominated me for this incredible honor.  I'm still crying every time I think about this.  All the homeless people waiting in line to be fed started clapping & cheering & that made me cry even more.  Some even gave me hugs to congratulate me.  :)  Gary, Jessie's husband took pictures & so did Jeannette.  I wish I could bottle all the emotions felt by everyone & then attach them to this blog, as again the words don't do it all justice. 

I was really happy to see Jeannette's son Matthew there too, who is a teenager now, and two of his young friends.  :)  I always felt that we can't teach children early enough to give to & care about others !!  :)   Especially these times when we spoil our children so much with material things.  Matthew, thank you soooo much for coming too & please thank your two friends for me also.  :)  

It is hard for me to hold back my tears of joy as I am writing this.  In the Ben's Bells brochure is says "Each week an individual who has been nominated by others in our community is chosen to receive a Ben's Bell for his or her consistent displays of intentional kindness".  

Thank you Jeannette & Dean & Matthew for all the Joy & Kindness you spread all over Tucson, & I noticed on your website, in many other places in America too now!!   :)   I would love to give you a Ben's Bell too !!  :)  You deserve a huge one !!  :)

Another gift is coming out being a "Bellee".  On Saturday, November 20th, there will be a feature on me in our biggest local daily newspaper called the "Arizona Daily Star".  Hopefully that the exposure will help in getting more donations & more people who help out.  :)   We fed 100 people this past weekend for a total of 2,220 so far.   :)

Now, if Jeannette hasn't done enough already, she even went to the Red Velvet Cupcakery, which is next door to her office & asked what they do with their cupcakes at the end of the day.  The owners gave her four boxes full for the homeless & said that we can pick up cupcakes every Tuesday & Thursday.  :)  What wonderful & generous people & how amazing it all is !!  :)   More tears of joy !!

Karen V., the Executive Director of Amber Lights Retirement Community had asked me to come there & share with her employees about my Feeding the Homeless, which I did.  Karen had put together a raffle for the residents & the employees to raise money for the homeless project & after my talk presented me with the money raised & some food too.  :)   It will almost pay for one week of meals & I am soooo grateful to you Karen for caring so deeply !!  :)  Karen said that she will do a raffle once a month now to continue to help out.  :)   More tears of joy !!   :)

Chad Might of  Might Photography came over & took a bunch of pictures of me in my kitchen for my story in the November issue of  "The New Southwest"  newspaper (formerly called the Green Times), which will be published & everywhere in Tucson on the 15th of this month.  You can find it at many places, like Bookman's, Sunflower Markets, etc.  It is a wonderful little paper full of good information !!  :)  If you click on the link above you will be able to read the paper. 

Rosemarie H., thank you soooo much for the absolutely gorgeous orchid plant you gave to me after I got "Belled" !!  :)  It is now on my dining room table close to the picture of my son Scott, who crossed over into the Spirit World in 1999.  I always have flowers for him & now he also has your beautiful orchid gracing his photo.  More tears of joy.  :)  Rosemarie, you blew me away with your loving & kind gestures, which also included a bunch of tortillas for this coming weekends Tortilla Soup for the homeless.  Thank you also for the boxes of mints & the Maple Leaf Cream Cookies, which per you represent the season of fall.  :)   The people in the parks will love them all, except for a few of the Raspberry Mints, which I sampled.  ;)  Had to make sure they were good.  ;)   Ha, ha !!  :)  I love anything raspberry.  :)

Jen, thank you with all my heart for helping me cook last weekend !!  :)  You are a huge help & I soooo appreciate you !!   :)   We cooked 16 lbs. of elbow macaroni & 20 lbs. of ground beef, used more than 30 cans of tomato soup & 6 lbs. of fresh mushrooms.  And then there were 7 huge cans of green beans with 2 lbs. of bacon. 

Katherine K., my dear friend, thank you for your kind & loving support today & for giving me your special check for food for the people in the city parks !!   :)   Once more it came at the nick of time to help with the Tortilla Soup this weekend.  I soooo love you & am always excited to spend time with you, especially when we are creating jewelry together, which is always play to me.  :)

Another big thank you goes to Judy B., who so dearly ask everyone to bring blankets or comforters to her own birthday party to give to the homeless.  How sweet & caring is that ??!!  :)  Judy ended up with 10 blankets, which Jessie then distributed to the people in the parks.  :)

It is going on 3:00 AM & I am bushed.  So once more ......  Good Night everyone & sleep with the Angels tonight !!  :)