We wanted to give each of our sisters a Grateful Journal so they could write about things they are thankful for. I had recently seen the movie Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and I loved the journal the little boy kept. It wasn't just for writing in, but rather a collection of things as well as writing that he put into his journal. Tickets stubs, photos, pieces of things, drawings, and all manner of paraphernalia that meant something to him. We decided to give the same sort of composition notebook entitled Extremely Blessed and Incredibly Grateful to our ladies. We chose eight different quotes mostly obtained from Pinterest that I re-typeset and made copies of. The are set to cut into 1/8 sheets, a finished size of 2.75" x 4.25". I ran 1 set for each book, so we had eight quotes for each journal.
We placed them on random pages throughout the journal so as the sisters went through their pages they would eventually find the quotes. I made labels for the outside front with our theme so they would be reminded every time they see this little notebook to be thankful for things.
And a little bookmark to mark their progress through their journal.
I did some water bottle labels because I had room on the page I was running the journal front labels on, and it was fun to have our water bottles in keeping with our theme that night.
We took a silver paint marker and wrote each sister's name on the first page. This way we knew who had picked theirs up and who we still might need to deliver journals to.
Our speaker for the evening was incredible. She too referenced a movie for her inspiration. Polyanna. I remember it as one of my favorite movies growing up. She remarked that she had never seen the movie as a child, but that as an adult had come across it and it made a lasting impression on her. She and her family play the "Glad Game" all the time. Putting that kind of optimism out is amazing. We are such a blessed people and so much more individually. She was very inspiring and I find myself falling way short of the kind of gratitude she lives every day. Need improvement. I took some pics of our room at the church. It was a great meeting and I hope everyone left feeling a little more thankful for all that we have. I intend to use my journal and when it is full, look back on all the blessings that will be in there for me to enjoy yet again.
We ran out of containers for flowers, so we taped the flowers to the blackboard. We wound a bow through the stems to hide the tape and drew a chalk frame around it. It looked better than just an empty blackboard up by the speaker.
The wall behind the refreshment table still looked plain after the table was all set, so we took the cute black and white polka dot napkins we were using and cut some big polka dots to tape to the wall. I do love polka dots.
As soon as I learn how to link for a printable type file, I will put our ideas out there for anyone who wants to use them. It was a good meeting and I know we hit the mark with everyone. Meanwhile if any of my family/friends want any of these files to make their own gratitude journal, I will be happy to email them to you.
Now all I have to do is learn to be more grateful everyday. everyday. everyday.
