Almost a New Year

So hard to believe that it is almost a brand new year. Lots has happened in 2009....
Wayne lost his job
Wayne completed EMT training and started a job as an EMT
We visited Florida and Texas
We changed Churches
Our oldest is in his last year of school
WE have two drivers in our house
We started Hope Blooms Ministry

Just to name a few things....change, everything changes. Christmas as we once knew it is changing. The boys visit with girlfriends at Christmas. So they are not only with just US. That seems weird. I hear about how marriages for boys also change the holidays. It seems as if the "girls" rule and mom's of boys don't get to see those families as much. You spend 18 years raising young men, only to not see them as much. Makes me remember to pray for my future daughter's in love now. I understand the importance of equal time with in laws, which has come from maturity. I didn't always feel that way....Life, a time for growth.

Well, I am excited for 2009 to start. Hope Blooms will hopefully, God willing blossom into a great ministry. Sometimes I am already tired from thinking and dreaming about how it will be. But I am so eager to bless some children's socks off of them!

Jesus with skin on.....

Blessings
Shannon

Thoughts...

Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine and injustice when He could do something about it. But I'm afraid God might ask me the same question.

Found the above quote on a blog. Not sure who wrote it originally, but when I read it...Wow.

Wayne and I have struggled financially almost all of our married life. If it weren't for good ole uncle sam and income tax time giving us quite a chunk, we wouldn't go on vacation. We work for what we have. We have little debt, and try to be humble. It is a priority for us to spend time as a family on vacation. Getting away from responsibilities at home helps us to spend quality time together.

I would love to help others. I know there are many ways to help others. I just read on a blog that a family loves to give to others anonymously. They hear a need and send a gift card, or drop off food. But usually no one knows who did it. WE have been blessed by this kindness from someone in our area. Out of the blue we get a money order for several hundred dollars. I so want to pay it forward someday.

My main goal with Hope Blooms is to help children. They are so young, and should be innocent to life's dangers. They should be protected. Hope Blooms will also create employment for me, which in turn will hopefully give us a way to help others as we have been helped. Anonymously. When I hear a need, I can do something about it. I just can hardly stand the thought of being able to do that.

God is Good, I continue to pray for His abundance with Hope Blooms.

Blessings all

Shannon

And the Winner is...

So far, I have won from Renee Swope! I won a book...am hoping to win the girls get a away in Houston! But who knows. Time will tell she is posting today sometime!

Did you win anything? Leave a comment. I would love to hear what everyone has won!




Timestamp: 2008-12-09 14:24:45 UTC
4 Angela Congrats~

Christmas Give away!

Thanks for visiting this weekend for the Christmas give away! I have a passion for helping children. Currently I am working on starting a non-profit to help young children in the foster care system. My husband, mom and I are working to build a community of homes to help foster parents to have a home ready to do foster care. They can live in the homes with reduced rent, be in a community with other foster parents, and utilize a community center. We are just in the beginning stages. Feel free to visit our website! http://www.hopebloomsmn.org/

OK, for the give away....

Your choice of either a Star Bucks or Target 10$ Gift card, and a surprise book that I know you will enjoy!

Leave a comment below, and I will draw the winner at the end of the contest!

I will draw the winner on Monday afternoon sometime! See keep posting away!

Thanks everyone
Shannon


http://lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com/2008/12/cool-christmas-giveaway-day.html

A Christmas Give Away

I am trying to change my blog to match for tomorrow's Christmas give away...but for some reason I cannot get rid of the turkeys! Sooo, I will be back later to try yet again...I have the perfect background picked out, but cannot get it to go.....

Anyway, check back tomorrow for one cool Christmas give away...hosted by Lysa TerKeurst. Head on over to her site and click on other links to participate in other bloggy give aways!

Enjoy...until tomorrow.

Shannon

Dis-heartening....

Just heard about a story of a little girl in Massachusetts. Her mother abused her, so she ended up in the foster care system. She evidently was adopted by her foster parent(s). They in turn abused her also. She ended up so badly hurt that she had to be taken to the hospital, where she was in a coma, not doing very well. The social service system then went to court to try to have this little girl, human life, Euthanased. This little girl quickly made a turn around, and it doing better. She has a long way to go.

A few thoughts on this...
1. Why is there abuse going on? It is one thing to have adults abusing each other...that's another can of worms that I won't go into. But innocent children's lives. They have no say what so ever in the home they will grow up in. At Birthline I notice how normal some pretty yucky stuff is to young people. It is normal to have parents married and divorced multiple times. It is normal to be pregnant at 16. It is normal to move from one house to another, then to another. Whoever will take them in. It is normal to have a boyfriend in jail. It is normal for me and my boyfriend to not have jobs. What is all this normal stuff. What happened to growing up, going to college, finding someone you want to marry, then having having s#x, then children. Being mature enough to care enough, to love enough, and not abusing innocent lives...

2. Why is a foster parent, who is adopting abusing children? There are thousands of people waiting to have children, and they won't abuse. What thrill do these people get from abuse? It is just a viscious cycle that needs to end.

3. Why are social service employees making a decision to kill young children. Is that not what they are suppose to save these children from? Who gave them this right? Why are we taking God out of our decisions? The God I talk about it the God from the Bible. A baby whose birth we will celebrate in a little over a month.

4. Father forgive them for they no not what they are doing...

Until later
Shannon

New Book

http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=1400313457

"BILLY" Book Reveiw

Well, I have just finished reading the book Billy. After reading this book I am eager to see the movie, titled the same name. I found this book was an interesting account on the young Billy Grahams life. I have known of Billy Graham all of my life, but didn't know about his early life before I read this book. This is a book that you can pick up and put down again.

The story began in a hospital room of a former friend of Billy. The story starts in 2001. A reporter is interveiwing Charles for some "dirt" on Billy Graham. Charles Templeton was a former evnagelist, now turned athiest. Charles was also a mentor to young Billy.

While Billy was searching, at a young age for his spirituality, I found myself relating to his parents' journey. His parents prayed for him to find a faith worth living for. As I see I have been doing for my own children. I thought it was interesting when he went to a local Tent Revival. This was after he overheard his father and other men from town praying for a town filled with faith. To know they prayed for a great leader in their small town, someday...It wasn't to far off that their son would fulfill that role.

I also was uplifted reading the love story of Ruth and Billy. What a testament to other marriages. This encouraged me in my walk and my marriage.

This book is worth the time to read. It gives a great account to the young Billy's life

Plugging Away

AS I sit and write, snow is falling. As far as I am concerned, if it is going to be this cold, (20's with wind) we may as well have snow on the ground. The kids are starting to get bored with no snow, but cold weather.

So onto Hope Blooms progress. It amazes me, which also reminds me that I am following God's will, that I keep hearing about more and more people that are currently doing Foster care, or have adopted. People that I casually know, but didn't know this about them. I am happy that more people are following God's commands in James 1:27!

I have a good start on hope Blooms budget. I really need to sit down and finalize it before we get into the holiday season. Some days it is just hard to sit down and get it finished. I don't much care for busy work like that.

The book that I received, from the previous post, seems to be pretty interesting. It is based on the movie that is currently out about Billy Graham. So it should be a good read. I am having trouble digging into that right now. But today is just kind of a blah day. No sunshine today.

Until next time
Shannon
www.hopebloomsmn.org

My First book to Review

Below you will find my first book that I signed to review.
It is about young Billy Graham. Click the link to see a description.

Billy Graham

Blogging and Reading...

Greetings everyone....As I keep saying, I am almost done with form 1023. I plan to be done in the next couple of weeks. I also need to find and take a test for school. I organized my crafting/computer room, and put my test somewhere that I cannot find! So praying that I find it.

I ran across a blog that announced that Thomas Nelson is allowing fellow readers and bloggers to sign up for reviewing books. I just signed up, and am excited to start. I love to read, and would be happy to review. It will be nice to learn of new authors to read some of their other books. I am almost out of books with the current authors that I like to read. (darn it when I catch up to all of their current published books!) SOOO if you are a reader, go fill out the short application, and read along with me.

Shannon

Are we done yet?

Well, fall is nearly upon us. I guess as far as the calendar goes, fall is here. We have had unseasonable warm weather. I think starting today, we will have fall weather. That is fine...60's is OK weather. In just under two weeks we head to Florida for a family vacation. So having cooler weather in MN will feel good Florida....

So, I am nearly done with the form 1023, (tax exempt form). I am so excited about that. I just have a few items to finish up, like Bylaws....that is a task in itself. But if I would just sit down and do that. Then get it approved by the other board members, we will be set. It is exciting to think of this form being complete. But what will really be nice is to have it sent in, approved and grant money applied for, accepted then in hand. That means we can actually start Hope Blooms....the physical part of it!

I did contact social Services this week. The foster Care division. I have not heard back from the gal yet. She may have tried to call this week, but didn't leave a message. We will really need to work closely with Social Services, As the people we have living at Hope Blooms will have to be approved by SS.

I believe that is all of the updates I have right now. I truly cannot wait to update with actual news of building progress, and not paperwork progress.....

Until next time
Shannon

New Developements

Well, it is fall y'all.....Love spring and fall. In the fall, the days are a bit shorter, the temps stay cooler, and it is nice to go for walks to see the colorful leaves changing. Spring is the same, new colors are blooming, shorter days, and also good for walking after a long winter!

Well, some new developments with Hope Blooms. I started working again on our tax exempt form. Form 1023. This is quite an in depth form. I saved the directions on my computer, and needed to look up a few things on Friday. I came across certain non-profits that are assumed as tax exempt...501(c)(3) status. If we open Hope Blooms as an auxiliary of an existing church, we would be assumed as tax exempt. This would save us $750...time, and we could then start fundraising and seeking grants. The church body we attend has a bigger support system called the "District" Offices. So in Minnesota, this would be Minnesota North District. So tomorrow-Monday- I will be contacting the North District to see what they have to say about this idea of Hope Blooms. Go to www.hopebloomsmn.org if you want more info... It is an exciting time, and beings I really want to have some money in play by next spring to get these homes built, I am hopeful that things will go smoothly.

thanks for checking in....
In His Grip
Shannon

What were you doing 7 years ago....

I remember seven years ago, like it just happened a couple of years ago. A day that will never be forgotten. Although I disliked history in school, this IS history, the date I won't forget.

Today is a rainy day, but back in 2001, this day was sunny. My dad was home, two of my children were home, my husband was working on the roof of a house. My cousin was sleeping outside in a camper.

I heard a poem on the radio this morning. It was a poem from God. "I was there on the 23rd floor with......" I was on the ground floor with the Priest who...." It was a very touching poem. Perhaps you have heard it.

In the midst of all the yuck in our lives, where is God? An e-mail that I got explained it as this....

When you are baking a cake their are many ingredients such as
flour
baking soda
baking powder
eggs
oil..........These things eaten along are disgusting. But put all together and baked into a delicious cake with a touch of delicious chocolate frosting.....my how good it tastes....
If we didn't endure the disgusting, yuck in our lives, how could we become the beautiful, good deliciousness that God would have us be. My pastor once told me, " I would rather be in the company of someone who has gone through much, than to be with someone who hasn't endured real life." When we go through things, and come out on top, through God's grace, we can then be relate-able for others.

So as you remember 911, a day that is marked in many of our lives, keep united as a nation, in your town, in your church....So others how we can grow in the midst of turmoil. We can all be better people through that.

For now
Shannon

Still Plugging away

We received our paper work for incorporating this past week. It was fun to get the certificate in the mail! I almost have the paperwork filled out for tax exempt status, but it will take me a bit longer to do the schedules and other paperwork that you need to file along with all of that. It isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.

The fee for filing tax exempt went up to $750 from $700. So we are praying about that. God will make a way, when there seems to be no way!

I read a good article on getting your business to grow, and I wanted to tweak it to fit the non-profit end of business. Hopefully I can do that once the kids are back in school.

To recap, this is what has been done so far.

Articles of Incorporation = filed to our state for Incorporating

Assumed name= filed to our state. Found out that beings we incorporated we didn't have to pay this fee of $25. They will be mailing it back in about 60 days.

Started the by laws. These are how the non-profit will be run. They are easy to amend, but the articles are a little more tricky to amend. Need these to file tax exempt status. I also have a copy of what does need to be in them for the IRS.

Started form 1023, tax exempt status= This is more work than the above items. But if you want to apply for grants, or community support, you will need it.

I have also gotten the website up, and am in the process of tweaking it through yahoo site builder. There are more options with this program, so am eager to get that finished.

I opened up a shop on cafepress.com. It was fun to make items for us with a flower for Hope Blooms. www.cafepress.com/hopeblooms if you would like to check it out.

That's it for now.

Blessings
Shannon

Getting started with a Non Profit

Greetings,

Well I promised a few of you quite a while ago that I would share my journey of starting Hope Blooms. I finally have a moment to do that.

First off, check with your states Secretary of State office(SOS). They will have the info. you need to get started. Check to see if they have sample Articles of Incorporation. In Minnesota they had some. You will need to make sure that the verbage that the IRS requires is on there, if you are planning to file for tax exempt status (501(c)(3) status. There is alot of stuff required for filing with the irs. So I suggest you get going on your state paperwork right away. After you finish the Articles of Incorporation, send them in. Then you are incorporated. Cost in my state is $70.00.

Next, assume your name. This is also done with the SOS office. The cost for this in my state is $25.00. This is an easy form to fill out, and takes a matter of minutes to do.

Mission statement. This needs to be done for incorporation also. Look around at a few other non profit sites and get a feel for how others are doing it. This will take time, and was created using 3 of us e-mailing back and forth a few times.

In Minnesota, you need to have at least 3 people on your board. We do have three right now. The three of us are doing the grunt work, and will hopefully in the near future take on the roles of working the non-profit and finding more board members. Our mission is waiting children, and we want to work more hands on with them, rather than serving on the board.

Writing the by laws. That is going to take more time. I have not started that, however I have a sample of the verbage from my state's SOS office. So I Will start plugging away at them soon. This is going to be the nuts and bolts of your non profit. IF you are starting it yourself, it is the place to create the knitty gritty of your non profit. How do you want it to run. Keep in mind your mission. It isn't for you, but for others.

I need to get my bylaws written, before I can file paperwork with the IRS. So that is my next plan. In the mean time I am looking into some foundations that may have monies available without having to have the IRS paperwork done. We have some land in mind, that is in foreclosure, so want to secure that property soon.

My next blog will be on some rules that I ran across on running/starting a successful business. I am going to tweak them for running a nonprofit. They pretty much go hand in hand. But it has some good ideas in it.

Take care..........
Shan

starting

Just starting, please check back soon!