This week we received a special letter and photo from a family who started their angel's mission about two years ago. Letters like these touch our hearts and light up our lives (and inboxes!)

We tout the fun, the comfort, and the good that having our angel books and angel dolls bring into your home. But you are the ones who show us how much they mean to your family. We are honored to be a part of the story your family is making with your children and grandchildren.

The photo we received this week shows watchman angel Gabriel admiring the girl he watches over, Hazel, and her baking skills. She helped make an impressive dog cake! Hazel also likes to write prayers for Gabriel to give to God. Such precious memories!

When your family brings an angel into your home we encourage you to name your angel if you like. (See our "Homecoming Day!" page for more info.) We also encourage lots of engagement with your angel.

One of our ideals at Where Is Your Angel?™ is not so much to produce a product but to produce an experience that lasts a lifetime. Our goal is, "making meaningful family moments through angelic awareness."  Thank you Hazel and Gabriel for sharing with us. We appreciate you!

Have a picture or story you'd like to share? Send it to us on our "Contact Us" page.

#angels #families #memories #bakingskills #light #watchman #gabriel
​#whereisyourangel #angelwatchingoverme #gotyourangel 

Recently someone who is a senior lifestyle blogger whose mission is to help aging Americans stay healthy and active post-retirement reached out to us to share some beneficial information about sleep with you.

We have a lot of grandmas and great-aunts who buy our books and share them with their families. Any information we can share to help our families we gladly pass along. So grab your pillow, a soft blanket, and a nice warm cup of tea while you read Karen Weeks article on sleep.

Tips to Help Older Adults Get A Good Night’s Sleep 
No matter how much we fight it, the march of time goes on. Along with hormonal changes, tissue loss and slower reflexes, seniors also experience various sleep disturbances that can have detrimental side effects.

Sleep problems may be a side effect of another illness or health issue. For instance, many seniors with incontinence issues find themselves having to get up throughout the night to use the bathroom. Some people develop insomnia in their later years, and they have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Other issues include sleep apnea, periodic limb movement disorders and RLS.

Sleep issues can have an adverse effect on a senior’s health. It’s so much more than feeling tired and seeing dark circles under your eyes. Lack of sleep can make a person gain weight, experience memory loss and feel depressed, and it can cause brain damage. Sleep deprivation has even been linked to Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disorder most common in seniors.

Seniors can use Medicare to pay for tests, items and services that cover complex sleeping disorders, but the following everyday tips can also help seniors have better, more restful sleep so they can live happier and healthier lives.  

Eat Sleep-Friendly Foods
If you are what you eat, you want to be sleepy in the evenings. Certain foods contain nutrients that help the body wind down and promote restful sleep. For instance, cereals, rice and other carbs with a high glycemic index cause a spike in blood sugar and insulin levels, followed by a drowsy crash that helps lull the body to sleep.

Some fruits and vegetables also contain certain chemicals that encourage sleepiness. Lettuce, for instance, contains lactucarium, which acts as a sedative. Cherries are a rich source of melatonin, which helps people fall asleep faster. And walnuts are chock full of tryptophan, a sleep-enhancing amino acid that is a building block for serotonin and melatonin. Doesn’t a big salad for dinner featuring fresh lettuce, sliced cherries and chopped walnuts with your favorite dressing sound better than taking a nasty sleeping pill?  
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Turn off the TV
Seniors watch more television than the generations before them. Unfortunately, staring at the tube too long can make it more difficult to get quality sleep. It messes with the brain’s melatonin levels and keeps neurons firing when you are trying to wind down. Watching things that cause stress -- for instance news programs -- can also cause a spike cortisol, the stress hormone that is responsible for our feelings of fight or flight. Instead of binge watching TV before bed, spend the time before you go to sleep reading a book, taking a bath, or putting time in with your favorite hobby.  

Change Your Days 
As it turns out, the secret to a restful night has a lot to do with what you do during the day. Inactivity is a huge contributor to insomnia. An active senior who exercises regularly is tired enough to get to sleep at night. Start a new exercise regimen and commit to trying and learning new things in your senior years. Next to inactivity, stress is the next biggest contributor to sleep deprivation. Cut back on the stress you feel in your day-to-day life. There’s no use spending your golden years feeling anxious and tired.  

As we age, our bodies change. For many seniors, sleep issues accompany those changes. Whether it is a side effect of another issue or a new problem all its own, sleep deprivation can have adverse effects on a senior’s health. Enable a restful night’s sleep with a dinner chock full of sleep-inducing foods like cherries, lettuce, walnuts, and carbs with a high glycemic index. Stop watching television at night and turn to activities that help you wind down. Finally, the secret to sleeping well is what you do during the day. Be active, exercise, and cut down on stress to improve your sleep. 

To find out more go to: ElderWellness.net

#sleep #nightnight #rest #aging #important #healthy #elderwellness #angels #families #whereisyourangel

Have your kids ever said, "I'm bored!," in an exasperated tone? Acting like you are their entertainment coordinator and you need to pick up the slack.

Invariably ALL kids will say that at some point in time and some kids will say it much more than others (ugh). My husband and I started something when our kids were preschool age that has helped curbed that plea of exasperation.

We took a parenting course at a local Baptist church and one of our take-aways was to have our kids intentionally practice being bored at home. So we dutifully took to task. We set aside 2-3 nights a week to practice for 2-5 minutes being bored.

This is what it looked like. Our kids were 2 and 4 when we started. We had them each sit on their own blanket on the floor facing us. My husband and I were sitting on the couch. We told them we were going to practice being bored and defined bored (doing nothing with a happy heart).  

Then we set a timer. We started small and worked our way up. Being cheerleaders all along the way. First we set the timer for 10 seconds.  Yay!! They did it! Then we went for 20 seconds. Wow, what an amazing feat!! Then we repeated. Next we asked if they wanted to see how long they could practice being bored. (Wow, kids love a good challenge, especially if they are being praised along the way!)

Before long they knew what to do. We would be in public and all my husband or I had to say to our wiggly children was, "Practice being bored." It was like something clicked in their brain. Our lil' angels stopped, stood still, and were practicing what they had been learning. Strangers in the stores were amazed (and my confession is I was too!)

Six years later we still have to practice every once in a while (or at least threaten to practice it again). Our kids still get it - for the most part.

The premise of teaching kids to behave is that you have to practice it at home if you want to see it out in public. It's similar to when kids go to practice to learn a sport so they can play it on Saturday morning. So too parents need to teach or train their kids at home so the kids know how to act when out and about.

One last thing, it doesn't hurt to have an angel nearby to curb the bored blues. Got your bored blues busting angel?

#bored #parenting #kids #training #practice #angel #teach #celebrate #challenge #whereisyourangel #angelwatchingoverme #gotyourangel

Do you have those after Labor Day blues? The Labor Day holiday seems to unofficially mark the end of summer and the start of another season - even if it is just a mental shift. For example, are you one of the people who go by the "no white pants  after Labor Day" fashion rule? 

Yep, Labor Day usually marks the end of carefree summer days. Well, just because summer may be over and school is in full swing it doesn't mean we have to cave in to those blues. Looking for ways to bring the summer back?How about recreating those things that bring back favorite summer memories?

Summer to my kids mean s'mores. There are a couple of ways you can relive this American past time indoors. No, I'm not suggesting you start a fire in your living room. There are safer ways to have the s'more experience inside. 

One way to have this tasty treat and recreate a campfire without having to cut wood and start a fire is to buy an indoor s'mores maker. We have a kids Hershey's s'mores maker. A simple DuckDuckGo search yields many options for indoor s'more makers. By the plethora of options it seems like there are many who pine for s'mores after season!

While the family is eating s'mores you can make yourself an adult summer drink like the Pina Colada. What I like about this drink is how easy it is to make it a virgin drink so the kids can have some too. Strawberry or Mango Daquiris, Cucumber Watermelon Sangria, Iced Tea are also great drinks to bring the summer back. Remember to put the decorative drink umbrella in your glass!! Here's a link to some tropical cocktail recipes:
https://www.thekitchn.com/15-tropical-cocktails-that-will-make-you-forget-all-about-winter-pinterest-216728
 
Another way to keep hanging onto summer is bringing the scents of summer inside. Fruity body wash or aloe vera hand soap help. You can also get an indoor fragrance such as Hawaiin Suntan Fragrance Oil Wisk that won't let summer out of your smell. It contains coconut, passion fruit, guava, pineapple, banana, melon, and grapefruit. All things that say "summer isn't gone!" 

If you still can't let go of summer yet, there are Coppertone scented products that are sure to make summer linger longer in your mind. These include shampoo, shea butter lotion, roll-on, hair conditioner, and more. To get these and find more related items, go here:
https://www.somethinspecial.com/coppertone-scent-fragrance-p/foeve.htm

Labor Day blues or not, enjoy the chances you have to recreate the best of the passing season.

#laborday #summer #nowhite #holdontosummer #cantletgoyet #season
#whereisyourangel #angelwatchingoverme #memories #kids #smores