Drop a Love Bomb

New Mission: Love For Claire

Katie — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:19:46 +0000

Hi Team!

So many nominations this week for Love Bombs. The world sure needs us right now, eh? This week, we’re going to pay a visit to Miss Claire. Claire is an adorable little girl who is mentally disabled. In December, she fell off of a roof and lost use of her legs. Because of her fall, she is now bound to a wheelchair.

It’s a difficult adjustment for the family. While they have hope, says our Team Member Jen who nominated Claire, they could still benefit from some love.

And that’s what we do, right?

So, let’s leave our love on this post: http://lifewithclairebear.blogspot.com/2012/01/another-week-little-more-progress.html

Note: It’s becoming harder to find blogs that don’t have some sort of security feature (like comment moderation, etc.) This one requires you to have one of the listed accounts (Google, Open ID, LiveJournal). If you don’t have one of these accounts, or wish for me to send love on your behalf, just reply to this e-mail and I’ll get the message over, okay?

p.s. – We’re now on Pinterest! I’m excited to share some inspirational things that I found around the internet with you. Check it out, follow us! If you have Pinterest, too, shoot me an e-mail. I’d love to follow you! (https://pinterest.com/lovebomb)

A Post Holiday Love Bomb For Christy

Katie — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:05:23 +0000

Hi Team,

I hope that you all had a wonderful Holiday with your families. I spent mine down in South Jersey with my mom, step dad and grandmother. Love my family tons, but after a week, I was excited to get back to Philadelphia to the hustle and bustle of the city life. But all in all, a great Holiday.

This week’s Love Bomb recipient is Christy. While pregnant with her first child, Olivia, Christy lost her husband Patrick. This Christmas was particularly difficult for Christy.

Check out this blog post:http://blessthisfamily2010.blogspot.com/2011/12/dear-patrick.html

That’s the thing about grief. They say it gets easier over time, and I suppose it does. But there are just some days, some moments where your whole body aches. Whether it’s because you miss someone who died, who you broke up with, or a pet who passed away, the pain isn’t any easier.

Let’s show Christy some of that amazing love that you guys do so well, eh?

Love For Alenka – A Love Bomb and More Love Letters Collab!

Katie — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:38:57 +0000

Hi Team,

I am so incredibly excited for this week’s Love Bomb. Like I told you on Tuesday, we’re teaming up with the inspiring Hannah and the More Love Letters team to bring a little more love into one courageous woman’s life.

Here’s our girl:

Last year, Alenka was diagnosed with cancer. After five intense months of chemo, her cancer went into remission, only to come back three months later. Her doctors have told her that all there is left to give her is time. Her daughter wrote, “She’s in a very dark place sometimes… hopeful that something can be done and willing to fight but also scared that time with her loved ones is coming to an end.” Alenka’s daughter believes that love letters offering hope and encouragement would do wonders for her mother.

It’s the Holidays. Time to spend time with our families. What we sometimes take for granted is that any day can be the last day we see someone. Moreso, we see people in stores moving slowly, or enjoying the sights and we think things like “Hurry Up!” or “I have things to do”, not realizing that it may be their last Christmas, or that they’re spending Christmas alone, or whatever the situation may be. We get so wrapped up (literally!) in our own agendas and schedules and forget that everyone that you encounter is fighting a battle.

We also forget, sometimes how much the power of one person can change the life of another. One person, Hannah, created this More Love Letters project. She passed the story of Alenka on to one more person. I’m writing this to you all. If you tell one person, imagine all of the love Alenka can get. She sure needs it, guys.

Let’s send some love and courage in Alenka’s direction. We’re going to do this the More Love Letters way:

What we’re asking you to do is to write Alenka a little note and send it to the More Love Letters Headquarters within a week from today. On 12/22, Hannah is going to bundle all of our letters and send them to Alenka.

Awesome, right?

Here’s where to send your letters:

More Love Letters, PO Box 2061, North Haven, CT 06473

I can’t think of a better team to be in charge of making Alenka’s holiday a little brighter.

PS: If you’re feeling extra awesome, scan in or take a photo of your letter and e-mail it to me (dropalovebomb@gmail.com), tweet me @dropalovebomb, or find us on Facebook and show us your creation.

PPS: Below is some more information about More Love Letters, if you’re interested in reading more about their mission and this project:

What is the 12 Days of Love Letter Writing?

We are creating 12 Love Letter Bundles for 12 individuals (all requested secretly by someone in their life that cares about them) across a 12-day span. From December 5-17, we will highlight an individual in need of some extra encouragement in the form of handwritten notes and encourage people to script a letter and send it to our PO Box to be bundled up and mailed off the person.

What is The World Needs More Love Letters?

The World Needs More Love Letters is a community of “love letter writers” who write and leave letters across the map in hopes that the right people will pick them up. We leave them everywhere: books, coffee shops, coat pockets, trains. Love letter writers document the letter writing and dropping through photographs, blog posts, and social media.

What is a Love Letter Bundle?

Once a month, we take an extra special letter request and we mail it out to our email subscriber list. Those on the list then have 10 days to script a love letter for the individual in need and mail it over to PO Box 2061, North Haven CT 06473. We then bundle up the love letters and mail them over to the unsuspecting recipient with a letter from MoreLoveLetters.com on top to explain just why they are holding a pile of stationery from strangers in hand.

Helpful Links

The 12 Days of Love Letter Writing:
http://www.moreloveletters.com/the-12-days-of-love-letter-writing/

Join the Love Letter Email Alert List:
http://www.moreloveletters.com/get-involved/become-a-writer/

The Love Letters Blog:
http://www.moreloveletters.com/blog/

The Story of The World Needs More Love Letters:
http://www.moreloveletters.com/about/

Daniel Battles Depression (and will win!)

Katie — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:31:02 +0000

Hello, awesome Love Bomb Team,

It seems like everyone has had some sort of depression. However, when you’re going through it, the feeling of loneliness, and wanting to be alone combined with the desire to feel better somehow, combined with all of your emotions and responsibilities can be a recipe for epic overwhelm.

That’s where Daniel is right now.

Our Team Member, Jeffrey, shot me an e-mail saying this:

“i’d like to nominate my friend daniel for thursday’s love bomb. he’s a brilliant artist, entrepreneur and communicator, but has been dealing with severe depression. he also lost his father a few weeks ago and that has accelerated the depression.”

This just goes to further show that depression doesn’t discriminate, it can hit anyone. It’s a silent predator that just attacks. One moment you’re walking along feeling ‘okay’, and then next everything feels as if it’s crumbling. You end up being satisfied with just feeling ‘okay’, and that glimmer of happiness that you once remember feeling seems so, so far away, if it exists at all.

So, let’s throw some good vibes in Daniel’s direction. As we enter a time of year that is common for depression to spike, let’s remember that depression is similar to an emotional flu, it takes all of your energy, and it takes all of THAT energy plus some to get it back…

….and I’m relatively sure we can help even a smidge.

Here’s the post: No moderation, no need to sign up, just a good ole fashioned Love Bomb, okay?

http://danielincandela.com/2011/12/03/depression-is-my-nemesis/

Love, Love, Love, Love, LOVE,

Katie

PS: A little smile for you guys: Kate, another Team Member sent me a link to this video that absolutely brightened my morning. Hope it does the same for you. It’s only 17 seconds, but it made me smile.

Here’s the link: http://youtu.be/0Bmhjf0rKe8

#LoveForColleen

Katie — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:13:52 +0000

**Update: Colleen has been getting all of our Twitter messages:

Happy Thursday, Team!

Hope that all of our USA team members have recovered from their Turkey Comas from last week. All of the leftovers should be gone by now, right?

I’ve been sitting here at my computer for the last hour thinking about this week’s Love Bomb for several reasons. One, because it’s not a traditional Love Bomb and two, the story behind it is just as touching as it is sad.

I got an e-Mail from our Team Member, Matt who suggested his girlfriend, Colleen receive a little love from us. Once I heard the reason why, I couldn’t resist.

Over this passed weekend, Friday night to be exact, Colleen’s father and mother went out on a lovely date to his favorite winery. They then went to dinner where he checked in on FourSquare and became the mayor of one of his favorite restaurants. They then headed home. Colleen and her father horsed around a little bit and had a little pillow fight (how awesome it must have been to feel like a kid again for both of them!). Then, they said their ‘I Love You’s’ and went to sleep for the evening.

The next morning, after a wonderful evening out with his wife, closing with time with his daughter, Colleen’s father was found to have passed away in his sleep. He was 55.

As sad as this is, Colleen is moving along as strong as possible and her family is trying to cope with the huge loss. It’s helpful knowing that the last evening of Colleen’s father’s life was spent doing the things he loved with the people he loved.

Let’s Drop a Love Bomb on Colleen and show our support for her loss.

For those of you who have Twitter, let’s throw some love at @ACommonDisaster (http://twitter.com/ACommonDisaster) and use the hashtag #LoveForColleen

For those of you who do not have Twitter, don’t worry! I’ve got you taken care of. You can simply reply to this e-mail with a short message (Twitter is limited to 140 Characters!) and I’ll tweet from the Love Bomb Twitter account with your name. Kapeesh?

You can follow all of the messages that we’re leaving for Colleen by going here: http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23LoveForColleen

Okay, guys, let’s do this!

New Mission: Healing Anaya

Katie — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:36:02 +0000

Hi Team!

First of all, I’d like to extend a Happy (late) Thanksgiving to all of you both near and far. I now we ought to give thanks to all of our blessings all year round, but I think it’s a great wake up call to really dig down and realize what we have. I have all of you. and that makes me one lucky girl. So, thanks for all you do.

Secondly, it’s not Thursday! I know! I didn’t forget our mission yesterday, but I was on the road with family, and spending some much needed time with those I love, as I hope you were too. As much as helping people is our #1 goal, it’s also important to spend time with those you love too.

Tonight, though, I’d like to spread some love to a very special Momma who surely had a tough Thanksgiving. Camara had a lovely daughter named Anaya who battle Krabbe Leukodystrophy – a rare and terminal brain disease. While she fought very heard, on November 13th, baby Anaya passed away.

What made me love this story was one of our team members who nominated her. They said:

“Anaya and her mom were touring the county, she lived in canada, trying to raise awareness about prenatal testing. During this time, there mobile care until for Anay broke down, leaving them in an unfamilir town with unfamiliar people.

Shortly after all this Anay started to turn downhill. Sadly on November 13, 2011 Anay was called to the lord.”

Okay. Let’s spread some Thanksgiving love to Camara, letting her know we’re thinking of her and her precious Anaya. (http://healinganaya.blogspot.com/2011/11/vigilance-and-shock.html)

Also, just a note, A Google account is required to leave a message, and the messages are moderated. (I know it’s much better to see those awesome numbers rise!) But I feel that Camara really needs us this week. And at the end of the day…Love is Love.

LOVE,

Katie

Jorah – The Diary of a Dying Girl

Katie — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:21:39 +0000

It’s Thursday, and time to do that thing that you do every week that amazes the pants off of me.

This week, we’re showing some extra love to Jorah.

Jorah is no doubt beautiful. She lives in Seattle. She has a beautiful soul and way with words.

Jorah is terminally ill. She acknowledges that she will die soon. In addition… well, let me let Jessica, our Team member who nominated Jorah fill you in on why she needs us this week:

“Jorah is a beautiful writer, raw, hilarious, and heartbreaking. Her readers know she has a terminal illness, though she doesn’t share the details.

She’s been through some crap lately, not the least of which was getting accidentally pregnant (and knowing that her body will eventually spontaneously abort the baby) and her long-time boyfriend subsequently freaking out and breaking up with her via e-mail.

I know she may not be in the *worst* possible situation compared to other nominations you may get, but I think this is a case where an outpouring of love could help her keep going.”

So, Team. Are you ready to amaze the world again this week on how amazing you all are? Let’s leave some big love on this post: http://diaryofadyinggirl.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/i-lied/.

The One Where We Get The Band Back Together

Katie — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:00:04 +0000

Guys, today we have the extreme honor of hosting The Band on our blog. Becky and Jana of Band Back Together were our Double Love Bomb partners last week, and this week they’re here talking a little bit more about their organization, what their mission is, and how awesome they are. Also, in celebration, I’m totally rocking my Band Back Together Tee today. Even though I claimed it was yesterday. Totally today instead. Woo.

A few weeks ago, we at Band Back Together got tangled up in some Twitter chatter with this crazy group called Love Bomb. They were dropping bombs on somebody, we were talking about flinging glitter and one thing led to another and yadda yadda yadda… Here we are!

Some of you might have already heard about Band Back Together. Some of you only heard about us last week when we helped drop a Double Love Bomb on Tripp’s mama, Courtney.

Band Back Together is tied with Love Bomb for “The Most Awesome Site on the Internet” obviously. But do you know why?

When Becky Sherrick Harks (you can call her Aunt Becky) delivered her third child, Amelia in 2009 and found out about a previously undiagnosed encephalocele in her beautiful newborn, she felt alone in her suffering. She trudged through surgeries, therapies, doctor visits and more… the whole time feeling that there wasn’t a place for her.

Through her blogging at Mommy Wants Vodka she realized that other people out there felt the same way about their x,y,z or whatever was going on with them. Some had lost babies; some lost fathers. There were people suffering silently with mental illness. There were stigmas associated with talking about these things, especially putting them “out there” on the internet.

She decided there needed to be a place where anyone and everyone could come and share their stories in a safe, moderated, loving environment. That idea has turned into a movement.

{Jana enters stage right}:

In 2003, my son was born happy and healthy. We took him home, loved on him, played with him, dreamed dreams of his future. Yet 24 days later my husband and I would remove him from life support after a horrible bacteria called Group B Strep invaded his body and took him from us.

I took to the internet and found some groups of women who had been through the same pain. I surrounded myself with them. I knew how comforting sharing could be and how healing the process of putting your story out there could be.

Then I came to love Facebook, Twitter and every other social networking site in the world. (No MySpace, though. I NEVER had one of those accounts.) Oh, and blogging. Can’t forget that!

One day, @mommywantsvodka (aka Becky) put out a call for stories for her new group site. Naturally, I raised my hand, er, tweeted back at her! The rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve been with Becky working with Band Back Together since before its official launch on September 10, 2010. We’ve seen it grow in ways we never in a million ways could have dreamed about.

But what do we do?

Well, we provide a safe and moderated environment for people to share their stories. Everybody has a story. Yours may be of abuse. Hers may be of rape or abortion. One of your friends may have a story of loss or heartbreak. Others are suffering from depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

The stories posted are real. They’re yours.

We get really excited about new things we find, like Love Bomb and we want you to be excited about Band Back Together.

Come join us! We’re at BandBackTogether.com, on Twitter, Facebook and even Tumblr.

Update: Amanda’s Love Bomb From Yesterday

Katie — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:00:25 +0000

Well, team, you’ve done it again.

Miss Amanda did get all of our e-mails yesterday. and our comments are shining brightly on her blog. Head on ever to see how she felt about our Love Bomb, and how it helped her through the day.

“I came home today to an unusual number of emails. Brow furrowed, wondering if I had invited some kind of spam and would find offers of hair growth, weight loss, male enhancement, and urgent messages that I needed to enter my password for eBay, Paypal, Amazon … and by the way the prince of somewhere wants to give you money for nothing …

Not even close. What I found were over 100 comments on my most recent blog about losing Lil Bit and the summer fires raging in places dear to me. Thank you.”

http://schreinerresponse.blogspot.com/2011/10/bombs-and-blows.html

Days like today make me play this song over and over:

Keep strong, Amanda. Anything is possible.

Mini Mission – Jordan Keeler

Katie — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:47:42 +0000

When the name Jordan Keeler is heard around the hallways, there’s never a jolt of fear, or a harsh word uttered. Jordan Keeler doesn’t sit alone at lunch, instead he sits with the kid who is sitting alone at lunch, so neither one is alone.

Everday, Jordan would help an Autistic classmate off of the bus. He even took it a step further and carried his backpack. In a world where you can rarely find someone to hold the door for you, this is a truly amazing thing, especially for a fifth grader.

In the classroom, Jordan looked after the pet birds, and was a member of the noon-hour prayer club and encouraged other students to get involved in activities despite their fears.

On October 14th, 2011, at 4:30 AM, a fire ripped through a home near Calgary, Canada. Four members of the house, 2 adults, and 2 young girls made it out of the house and were treated for smoke inhalation. When firemen arrived, it was learned that a young boy was still inside.

Charred remains of a child were found inside the home and they were found to be Jordan Keeler.

Right now, Jordan’s Aunt and Uncle, whom he was staying with, his family, and entire community are mourning this difficult loss. As our team member, Kelsey informed me:

“Our town and the town of Chestermere (which is about ten min away) make up a very tight community. The citizens of the towns and the residents of the acreages between the towns all share a very strong sense of the classical “small town” community. We look out for each other, we care about our neighbors, we celebrate as a group and this week we collectively mourn as a whole.”

I have no doubt in my mind that in a few years, when Jordan got his first e-mail account, he wouldn’t head for inappropriate sites or internet chat rooms. I’m confident that he would sign up to be a member of our Love Bomb Team.

For that, I am making him an honorary member of our Team.

Jordan, you are the embodiment of what a selfless, amazing person is. Although your time here on earth was short, you’ve done more good things than many have ever done. You not being here anymore is a great burden on your family. However, the bigger burden lies on the rest of the world, who will never get to encounter the amazing boy who was on his way to a life of giving, community contributions, and unconditional love.

On behalf of the Love Bomb Team, we welcome you to our team. You hold a place in our hearts.

Team,

Let’s leave some comments here for Jordan Keeler’s family, and even to Jordan, thanking him for the good he’s done. And today, try to hold a door open for someone, carry someone’s bag, or encourage someone who’s scared to go for their goals.

It’s absolutely what Jordan Keeler would have done.