Visiting the sick with Cards

It was about 10 days before Thanksgiving that my husband of 32 years had a bad stroke. I called 911 because he was having difficulty walking and I found that he choked easily when he tried to eat lunch that day. By the next day, in the hospital, he was unable to form words, swallow or use his right arm or leg. After several days of tests and some therapy it seemed clear that he probably would not regain the use of any of these functions because of where the stroke occured. He slept most of the time. When he was awake for short periods you could sense the frustration he felt not being able to communicate. He was able to mumble some words and with some real careful listening he was able to tell us he wanted some Pepsi! That had always been his favorite drink. Another word he was able to say was "home". He wanted to go home!

I made arrangements with Hospice to get him home so I could take care of him there. We've been home for two weeks now and doing pretty well. He still sleeps a lot but he has some days when he's more awake and responsive.

The cards! We've received many, many cards from friends and family wishing us well and telling us that we are being prayed for. That is very comforting to know that there are so many people who care about us.

I continue to send cards as well, knowing there are other families that need the same kind of encouragement. This has been a difficult time, not only for us but for some of our family members and our church family with illnesses. It just makes you stop to think about how precious each of these lives are and how our lives will change when any one of them is no longer with us. I came across a poem over 20 years ago that I just love. It's appropriate for the time of year and for our relationship with our Savior. It goes like this:

‘Twas the night before Jesus came
And all thru the house,
Not a creature was stirring
Not one in the house.

Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care;
In hopes that Jesus would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed;
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the late show while I took a nap.

When out of the East there arose such a clatter;
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray;
I knew in a moment this must be THE DAY!

The light of His face made me cover my head,
It was Jesus returning, just like He had said.
And tho I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life which He held in His hand,
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name,
When He said “It’s not here”, my head hung in shame.

The people whose names had been written with love,
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready, rose without a sound
While the rest were left standing right there on the ground.

I fell to my knees, but it was too late,
I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight,
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight!

In the words of this poem the meaning is clear,
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There’s only one life and when comes the last call,
We’ll find out the Bible was true after all.

Remembering our Troops

Is there any time of year that makes you want to be with family anymore than at Christmas time? I can’t think of any. The memories of childhood by the tree, the odor of pine permeating through the house, the wondrous smell of gingerbread, fudge cooking and pumpkin pie. The sounds of carolers, the crunch of snow and the greetings of family, friends and neighbors. Seeing excitement in the eyes of little children.

On the other hand there are those that can’t be with us during the Holidays. We have loyal and proud young Americans in many countries around the world that would love to be home for Christmas. We dare not forget to remember those men and women in the Armed Forces! We also need to remember the families back home that are waiting for their return.

According to the “Army News” as found on “armytimes.com”, from now through Dec. 10, the public can send their greeting cards, with adequate postage and a return address, to Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, Md. 20791-5456. To speed delivery, mailers should not send care packages, money or any inserts, including glitter.

Show your appreciation and send some cheer with a greeting card and let them know you care.

Picture Perfect!

Greeting Cards with Pictures

Have you ever sent greeting cards with your Business Family on it or perhaps you wanted to send your personal family photo to your business colleagues, employees or even to those “special” clients that are more than just clients. It’s one of those kind of things that a lot of people like to do during the Holidays and it’s something that usually needs to be planned ahead of time.

The program that I’ve been using will let you upload your digital picture(s) and gives you a program within the program to add borders, captions and speech bubbles to your pictures so you will have the most personalized greeting cards that you can imagine! Take the picture now, go to your computer, upload them, make your card and send it to one or hundreds in just minutes. It‘s a great tool! You don’t have to order hundreds to get the best price and you don’t have to wait weeks to get them. It’s all done by the company. Once you click the “send” button your work is done! Now what can beat that?!!

I’ve been talking a lot about businesses using this system but the truth is anybody has a need and use for this. I get excited about pictures because they can be so much fun! Let’s use a little imagination for a moment. Let’s say you’re a young couple and you’ve just had your first baby. You’ve got brothers and sisters, Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa and they are all waiting to see that baby and they live in different parts of the country. You take a digital picture of that brand new baby. Got your laptop with you? Upload that picture, put a nice border around the picture and a caption that gives some important information. Inside you can upload a couple more pictures, if you want, but you can also write in all those important statistics that everyone wants to know! In just a few moments you have a card ready to send to everyone that you want. These pictures and information will make your family want to be showing them around to everyone.

Here are a few more scenarios to get your imagination kicked in. First birthdays, first day of school, sports events, first dates, milestone birthdays, vacations, graduation, weddings, holidays. Imagine, putting some speech bubbles on some of your pictures or thought bubbles to make a card truly unique, funny and a keepsake!

I’ve included a few pictures just to show you a sample of what can be done. All of these pictures I put together in a photo software program then uploaded it to my greeting card program. It’s more time consuming to do this, but sometimes, when you have something very specific in mind, the use of other software is necessary. Look at it as an option for those individuals who enjoy photography and the manipulation that is possible in photo software. Speaking about businesses momentarily, this can be a great marketing tool as well.

One of the things I want to say about this company is that they never just say “it’s good enough”. They are always on the lookout for ways to improve the system, add more features and give it more appeal to more people. I personally don’t know how anyone could not thoroughly enjoy using this program unless they just don’t like sharing sentiments with anyone for any reason. Enough said!

Your Greeting Card Message

As I’ve done some searching on the web I’ve found a few sites that can help you with messages. There have been times when I have one of those “senior moments” and just can’t come up with what I want to say. These are some cool sites where there will be short messages and poetry for all kinds of occasions. Check out the “Links to Lines When You Don’t Know What To Say”. Now, with this kind of help there’s no excuse for not getting a card out to that special person.


These are free web sites so it’s just a matter of a copy and paste. Be sure to read any terms that the authors might have so you understand what you may or may not do.


Don’t know how to copy and paste? Just put your mouse on the first word of the sentence, click and hold down the left side of the mouse until everything you want is highlighted. Then right click your mouse and click on “copy“. Go to your site for the message. Place your curser where you need it, then right click your mouse and click on paste. Wala'!! The message is there! Fun, huh!!

greeting cards

Greeting Cards

Something to think about.
Every time you go to your mail box there’s a heap of advertisement and bills but every now and then you’ll find some personal mail. Isn’t it refreshing to see a handwritten envelope? I know, for me, it’s the first thing I open to see what it is and who it is from. Wouldn’t you like to be the one to put some smiles on the faces of your clients, prospects and employees this year as they pick up their mail? The need to keep in touch and show appreciation is an on going part of a business. Greeting cards, sent with a personal message and in your own writing, can make the difference between success and failure in the pursuit of customer retention and loyalty and employee productivity.

Remembering special occasions, like birthdays or anniversaries, can be very effective as well. Sending a special photo can be like gold to the recipient. Sending a small gift of appreciation can be a welcomed surprise as well. You say, how can I do all that and get business done as well?

There is a solution to all these ideas in one package. A system that will allow you to choose from thousands of cards for hundreds of occasions. A reminder system to never let you forget those special occasions. A contact manager to keep thousands of contact information available to you anytime and anywhere you have internet access. There are many kinds of gifts available to send that are beautifully presented with your card inside. Not only that, you can have your own writing font and signatures to use as well as several other choices of fonts. There are several colors you can choose from to give your written word some pzazz! Then there is the feature that will allow you to send a card to one person or hundreds with just a few clicks of your mouse.

This system will send your card addressed in a font that looks printed by a person , not in a type-written manner or a label that makes it look like one of thousands. Can you see the beaming smile on the face of the person you just remembered?

Sound too good to be true? Well, it is good and it is true. Just click on my web page and get the solutions you need to make this season another reason to be joyful!

Facts About Showing Appreciation

Here are some facts that, as a business person, you should know if you haven’t already thought about these things.

• Fact: People are more likely to use you, your business your service, if they remember you. It stands to reason that if you remember them and make them feel important they will remember you!

• Fact: E-mails get deleted, so how long will even one of those e-cards stick around? But, real greeting cards, with photos in them, get saved and displayed.

• Fact: Customers that know you appreciate them will pay more for your product or service AND they will remain loyal.
  

• Fact: Customers will refer people to you when your name is the first to come to mind when a Friend, Relative or Associate is looking for someone in your field.

• Fact: A well maintained Network of only 100 people can lead to millions of dollars in business over time. Each person can connect you to over 250 people . . . That’s 25,000 potential connections if they like you and trust you. How can they not like you when you’ve shown them you appreciate them!
  

• Fact: By following a simple inexpensive plan (which takes only a few minutes each day) you can completely differentiate yourself from your competition.
  

Today I needed an electrician. If someone from an Electrician’s Company had been sending me 2 personal greeting cards per year, I would have called them. Last week I needed my car serviced . . . If someone from a Auto Shop had been sending me a couple of personal cards each year, I would have called them. . . .

Did you know that about 1 out of 250 business people send greeting cards expressing appreciation for their customers’ business. Just by sending one thank you card, you put yourself in the top 250 in your field. Put your picture in it and you are now in the top ½ of 1% of all business people. There are obviously other things that impact who gets the business . . . But it takes more than just being good in your field. There are lots of good service providers. You must be REMEMBERED and you must EXPRESS APPRECIATION on a regular basis . . . in a PERSONAL WAY!


The program I’m using allows you to choose from thousands of cards or you can make your own from a digital picture that you upload to your program. Then you just type in your message and click the “send” button. The company does all the work for you as they get the information through this internet based program. They print the card, stuff it, stamp it and send it in the mail! This is the utmost in efficiency as you show appreciation with greeting cards.

Remembering

As a business person I understand the need and reality of showing appreciation to customers or clients and employees. Because these important people keep us in business, through repeat business or word of mouth advertising on our part, and our employees keep the wheels of business running, I feel an obligation to let them know how much they are appreciated. No matter what kind of business you’re in there’s someone out there that you owe some gratitude too.

The Holidays are an opportune time to show appreciation by remembering them with a card with your heartfelt thanks. It’s a small thing but it means a lot. Just as an example of this I’d like to share just a little about a card received by my daughter. She felt, many times, that she wasn’t appreciated for the work she did, but last Christmas her boss sent a card, with a monetary gift, and told her how much they appreciated her hard work and care she showed for their business. She was overwhelmed to tears being remembered in such a wonderful way. I’ll never forget her call to me, telling me about it

A while back someone showed me a program, that I’ve been using since, where I can send cards, gift cards and gifts, all from my computer. It’s been a time and money saver and it makes it fun to send cards. I’ve gotten calls from friends and relatives thanking me for remembering them. The only thing I can add is the following quote:

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did , but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou