So this is it! My last “Thoughts for the Month”! This year has gone by very quickly for me. I leave my position as co-leader with very fond memories and excitement for the upcoming year. From bra-fitting in September, our chapters and nationals birthday in October to the chapter meeting that I led…all filled with great memories!

I am also looking forward to the summer time. I will be able to bring Claire to playgroups more! Yay! The 2 that Claire participated in this last month really reminded me how much she needs friends. And now that Lea is walking I know that she will really enjoy participating in play groups.

4 pregnancies so far this year! How exciting! I cant wait to start delivering meals and to snuggle the new arrivals. How fun! Any one else?

So I want to thank the chapter for a great and supportive year. I look forward to many more and also look forward to watching my children grow up with all of your great little ones!

At the beginning of my co-leadership I put a challenge out there for the whole chapter. Anyone remember that challenge? Well, I’ll refresh your memory. I challenged you all to try to get 3 of your friends to join. I was only able to get 1 with 2 others on the verge to join. With the more new members we have join our chapter the more active our chapter will become. It is vital to the health of a chapter to have frequent new members. I hope you all can find some people to join.

So I say, with all the love in my heart, good-bye as co-leader; but not good-bye to a wonderful organization!

Happy April, everyone. March brought some fierce weather, but I’m hoping that we see blue skies soon. There is so much happening in the chapter right now, I could fill three thoughts of the month! We’re gearing up for the Mother’s Day Campaign where we’ll host a booth in a mall or fair and give out information about Mothers and More. In the next few weeks, you’ll receive more information about our annual yard sale, so please put aside items to donate as you do your spring cleaning. Coming up next week, on April 9th is the Women’s Self Defense meeting, which should be both fun and informative. Most of all, though, I wanted to draw your attention to two pressing issues this month:

Elections for 2008-2009 Co-Leader
Transitioning to the Web site.

Emily’s term as co-leader ends at the end of this month, so we’re on the search for our next leader of the chapter. If you know a member who you think would be a good candidate to pick up the M&M banner, please e-mail their name to me by April 15th (You can find my e-mail in the chapter directory. Just log-in to the member section and click directory.) Emily and I will then approach the candidates to discuss their interest and ability to take on the position at this time. Of course, please feel free to volunteer yourself! I know it’s easy to think of a million reasons why you can’t: I don’t have the time; I’m new to the group; I’m already serving in a board position; I’m not a leader-type; the list goes on. But before you fill your head with “I can’ts,” remember that the co-leader is just one member of a much larger board, and we have an extremely strong one in place at this time. There were 9 women at February’s board meeting! Both Emily and I took on the co-leader role after being members for less than six months, and I think that I speak for both of us when I say that its been a great way to get to know the members. If you are already volunteering, then we can help find someone to take your place when you move to co-leader. As co-leader, your primary responsibilities are to coordinate with national to make sure that we are implementing the national promotions, upholding the national guidelines and helping to keep the chapter moving and growing through special initiatives like the Web site, by-laws, membership growth, etc. For myself, I’ve found the position to be very rewarding. I thinking of ways to broaden our support for moms and better our communication. As a volunteer organization, we depend on your investment to keep us strong. And time is our currency. We have so many fantastic and talented members, any of you could take on this position. So, please think about it, and send me an e-mail telling me about that member at playgroup who always has those great ideas or the mom who gives all the great advice on the loop and step up yourself. I hope to able to announce our next co-leader by the end of the month.

As part of our transitioning to the Web site—and there will be more Web site talk in April never fear—we’d like to encourage everyone to start posting on the message boards. They aren’t in their final form yet, but some of the conversation threads have already taken off and its such an easy way to follow conversations. If you still haven’t logged in, check it out. Post a hello just to try it out. You can upload a picture of yourself; include a poll in your post; and adjust the settings to tell you when someone replies to your post. The loop will still be active, but Diana will be trying to copy the loop conversations onto the message boards to help us get started. All of April’s events: the self defense meeting on the 9th, the coffee night on the 15th, the mom’s night out golfing on the 25th and playgroups are all up there on the calendar. Check out May’s events as well to help your planning. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and log on.

www.snohomishmoms.org

See you soon.
Sara