“Great vision precedes great accomplishment.”

Every team needs a compelling vision to give it direction. A team without a vision is, at worst, purposeless. At best, it is subject to the personal agendas of various teammates. As the agendas work against each other, the team’s energy and drive drain away. On the other hand, a team that embraces a vision becomes focused, energized and confident. It knows where it’s headed and why it’s going there.

(excerpt from The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork: The Law of the Compass by John Maxwell)

A Smile

“A smile costs nothing, but creates much.
It happens in a flash but the memory of it lasts forever.
It cannot be begged, borrowed or stolen,
but is of no earthly good to anyone until it is given away.
So if in your hurry, you meet someone who is too weary to smile,
leave on of yours.
For no one needs a smile quite as much as those who have none to give.”

Go out today and smile! We Challenge you to give a smile to at least 10 people: your loved one, a client, a friend, a stranger or sometimes even ourselves.

“Encourage Each Other in What is Good”    1Thessalonians 5:11 March is a good time to honor Encouragers. The first one we can honor is our own beloved, Andrew Huber.   He received the “Fisk Award” from the Continuum of Care Marketing Association; a progressive organization that brings together healthcare affiliated marketing and business professionals in the Illinois and Missouri area.  They bestowed this honor at the Biannual gathering this past Friday at a lovely ceremony held at the Renaissance hotel.

When Martha’s Hands was beginning, Andrew, our daughter Denise’s husband, used his skills in public relations, marketing,  and business to help grow Martha’s Hands. He has a natural gift of encouragement and speaking well of other to build the image of Martha’s Hands as the one of the top trusted Home Care Ministries it is today. He sets the high mark of encouragement, where the people in the audience literally use their own hands to form the image of Martha’s Hand’s, to love God through serving Him. It is truly fantastic to watch!  So come into the office to see his award and congratulate him.  His honor is well deserved.

The next Encourager is the faithful,  Reverend Billy Graham.  He served God throughout his life, encouraging others to change their lives and turn to Christ, and follow the Father’s will for them. May God grant Billy His grace, love, mercy, and peace.

Another is the Father of Jesus.  He is the faithful St Joseph, who would have had the sacred job of encouraging Jesus as He grew in wisdom and knowledge of His role as Lord and Savior.  Joseph, along with Jesus’ Mother Mary, would have given that holy encouragement throughout his life until Joseph was called home by his eternal Father.

Lastly, because I am an Irish lass, I thank St Patrick for encouraging the people of Ireland and beyond in their understanding of God.  St. Patrick used a simple three leaf clover to better understand the mystery of the Trinity; In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

We look to our Encouragers. They lead with their hearts and encourage us to strive to the higher road. They want the best for us.

May you all be blessed by our God and enjoy the emergence of Spring.

With Love,

Martha’s Hands

“Encourage Each Other in What is Good”    1Thessalonians 5:11 March is a good time to honor Encouragers. The first one we can honor is our own beloved, Andrew Huber.   He received the “Fisk Award” from the Continuum of Care Marketing Association; a progressive organization that brings together healthcare affiliated marketing and business professionals in the Illinois and Missouri area.  They bestowed this honor at the Biannual gathering this past Friday at a lovely ceremony held at the Renaissance hotel. 

When Martha’s Hands was beginning, Andrew, our daughter Denise’s husband, used his skills in public relations, marketing,  and business to help grow Martha’s Hands. He has a natural gift of encouragement and speaking well of other to build the image of Martha’s Hands as the one of the top trusted Home Care Ministries it is today. He sets the high mark of encouragement, where the people in the audience literally use their own hands to form the image of Martha’s Hand’s, to love God through serving Him. It is truly fantastic to watch!  So come into the office to see his award and congratulate him.  His honor is well deserved.

The next Encourager is the faithful,  Reverend Billy Graham.  He served God throughout his life, encouraging others to change their lives and turn to Christ, and follow the Father’s will for them. May God grant Billy His grace, love, mercy, and peace.

Another is the Father of Jesus.  He is the faithful St Joseph, who would have had the sacred job of encouraging Jesus as He grew in wisdom and knowledge of His role as Lord and Savior.  Joseph, along with Jesus’ Mother Mary, would have given that holy encouragement throughout his life until Joseph was called home by his eternal Father.

Lastly, because I am an Irish lass, I thank St Patrick for encouraging the people of Ireland and beyond in their understanding of God.  St. Patrick used a simple three leaf clover to better understand the mystery of the Trinity; In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

We look to our Encouragers. They lead with their hearts and encourage us to strive to the higher road. They want the best for us.

May you all be blessed by our God and enjoy the emergence of Spring.

With Love,

Eileen & John Denise and Andrew

 

Dear Caregivers,

February is the month of love and we celebrate many events and people. For as long as I can remember, I have celebrated St Valentine’s Day , a Roman saint, who died on February 14^th, 269, in Rome where he was persecuted for converting people to Christ. Legends say he was a generous, kind Christian leader who encouraged love and marriage among Christian couples. He signed his notes of encouragement, “Your Valentine”  He remembered the words of Christ to love one another.   Being kind and loving were some of the early words I remember my parents and grandparents tell me. Good words for us to remember.

February is also the month we celebrate Black History.  In this way we get to know our brothers and sisters no matter what race. When we know each other’s historic stories we learn to care and understand.  If we truly believe we are all Children of God and totally equal in His eyes, we are all called to love and understand each other. I feel we can better love each other when we get to know each other well. Take the time to share your story. I watched a great show on television, Oprah’s Master class, featuring Condoleezza Rice, Sydney Poitier, and Lionel Ritchie, and others which gave me wonderful perspective of my black brothers and sisters.

In my experience, my college years gave me opportunity to work as a volunteer Nurse at St Mary’s Hospital in the 60’s. I cared for those who were injured in some of the marches that fought for civil rights.  I learned to better understand and care about others and their unique walk in life. I truly believe we are all part of the family of God who are called to seek our God in the faces of others.

We at’ Martha’s Hands’, invite our caregivers to come forward with their stories of lives and the unique ways they moved forward on life’s path and share them with us.  May God always bless your steps home.

May God continue to bless each of us and all our differences, the gifts we bring more to the ‘Table of Life”’.   May God continue to bless our journey and our commitment to serving others with our Martha’s Hands motto:

“We serve with our Hands, love with our Hearts, And seek the face of our Creator in those we serve.”     St Mother Teresa

Blessing,

Eileen McCaffrey Hedrick, RN

“Glory to God in the highest and Peace to His People on Earth”

As I look back on our Martha’s Hands accomplishments of 2017, we all can be very proud. We completed our 20th Year of Service, continuing to be faithful to our Mission of loving God by serving the sick and our elders. For this we are so very grateful. We could never do this without each one of us serving, side by side, caring for our patients and their families. We are eternally grateful.

And to the future, we continually have caregivers who rise to positions of leadership on our team and again share what they know with their team members to better care for our clients. Many have won our ‘Angel Awards’ which are very special because they are awards brought forward by their peers who see how they care for others in the field. Others have won them from organizations in our Community where we stand tall among the leaders of our caregiving ministry. The blessings of caregiving together is we all learn from each other’s good examples.

Looking to the future, at some point in time, we are called to reflect back, and examine our faults and how we might change and improve. We can then set the goals for the New Year our hopes, wishes, and dreams.

We look forward to realizing these hopes, wishes, and dreams.

May the Lord bless and keep you and your families all healthy and well in the new year.
Love ,
Eileen & John, Mary & Dennis , Denise & Andrew
And the Martha’s Hands Supervisor Team

“People miss many opportunities for connection and the chance to build deeper relationships because they do not make themselves approachable. Approachability has little to do with other people’s boldness or timidity. It has everything to do with how you conduct yourself and what messages you send to others.” John Maxwell

The Art of Getting Along

Sooner or later, we, if we are wise, discover that life is a mixture of good days and bad, victory and defeat, give and take. We learn that it doesn’t pay to be a too-sensitive soul, that we should let some things go over our heads like water off a duck’s back. We learn that those who lose their tempers usually lose out, that everyone has burnt toast for breakfast now and then, and that we shouldn’t take the other person’s grouch too seriously …. We learn that most people are as ambitious as we are, that they have brains as good or better, that hard work, not cleverness, is the secret to success. We learn that no one ever gets to first base alone, and that it is only through cooperative effort that we move on to better things. We realize (in short) that the “art of getting along” depends about 98% on our behavior towards others.

Dear God,

 

Open my mind so I can learn from You. (while carving the top of the pumpkin)  “Know that the Lord, He is god.”

 

Take all my sin and forgive the wrong that I do. (while scooping out the insides of the pumpkin)  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us”

 

Open my eyes so Your love I will see. (while carving out the eyes)  “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things from Your law.”

 

I’m sorry for times I’ve turned up my nose at what You’ve given me. (while carving the nose)  “… be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.”

 

Open my ears so Your word I will hear. (while carving the ears)  “Incline your ear, and come to Me.”

 

Open my mouth to tell others You are near. (while carving the mouth)  “I shall declare the works of the Lord.”

 

Let Your light shine in all I say and do.  Amen! (while placing a light into your pumpkin)  “Let your light so shine before all, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

 

“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

Saint Mother Teresa

"Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble." – Yehuda Berg

The words we say to ourselves, speak to others and hear from others create the world in which we live.

Words have the power to elevate, encourage, inspire and ignite hope. And they have the capacity to belittle, disparage, depress and incite anger. With so much vitriol in many of the conversations taking place in the media, in politics and around our community: I wanted to share a few life affirming, encouraging quotes that inspire me.

These 10 quotes are from one of my dear friends, Mark Sanborn. Mark is a legendary speaker, the author of the wildly popular The Fred Factor, and he released his book The Potential Principle earlier this month. He’s also an expert in equipping others to become better leaders by harnessing the power of their words, actions and lives:

1. “There is a massive difference between fame and greatness.”
2. “People love to take credit, but place blame.”
3. “Good leaders make heroes of others.”
4. “We are responsible for living in a way that shows others who we truly are and what we believe.”
5. “It’s not the job you have, it’s how you do the job you have.”
6. “The only thing better than acknowledgement is action.”
7. “You are the spark that sets others on fire when you initiate.”
8. “It takes just about the same amount of time to be a nice person as it does to be a jerk.”
9. “The test of leadership is this: Is anything or anyone better because of you?”
10. “Managers maintain. But leaders improve, grow and inspire.”

My friends, in a marketplace that too frequently uses words as weapons, let’s choose to use ours to help those in need, heal those who are discouraged and remind others that the best is yet to come.

From John O’Leary’s Live Inspired Blog. For more information about John O’Leary, go to his website at www.johnolearyinspires.com