As you've probably noticed, I love praise and worship music, I love finding great ways to save money while being blessed by praise and worship music, I love Amazon's free music offers AND I LOVE sharing all of these with YOU. SOOO, here's a special Sunday blessing for each of you in the Sandwich Generation – free praise and worship mp3 songs from Amazon.

I pray these will be a blessing to you if you aren't able to get out to church, or perhaps as you head for church and are preparing your hearts with praise and worship music.

I am enjoying them all, but I was especially blessed by the lyrics to the Big Daddy Weave praise and worship song, "In Christ." They are especially comforting to this busy Sandwich Generation senior home care giver and grandmother, reminding me of the spiritual blessings I have in Christ, and I pray they will encourage you as well! Here are just a few of the lines:

In Christ I can do all things
In Christ I mount up on eagle's wings
In Christ I wait for a great reward
That I have in store
In Christ I have His righteousness
In Christ I have what I confess
In Christ I don't worry about all the rest
Cause everything I need to be is in Christ

And here's the whole song wrapped up nice and neat in a fun Smilebox Card!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Have a blessed Sunday. And don't forget to sign up for the FREE SandwichINK email full of resources to inform and encourage Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents everywhere!

What do you do when an aging parent is ill? Obviously, if it is something major, you would call 911 or head for the hospital. For less serious, but still misery-inducing, illnesses like a nasty head cold or a tummy upset, there are plenty of ways to help and encourage them, whether you live near or far away.

Up close and personal senior home care:

• If your schedule allows, ask if they’d like you to spend a day or two with them at their house. Then you can easily keep up with the dishes, empty their tissue-filled wastebaskets, and help them in a myriad of little ways, just as they did for us when we were young.
• Make sure they have a good supply of foods they like to eat when they are sick. Also, check on whether they need more over the counter medicines as well as refills of any of their prescriptions. Humidifiers, vaporizers, or thermometers might be needed as well.
• Aging parents often put off going to the doctor, even when they should go. Keep a close eye on their symptoms and make sure they go in if it is needed.
• If they are feeling really crummy, it might cheer them up to receive a lovely bouquet of flowers. You might also bring some books, crossword puzzles, magazines, or a new DVD to cheer them up.

If your beloved senior lives far away, you could:

• Make a Smilebox card or send an ecard from Dayspring or Hallmark to cheer them up. Make sure they are up to using their computer first though.
• Even though you are too far away to take them to the doctor’s, it can still be wise to monitor their symptoms and encourage them to go to the doctor’s if necessary.
• Sending them a bouquet of flowers won’t be cheap but it could be such a day brightener, it’s often worth it.
• Use Amazon to send them a book or DVD. If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, it can arrive as quickly as the next business day for only $3.99 shipping (or free in the next two business days)!
• If they live in an area that offers grocery store delivery options, ask for a list and send them some sick-friendly foods like chicken noodle soup and saltine crackers. For that matter, Amazon’s grocery department carries both Chicken Noodle Soup and Saltine Crackers and works with Prime shipping!:)
• If their illness looks like it will be prolonged, help them get signed up for Meals on Wheels.

Just knowing you are “there” for them and care about them, whether close of far away, can give them the boost they need to feel better quickly. And that’s the best gift of all!

Happy Father’s Day to all those special Dads and Grandpas. What a great day to celebrate the gift God has given us in them.

It’s also a great day to celebrate our Heavenly Father and His love for us. For those of us whose dads have gone ahead of us, it’s such a comfort to know that God is the God of the fatherless!

I hope and pray each of you will have a blessed day today! And for those of you who have been so busy with caregiving that you haven’t yet managed to get a Father’s Day card or present, I have a couple of last minute suggestions.

One of my favorite last minute gifts for anything, including surprising recipients who are extra good at figuring out their gift if I send it any other way , is an Amazon gift card via email. There’s no extra charge, no stamps, and it arrives whenever you want it to.

Of course, for those dads and grandpas who don’t have computers, that won’t work so well. In that case, if they live far away, a nice long phone chat is a great gift as well! And if they live close, SandwichINK has a special Father’s Day Smilebox card just for your dad. You can print it out as is. Then again maybe you would rather make your own original design.  It’s so much fun to Either way, you can print it out or take your laptop over with you so they can enjoy it in gorgeous color and sound.  And again, Happy Father’s Day!!!!

Make a Smilebox greeting

News of interest to you in the Sandwich Generation: Caregivers, Grandparents, Baby Boomer generation, and more. That’s what Thursday’s SandwichINK tends to focus on and this Thursday is no exception.

But today’s news is special. Rather than pulling a news story from the headlines, SandwichINK is making its own headlines. As you may recall, we had our first ever contest, featuring a WalkerWonder banner for aging parents and others who use walkers or rolling walkers. I want to thank everyone for participating! AND I want to thank Kathleen LeRoy and WalkerWonder for this high quality and special walker banner for dads! The contest is over and the winner has won!

And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Drum roll please!

The winner is:

Mary from EldercareABC

CONGRATULATIONS MARY!

I will be collecting contact information from Mary and mailing off her banner by this weekend. Once again, thank you to all who participated! We appreciate you ALL! 

TIPS TO HELP THE SANDWICH GENERATION RELAX:

Here’s a fun gift idea for Mother’s Day , or one of the myriad of showers coming up in the next few months. Smilebox has cute recipe e-cards that let you combine a favorite recipe with 0-8 photos, depending on which card design you select. Think how delighted your senior mom would be to get one her mom’s old recipes accompanied by photos of her grandchildren. Truly a sweet multi-generational gift. Or what about one of your favorite recipes accompanied by group photos of you and your family and the bride and/or groom as part of a shower gift! Or maybe use baby pictures of the bride and groom? I bet any of these ideas would be a big hit!

Having trouble deciding what movie to see? Relevant Magazine can help with a variety of reviews, including movie reviews. Here’s one for “ State of Play .” It sounds interesting. I may have to give it a try.   For other reviews, go to the menu at the top, select FEATURES, then select the last item, REVIEWS.

Does your church have a great choir? Verizon has a contest to find the top church choirs. Wouldn’t it be fun if your church won? Deadline is June 15, 2009

GRANDPARENTS & GRANDKIDS

Two of my many sweet grandkids are twins. How about you? Do any of you have kids/grandkids who are twins? If so, there is a website and a blog carnival of special interest for us! TwinHappy has a lot to offer including having a Twin Blog Carnival in May. In fact, if you’d like to have an article posted to it, they have already opened the registration for it. It sounds like a lot of fun!

“Children really brighten up a household. They never turn the lights off.” Heart of Wisdom

CAREGIVERS TRAVEL TIPS

Caregivers always seem to be short on time. So when we reserve a car, we expect that car to be there when we get to the reservations booth. What happens if the car you rented ISN’T there? Whether you rented directly through the company or used a third party, there are some options. Check out what one of my favorite travel experts, Christopher Elliott , has to say.

If you will be flying to and from Cincinnati between now and May 12, 2009 (maybe to visit grandkids or elderly parents?), Delta is offering you 25,000 bonus miles! Sounds like a sweet deal! Thank you to @ soultravelers3 for that frugal tip for caregivers!

CAREGIVING FOR AGING PARENTS AND THOSE WHO ARE ILL

Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia:

Have you ever heard of the Medicare Donut Hole? Alzheimer’s Reading Room has a couple of interesting articles on the subject. The $4350 Medicare Donut Hole explains what it is. How We Saved $624.72 on Prescription Drugs explains how to save money in spite of it. Dementia Caregiving tip –To minimize confusion, adjust lighting to lessen shadows as they can be scary and confusing. Thanks for that info to both @ seniorlivingexp and @ PaulaFarris :

Cancer:

Here are some excellent tips for caregiving for cancer patients .

Parkinson’s Disease:

Sweet and interesting story of a wife and husband  and dealing with his Parkinson’s Disease . My mom and I had a few similar situations happen.

Another interesting article, this one about a gentleman with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease .

Speaking of Parkinson’s Disease, here is the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation .

Here’s an excellent resource from the NINDS Parkinson’s Disease Information Page – (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.)

Did you know that people with a family history of melanoma have twice the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease as those who didn’t have a parent and/or sibling with the cancer?

Funerals:

Here are some green and frugal options for funerals, thanks to @ CemeterySpot . Per the Bloomberg news : Cardboard Coffins…Prove Industry is Getting Greener. Also, if you opt for cremation and want to have a viewing before cremation, ask about renting a casket from the funeral home, which can save you quite a bit.

Other:

All of us who are involved in the Seniors and Boomers blog carnival want to invite you to participate. The next one is 4/21/09 and we would love for you to submit one or more blog articles relating to Senior Citizens and/or Baby Boomers.

Carebuzz has a new article, Grants Assist Low Income Seniors . There’s some very useful information in it.

Here’s another thing to monitor when we are overseeing our aging parents health care. Consumer Reports found that the high cost of prescription drugs leads to risky behaviors! Thank you to @ MrElderCare for that valuable tip.

Amy Gates has an excellent article on the dangerous overuse of antibiotics as well as several tips for healthy ways to deal with colds and flu.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR CAREGIVERS OF AGING PARENTS AND GRANDKIDS

"Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier." Mother Teresa

“He said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. The Lord is my helper…"

Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.

The Saturday between Good Friday and Easter was a quiet day the first year it happened. It’s still often a quiet day now, though not as much as it used to be. It’s a great day to share some Easter love with your long distance elderly parents and other relatives, since one of the Sandwich Generation issues impacting many of us is having elderly parents and other relatives scattered all across the country.

Easter Day itself tends to be extremely busy, what with church in the morning and often a family get together later in the day. Perhaps there will be fun activities for grandparents and grandchildren, as well as lunch or dinner with the elderly parents who live nearby. While you might still want to make a quick call to an elderly parent on Easter, you could call them today, Saturday, as well for a nice long leisurely call.

Another idea for fun activities for the whole family to enjoy is to use Smilebox.com to make a delightful Easter card or collage with 1-400 photos and send it to your elderly relatives who can’t be with you on Easter. (I love to add encouraging Bible verses along with the pictures.)  For that matter, the ones who will be joining you would probably love to receive this as well. It could be fun to have everyone vote on what pictures to send, grandparents and grandchildren and everyone in between. It's nice to use the time as a way to talk about the events of the past few months, while at the same time prepare a thoughtful gift to encourage a lonely senior citizen you love.

If they don’t have access to a computer, you can print out the card you make and mail it. A nice, albeit more expensive, option might be to make them a book using Shutterfly or a new site I just found out about, Blurb.com. Blurb’s prices start at $4.95. I’m planning on using them to make Mother’s Day and/or birthday gifts for some special seniors in my life later this year (shhhh, don’t tell them ). When I do, I’ll let you know how it worked. But I did some research on Twitter and all the replies I got back indicated it works well with great results.

Easter is a precious and wonderful day, and sharing our love with the special seniors in our lives makes it even better. Now I’m off to make a Smilebox ecard for some of my special people!

P.S. 3/21/09 All of my daughters and I made Blurb photo books over the past year and loved them! Out of several books made, only one had some problems with it. She returned it, they remade it  and shipped it back quickly, and now it's on my bookshelf for my senior mom and I to enjoy! The elderly parents and relatives we made ours for loved them as well! We will definitely be using them again. They are a terrific resource for the Sandwich Generation!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! If you didn’t already see it, be sure to take a peek at the Valentine card I made for you at http://www.sandwichink.com/a-valentine-for-your-long-distance-elders . Click on the big checkerboard

I spent this day having fun with grandkids in the a.m., moving and helping my mom with her aching back in between, and now with grandkid AND mom for the end of the day. The perfect kind of Valentine Sandwich.

As I tripped over boxes, and stressed over too much to do and not enough time to do it, God slowed me down and reminded me that even if I don’t accomplish everything I want to, or even need to, I’m accomplishing a lot by spending time:

• Playing tennis with a grandchild or nine – teaching them the joy of the game along with important life lessons such as good sportsmanship and keeping your eyes on the ball.
• Writing little ones across the miles to share my love with them and thank them for the adorable ecard they sent me to thank me for the box that made it in time for Valentine’s Day – teaching them the joy of correspondence and politeness.
• Ministering to all ages with different health needs – teaching them to look out for one another’s interests as more important than our own.
• Taking my mom out to a new Chinese restaurant I discovered when I got lost – showing her that she is very important and much beloved to me.
• Babysitting for little ones so big one can get a much needed night of R&R – teaching all of us the joys of sharing and loving.

There are even more things I’ve done today that have nothing to do with my To Do list, yet everything to do with the mission God has given me at this stage of my life. So if your To Do list is as unchecked off as mine, but your caregiving skills are getting a major workout, know that you have lots of company, lots of empathy, and will reap what you are sowing in a blessed way.

Saturday is THE BIG DAY of the month – Valentine’s Day. What are you doing for your special senior citizens who don’t live close to you?

In case caregiving duties have kept you busy and you haven’t had a chance to pick out something special, here are a few ideas you can do from home.

1. Smilebox greeting card – www.Smilebox.com – has some fun new designs that are perfect for Valentine’s Day. I made this one just for you, to say HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY to you! You could use this particular card or select one of their other cute Valentines. Add photos of the kids and grandkids, and sent it on its way with your love to a variety of elderly relatives.

Make a Smilebox postcard

2. If you want to add a gift card to your greeting, Amazon has a cute little e-card that can carry your gift of any amount along with your Valentine love. It will arrive in their email box the minute you send it or you can choose a time and date for it to arrive.

3. If music is more your “thing,” Amazon can handle that, as can iTunes. You can send them a song for .99, an album for $5-15, or even a TV show or movie. All from your computer to theirs.

Now the caveat to these is that they require a tech-savvy senior citizen or one who has someone who can help them with these gifts. If your beloved elder doesn’t have that, you’d be better off taking a more old-fashioned route. Pop out to a good book store, pick up a music cd they would enjoy, then hustle over to the post office. There you will find free Express Mail envelopes (which helps make up for the price the package will cost to mail it quickly) and hopefully your gift can get there by Saturday. Most of them are one day, but some require two days.

Another less-tech idea is to call a florist in their town, and order flowers. It won’t be cheap but if you get a cute vase such as a spring teacup, they’ll be able to enjoy it all year long.

Once you’re done, take a deep breath. And know that even if it gets there late, they’ll love it. Especially if you call them on Valentine’s Day to say Hi, and let them know a special surprise is on its way to them.

Today, instead of a regular post, I have a special Christmas card for all of you! Just click and enjoy. There is a Christmas carol by Point of Grace that will play as you read so be sure you have your speakers on, but not too loud . Merry Christmas!

Kaye

Multi-tasking is a popular buzzword and one I am particularly fond of. People who work with computers think they were the originators, but all of us caregivers know that we’ve been doing it long before someone invented a word for it. One way I love to multi-task is as a grandmother. I enjoy taking my playtime with my grandkids, incorporating some educational bits and pieces, and often wrapping it all up in a bow with Scriptural truths, or vice-versa – thus doing two or three things at once which is the perfect definition of multi-tasking. “How?” you ask. Read on and join me in this fun plan.

1. STORY-GO-ROUND – We enjoy doing this in the car, but it works anywhere. One person starts a story, tells a few sentences of it, then stops. The next person continues on and adds to it with anything they want. Then they stop, and the third continues, and so forth. I’ve done this with four year olds, and suspect even some three year olds might have fun with it. Generally, the younger the child, the shorter their part of the story. Then again, some toddlers can amaze you with how long they’ll go on. Older children can really have fun being creative and telling longer stories. You could even do this at home and write the story down. Then type it up and add hand-drawn pictures or family photographs. If you do something like that, I would suggest using Smilebox – http://www.smilebox.com/ . It’s quick and easy and something like this would make a great gift, especially for their parents or elderly relatives. For that matter, it would be a great gift for the children who created it. Think what a great motivator it can be for a child to see their words in print. We may be contributing to future famous writers!

2. RANDOM RHYMING – I pick a word and each of us takes turns rhyming it. Lots of fun with a great educational thrust. Then go a step further and add Scripture and Scriptural truths. For each word that is rhymed, give the meaning of the word. Whenever possible, give a Bible verse or Bible word meaning. For example – Kite, Might – “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6); Height – “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:38-39); and so on. Now I have to admit, I don’t have those exact words at the tip of my tongue. Well, I do have the Zechariah one at the ready, thanks to a song from the Psalty kids’ Christmas album which my children loved when they were young. But for the Romans verse, I’m more likely to say that “ God loves us so much that nothing can separate us from Him, no matter the height nor the depth.” It gets the point across simply and easily. Now you’ve got English, Bible and fun all rolled into one.

3. HIDE AND SEEK AND COUNT – We love to play hide and seek. It’s one of my grandkids’ favorite games. Instead of counting the normal way, 1-2-3-4-5, I started counting really loud by different numbers. For example, 2-4-6-8, or 3-6-9-12-15, or 5-10-15-20. It gives them a chance to hear the different ways of counting, and the more you do it, the sooner they’ll learn to count that way as well. I was thrilled when my four-year-old grandkids counted by 2’s to 20 the other day! Of course, they’ll also be learning this in preschool, kindergarten, and/or homeschool. But this is a fun way for us to reinforce what they’ve been learning.

What fun, educational, and multi-tasking games do you play with your grandkids? Please tell us about them in the comments below or by sending an email to Kaye@SandwichINK.com . Have fun! And here’s the link for the Psalty Christmas album – http://psaltyskidsstore.stores.yahoo.net/bcachcodi.html