Happy Thanksgiving! I hope today is a day full of family time and blessings to you. Hopefully, you'll be spending time with family and friends, and in addition to giving thanks, I hope you can also find some time today to #writethanks. If you’ve been following along with me this past week, I hope you’ve enjoyed these #writethanks stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them. There are so many people out there who value the gift that written encouragement brings to a person.

From the beginning, Andrew has been one of my biggest supporters in this card business dream of mine. And he has a passion of his own for written encouragement. "Written encouragement allows someone to hold on to it forever, whether they hang it on their wall or they put it in a shoebox," he said to me. "And maybe they don't. Maybe they throw it in the trash can, and that's fine. But my experience has been people hold on to them, and they put great value in what has been writ

Today, I visited my friend and coworker Kim at her house to talk to her about written encouragement. “I started writing after high school graduation — the first time you feel like you have to write thank you notes,” she said. “And I’d get comments about it. I started realizing that people liked it.” Kim has sent me so many thank you notes throughout our time working together. She expresses her gratitude in a hand-written way, and there’s a reason why hand-written notes are a

This is Dakota, and he is a regular card sender. Though communicating with someone via digital means is easy, Dakota recognizes that cards allow communication to be maybe a little more meaningful. "Writing a card to someone, even someone that you communicate with on a regular basis, opens up the door for a different type of communication than is provided in multi media messaging," he said. If there's ever a time you think to thank or encourage someone, sending a text, email o

Meet Andrea, a life-long, close family friend of mine and one of the most encouraging human beings I know. I grew up just a few houses down from Andrea and her family, but she's more than just a neighbor — she's family. I sat down with her this weekend and asked her what cards mean. When I sat down in Andrea's kitchen, she said she had five thoughts about cards to share with me that I'm so excited to share with you. __________________________ A gift of intimacy| "I'm doing a

Meet Stephanie! This sweet friend is someone that I've been blessed to get to know over this past year, and if there's anyone who my mind goes to when you say the word "card," it's Stephanie. I won't even try to tell you all the wonderful things she does in her job and for the people whose lives she touches, but trust me — you would be blessed to know her just as I am. "It's one thing to say things to encourage people," she said to me. "But especially when people need encoura

This is Kaleb, and Kaleb is a real blessing in my life. He's an extremely talented college student, yearbook editor-in-chief, and social media manager. In his dorm room, he has notes and cards people have written to him displayed behind his desk. "I keep the notes that people give me because even on my worst day, I know that I can come back to these notes and see that people appreciate me and love me," he said. "It's just a real encouragement. I appreciate the time and effort

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I just wanted to take a little time this week to share some stories of people in my life who have a passion for written encouragement. During a holiday where we give thanks, cards can be used as a powerful vessel for thankful words. Give thanks, and also #writethanks. For the next week, soak up these stories of people who value and perpetuate the power of written encouragement. Do you #writethanks?