UPDATE:

Here is our interview with Kathy Ireland for those who happened to miss it

We have received some amazing nominations for Why Moms Matter.

We asked you to send us stories about the moms you know who are living ordinary, extraordinary lives. And you have amazed us. You’ve sent stories that have made us laugh out loud and some that have made us cry.

We’ve highlighted moms who have battled cancer, moms who have started their own businesses, moms who have inspired beautiful and amazing charity projects, moms who have stood by the bedsides of their children as they struggled with heart problems and cancer, and just last week we highlighted both a mom who had lost her sweet child and the many moms who surrounded that mom with love and support.

Most of the moms we have spoken to are well known among their friends, their home communities and some, quite popular in the ‘blog world’.

This week is a bit different.

You already know our highlighted mom. Well, not personally, but she has such a kind persona, you may feel like you do. But because she is a ‘celebrity’, you may wonder if she fits the ‘ordinary‘ portion of our ‘ordinary moms’ living extraordinary lives.

She does. But, to learn how, you will have to join us live today, Friday, for a special hour long show on Why Moms Matter on Blog Talk Radio at 12:30PDT/2:30CDT.

Kathy Ireland began her amazing career when she was only 17. She was first known as a model - one who spent 13 consecutive years on the pages of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

She is now known for many more accomplishments - She is the CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, an author of both children’s books and the newly released, Real Solutions for Busy Moms., a volunteer for many organizations and an active member of her church . But her proudest accomplishment is being a mom - and this is what makes her just like so many of us - ordinary.

Today, meet and understand Kathy Ireland as a Mom Who Matters. She does not yet know who nominated her - join us for the surprise introduction.

We will be talking to Kathy about balancing it all and her advice for moms. She has done the research - she is a mom and she has some suggestions you want to hear!

Do you have a question you would like us to ask Kathy? Please share it with us. We will do our best to cover everything you want to know. If we use your question, we will mention that YOU on the show!

As always, if you want to nominate a future Mom Who Matters, we would love to hear from you!

Kathy Ireland

KathyIreland.com

How Do You Know Kathy?

You may know her for her face and her body.  Her modeling career began when she was only 17.  She was featured in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 13 consecutive years.

Hopefully you know her for her business savvy. She is the CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide.  Her global brand and product design line includes everything from furniture to home goods to clothing to fitness videos.

This Friday, meet and understand Kathy Ireland as a mom.

Kathy is a Mom Who Matters

Nominated as a Mom Who Matters, by a close friend, Kathy is described as a mother of 3 who does it all, including, “school pick ups and drop offs, dance classes, guitar lessons, skateboarding, homework, school functions, church and being a Sunday school teacher”.

This is, of course, all on top of being a CEO, a regular volunteer for several organizations and the author of a new book, Real Solutions for Busy Moms.

We will be talking to Kathy about balancing it all and her real solutions for moms. She has done the research - she is a mom and she has some advice!

Have A Question For Kathy?

Do you have a question you would like us to ask Kathy?  Please share it with us by leaving a comment below.  We will do our best to cover everything you want to know. If we use your question, we will mention that YOU wanted to know!

And then join us live on Friday for a special hour long show on Why Moms Matter on Blog Talk Radio at 12:30PDT/2:30CDT.

If you want to nominate a future Mom Who Matters, we would love to hear from you!

Why Maddie, Her Parents and The Moms Who Fight To Honor Them Matter

This past week a little angel was lost.  You probably heard about Maddie.
And the amazing parents left behind,  Heather and Mike.

It just isn’t fair. It is maddening.  It is kicking-and-screaming-bury-your-head-in-a-pillow-shake-your-fists-at-the-sky-unbearable.

But it the midst of this tragedy - the blog community - the online community - the MOM community came together to help - to support the Spohr family - to share their love - to donate to the March of Dimes in Maddie’s honor (Over $25K and counting) -  to create donation buttons, to fly to LA for a beautiful memorial with open arms and healing hugs - to organize walks all over the country - to turn purple - to write and write and write AND WRITE.

Today - on the MomFaves - Why Moms Matter Blog Talk Radio Show - we will remember Maddie.

We will talk about this community of ours - and how they pulled together.

And we will talk about how you can still honor this sweet girl.

We are proud to be a part of a community that says, “come here so I can give you a big hug and make sure you know I am praying for you and will do anything in my power to take one minute of your hurt away.”

Join us at 12:30 Pacific/2:30 Central for a special 1 hour episode of Why Moms Matter on Blog Talk Radio.  It will be an hour you don’t want to miss.

TechCrunch reports that Oprah will be on Twitter tomorrow posting her very first tweet LIVE on her show.

In honor of this momentous event, MomFaves will be giving away the official MomFaves Tote and T-shirt to the mom who most closely predicts what Oprah’s first tweet will be. Simply leave a comment below with your answer AND then tweet it to @MomFaves. Please include the hashtag #oprahtweets in your tweet so the conversation on Twitter can be tracked. The lucky person will be announced here Monday.

No matter how you feel about Oprah, this news marks a huge milestone for the folks who own Twitter - and they know it. Twitter CEO Evan Williams dropped this hint when he wrote this tweet yesterday, “Tomorrow just became a very big day. (Sorry for the teaser — more later.)” Today, the company is most likely doing everything possible to prepare for what could be the most new twitter traffic ever in a single day.

MomFaves is excited about the event too because of how many new moms will be introduced to Twitter and be entering the social media age as a result of Oprah’s influence. Because of Twitter, MomFaves and founders @joshunfried and @rebeccaunfried have met and tweeted with thousands of new mom friends and momfaves fans (yes, ya’ll know who you are!).

The benefits and uses of being a mom on twitter are many. Social media tools like Twitter, social networks like Facebook and (yes) even our very own mom word-of-mouth network (TM), MomFaves.com are used and enjoyed everyday by moms.

If you’re a mom who decides to join Twitter after witnessing or learning of the historic tech event tomorrow, here are Five Ways To Find Moms On Twitter.

By the way, this post and giveaway is in no way connected to or affiliated with Oprah (but you knew that already, right?).

Don’t forget to follow @MomFaves for the latest “Why Moms Matter” and “What Moms Love Most” updates!

Now…let’s see those guesses!

Amber and Seth Matter

MotherLetter.com

This past holiday season, Seth and Amber Haines decided, as husband and wife that they would not spend any money on Christmas presents for each other.  Inspired by Seth’s visit to Mozambique, Africa the previous year, the family decided to donate the money they saved to a small village.

The challenge at home - to be creative, to be compassionate, to give from the heart.

Seth came up with an idea - one he says just sort of happened. “There was no grand epiphany moment, nor was there a specific moment to which I can point for the genesis of the project. The project just came about and I began mulling it over with a friend.”  So, Seth  began to ask Amber’s friends for a generic ‘letter to a mother’.  He hoped to gather 30 to 40 to present to Amber on Christmas.

As letters began to trickle in, a friend suggested, Seth set up a blog to take in more.  New to the blog world, Seth went to some of the blogs Amber visited regularly.  And he reached out to a few of those bloggers as well.  He immediately received responses from Shannon, at Rocks In My Dryer , Ann Voskamp, from A Holy Experience , and Ann Kroeker.  The “Anns” (as Sethnow affectionately refers to them ) responded right away saying  they would assist with the project by writing a letter.  Shannon also wanted to write a letter, but took it one step further, hatching an elaborate idea to let the blog world jump in and contribute.  Shannon wrote articles on her site and on Blogher, making sure to keep Seth’s identity a secret. On the day the articles ran, thousands of mothers visited the blog that had been set up to receive letters.

By Christmas Day, Seth had collected around 600 letters.

At this very minute, Amber has not yet finished reading all the letters. She explains, ” Most every letter represents a mom’s individual story, and each story needs to be heard. I love how the Mother Letters have given so many moms a voice, and I love how different all the voices are. I want to admire each voice, so it is very hard for me to plunge right into a letter after having just read another letter.”
And she finds so many letters apply to her journey as a mother,  “As this year rolls by and I encounter new motherly trials, I’ll turn to the next letter, and behold, it encourages me right where I am.”

Clearly, Moms and Dads Matter.  For Seth, reading the letters has been astounding - he can now appreciate, on a completely different level - just how difficult mothering can be, “it’s given me new respect and admiration for what Amber goes through on a daily basis. I think every father should read as many of these letters as they can.”

For Amber, The Mother Letter Project has been an opportunity to watch her marriage grow.  Not only was she astounded the moment Seth revealed her gift, but she continues to be amazed by the joy they experience together in finding something they are equally passionate about.

Once Seth and Amber were able to process the magnitude of this gift, they realized they had one regret, ” that I was not able to benefit the village in Mozambique in a more tangible way: “Instead of holding on to that regret, Amber and I decided to try and make another run, raising money for people who have some of the same struggles as the villagers I visited.”

While he was in Mozambique, Seth heard tragic stories of the hopelessness that grew among the people due to low wages, poor agricultural resources, and curable diseases, such as malaria.  These stories prompted the couple to focus on combating malaria - a disease estimated to take the lives of 1 million children per year in Africa.

So, The Mother Letter Project continues with a new focus: gathering even more letters for a Mother’s Day edition and raising money to combat malaria.  The money they raise will go to Compassion International’s Malaria Intervention Fund.

They are still taking letters, so submit your very own Mother Letter to motherletter@gmail.com.  If you submit a letter, you will be given a copy of the collection.  If you are a dad who thinks this would be the perfect gift, or a daughter who would like to give one to her own mom, pledge to donate 10 cents per letter written to The Mother Letter Project, and you will get an electronic copy.

And today is THE DAY you can help!  Seth and Amber, with the help of PensieveRobin, have created a Twitter movement called #10on10 - the goal: for people to donate $10 on the 10th of April (THAT’S TODAY!) to Malaria Intervention.  $10 is the basic cost of a mosquito net - one of the keys to combating malaria.  If you want to donate, click here!

Join in - follow @motherletter and @pensieverobin on Twitter.  The hashtag to play along and to spread info is #10on10.

To hear even more amazing stories about this project, join us on the MomFaves - WhyMomsMatter Blog Talk Radio at 12:30PDT/2:30CDT

And, as always, if you know an ordinary, extraordinary mom, nominate her for WhyMomsMatter!
Pictures of the Haines Family were taken by Brooke Robinson.