Thank you, Gracias, Merci, Danke, Hvala, Dhanyavaad, Kamsahamnida!
As we approach the Thanksgiving season in America, we express heartfelt gratitude for your part in the work of United Families International over the past year.
We sincerely thank our wonderful donors — we simply could not do this without you! “All the king’s horses” and all our most sincere desires could not maintain our websites, mailing lists, licenses, our World Congress of Families partnership, our work at the United Nations and with our various UFI chapters, without your financial support.
It has been humbling and inspiring to receive your valued contributions. You hail from many countries — from Australia to Spain, from many U.S. states to nearly every province in Canada. You come from many walks of life, and we are grateful for every financial contribution great and small. Thank you for being our partners in the important work of strengthening and defending the family.
We also express thanks to our amazing Interns. These young students are incredible assets in our work of lobbying for family values at state legislatures and at the UN. They’re passionate and articulate, and their smiles can open doors and soften hearts. They are able to understand the issues and explain them in a clear and persuasive way. Some of our most-read blog posts are from our young Interns.
We are grateful for our volunteers who contribute their time from home. Some write our educational alerts, while others write regular blog posts and have garnered quite a faithful following! Others work behind the scenes, daily searching and posting family news articles to our World Family News site. We are grateful for the many hours they contribute to making a one-stop-site for current events and issues that impact the family.
We are so thankful to YOU for receiving and sharing our UFI alerts. You are a part of a wonderful network of people who care about strengthening and protecting the family, and are reading our alerts from your homes or offices in the United States and many other countries including Australia, Canada, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Slovenia, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, and United Arab Emirates. Please do not ever feel that you are alone.
Many thanks to those who have sent feedback over the past year. We appreciate your questions, suggestions, and even corrections. We are all in this together, and we are continually striving for the truth and tone that will be an effective pro-family voice.
Gratitude is powerful in the home
Now, at this Thanksgiving season, we invite you to consciously look for ways to express gratitude to your spouse and family members. Gratitude is powerful in the home.
A recent study confirmed what we know intuitively — that when partners felt appreciated, they felt more gratitude themselves, and more committed to their partners. Feeling appreciated gave them a sense of security that enabled them to turn around and focus on their own appreciative feelings. This “ongoing cycle of gratitude and generosity” helped increase relationship commitment for both partners.
The study’s author Dr. Amie Gordon explains, “My definition of gratitude includes appreciating not just what your partner does, but who they are as a person. You’re not just thankful that your partner took out the trash—you’re thankful that you have a partner who is thoughtful enough to know you hate taking out the trash. Gratitude means thinking about all of your partner’s best traits and remembering why you got into a relationship with them in the first place.”
We invite you start a “nourishing cycle of encouragement and appreciation,” in your home, and we hope it will enrich your Thanksgiving season and each day thereafter.
Laura Bunker
United Families International, President