About a week and a half ago my dad sent all us girls an e-mail that said for his birthday all he wanted was for us to do something kind for someone else. He had just watched our Thailand DVD and had seen the joy on our faces in the pictures taken the day we spent with the Hill Tribes. He wanted us to be able to recreate the joy of giving for our birthday gift to him.
I thought long and hard about what we should do. There were so many options to chose from, so many people in need. I thought about going to the Human- itarian Center in SLC. I thought we could purchase some items for kits, and take a tour of the facilities. I went there last summer with our ward and made kits for school children. I had no idea the scope of what the LDS church does to help people all over the world. I thought about purchasing items to donate to CAPSA, a local non-profit shelter for abused women and children. I thought about trying to find a single mother, or a family who may have just lost everything in a fire. Like I said, the options were endless. I knew that all of those would be good choices, but I really wanted to make sure I picked something that would mean the most to my children. I put a lot of thought and prayer into who we could serve. Finally I got my answer, and it was from the blog of my Aunt Linda.
My Aunt Linda has breast cancer. I HATE cancer! It has taken the life of my Grandpa and my Uncle Jon. I have watched my Grandma Mary and my old Mia Maid leader, Lynette, go through breast cancer. My Grandma's husband, Grandpa David, just started on chemo last week. I think cancer is a horrible disease and it scares me to see how it can strike anyone, anytime. Well, my Aunt Linda has been blogging about her cancer. She has been very open about it, and displayed a remarkable sense of humor and optimism. She has also talked about how much the little acts of kindness that her family and friends have shown her have helped give her strength. Her posts about her "Secret Pixie Family" were the inspiration for what we did.
We had discussed with the children before hand what we wanted to do, and who we wanted to do it for. But last Monday at Family Home Evening we made if official. We started the night by reading Aunt Linda's cancer posts at dinner. The children listened intently to her story and felt sympathy for her and the friends she had made at "Attitude Adjustment Day." We had decided that we were going to make 'Cancer Care Packages' for 3 people, and after making sure our lists were organized, we headed to Macey's and Wal-Mart for our items.
First on the list was Ruby. Ruby is the mother of my friend, Sophia. Ruby went in for surgery to remove a blockage in her intestine last month. While in surgery the doctors found a tumor. Sophia immediately drove down to St. George to be with her mother and plan what they would do next. Ruby would have to stay in St. George long enough to recover from the surgery, but then she would move in with Sophia, who would care for her through her treatments. I have only met Ruby once. It was at the wedding reception of Soph's daughter, Liza, and Spencer was four days old. We had him with us, and as we walked through the line, Ruby said, "Give me that baby!" and grabbed him out of my hands and kept him for some time. She is a fun and vivacious woman, just like her daughter. For Ruby we put together a "Welcome To Cache Valley" bag. Soph said her favorite candy is Reese's, so we got every kind of Reese's candy bar available. I didn't realize there were so many to choose from! The regular peanut butter cups, the pieces, the crisps, the creams...I think there were 6 or 7 different kinds. We also got Ruby two great books of inspirational quotes. The first one is called "One Bright Shining Moment." It's a book of inspirational quotes for women by President Hinckley. I got that for Christmas last year and I just love it! The second one was a book of quotes and recipes by Sister Hinckley. I want that one for myself! We put a card in the bag that told Ruby we were sorry about what she was going through, but looked forward to getting to know her better. We drove that out to Smithfield, and Sophia has it waiting on Ruby' bed, for when she gets here, which will probably be in the next few days.
Clarissa is 10 years old. In December, the day after her 10th birthday, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The doctors have not come right and said how long Clarissa has to live, but her tumor is terminal. She is in Daniel's grade at school, and her uncle is my eye doctor, but we do not know her personally. I do know that I have a 10 year old child, and I can not imagine what I would do if I was told that he had a terminal brain tumor. She has completed her chemo and is back in school for half days. Her little friends have been so wonderful. Her two best friends made friendship bracelets and sold them at school for a $1 donation that would go to Clarissa. That was what Daniel contributed his $20 to several posts ago. Those two little 10 year old girls raised $240!! And it came from children at the school that wanted to do something for Clarissa. I called her aunt, and found out some of her favorite things. For Clarissa we got some Goldfish crackers, some Nestle Crunch candy bars, a gift card to the movie theater and a gift card to Casper's Ice Cream. We put them all in a pretty bag, and tied a few balloons to it. Clarissa's card said that although she did not know us, we were sorry to hear about what she was going through and that she was in our thoughts and prayers. We signed that "Your Secret Family." We have plans to leave a little something on her door every month. We parked a few doors down from her house, and the children crept up to the door, rang the doorbell, and ran--while I took pictures of them. Spencer was so giddy with the excitement of his first doorbell ditch.
Eliza turned 3 last week. She was diagnosed with liver cancer one month ago and has been in Primary Children's Hospital ever since. She is the daughter of some former ward members who moved to the Salt Lake area shortly after she was born. I also have a three year old child. I can not imagine watching my baby lay in a hospital bed for a month, tied to machines and in pain. Eliza's tumor is the size of a grapefruit. She is going through chemo right now and it is taking its toll on her tiny little body. Once the tumor has shrunk, the doctors will either remove half of her liver, or she'll have to have a liver transplant. She runs fevers all the time and has to be covered with ice packs. She coughs up fresh blood. She can't eat and has had a feeding tube put right into her intestine. Her parents feel confident that she can recover from the liver surgery or transplant IF the chemo doesn't kill her first. Why does this horrible disease have to happen to children? With Eliza's care package we included things for her older sister(11) and brother (7) as well. We bought some Goldfish crackers for them, as well as two color books and some crayons for them when they visit Eliza at the hospital. Eliza got a color book, as well as 3 new books for her parents to read to her when she is awake. We also made home made chocolates that went in all three bags. Our letter expressed our love and concern and again said that they are in our thoughts and prayers.
I don't think children stop too often to think about people with diseases like this. Knowing Sophia, and realizing that Clarissa and Eliza were the ages of Daniel and Spencer made a huge impact. We know that our little bags might not have been filled with things that these three girls needed, and certainly they weren't filled with anything that was going to miraculously heal them of their afflictions. But they were filled with love, and we hope that through those little bags they and their families would be reminded that Heavenly Father loves them and knows their needs.
Tomorrow I have a photo shoot with my Kick Asphalt Bike Club girls. There are 10 of us who will be riding in Little Red Riding Hood the first Saturday in June. We have decided that this year we want Little Red to be about something more. So are going to do a fundraiser for Eliza. Our hope is that we can find people willing to donate so much per mile, or just whatever they can, that we can then give to help offset Eliza's bills. We are taking a picture of us in our matching bike shirts and gear that we are going to put on our flier. We are even checking into seeing if we can have Kick Asphalt made a charitable organization so that donations can be tax deductible. We are really excited to try to do something to help this sweet little girl.
Thank you so much for having this be your birthday present, Papa. Hope your birthday was wonderful!
I thought long and hard about what we should do. There were so many options to chose from, so many people in need. I thought about going to the Human- itarian Center in SLC. I thought we could purchase some items for kits, and take a tour of the facilities. I went there last summer with our ward and made kits for school children. I had no idea the scope of what the LDS church does to help people all over the world. I thought about purchasing items to donate to CAPSA, a local non-profit shelter for abused women and children. I thought about trying to find a single mother, or a family who may have just lost everything in a fire. Like I said, the options were endless. I knew that all of those would be good choices, but I really wanted to make sure I picked something that would mean the most to my children. I put a lot of thought and prayer into who we could serve. Finally I got my answer, and it was from the blog of my Aunt Linda.
My Aunt Linda has breast cancer. I HATE cancer! It has taken the life of my Grandpa and my Uncle Jon. I have watched my Grandma Mary and my old Mia Maid leader, Lynette, go through breast cancer. My Grandma's husband, Grandpa David, just started on chemo last week. I think cancer is a horrible disease and it scares me to see how it can strike anyone, anytime. Well, my Aunt Linda has been blogging about her cancer. She has been very open about it, and displayed a remarkable sense of humor and optimism. She has also talked about how much the little acts of kindness that her family and friends have shown her have helped give her strength. Her posts about her "Secret Pixie Family" were the inspiration for what we did.
We had discussed with the children before hand what we wanted to do, and who we wanted to do it for. But last Monday at Family Home Evening we made if official. We started the night by reading Aunt Linda's cancer posts at dinner. The children listened intently to her story and felt sympathy for her and the friends she had made at "Attitude Adjustment Day." We had decided that we were going to make 'Cancer Care Packages' for 3 people, and after making sure our lists were organized, we headed to Macey's and Wal-Mart for our items.
First on the list was Ruby. Ruby is the mother of my friend, Sophia. Ruby went in for surgery to remove a blockage in her intestine last month. While in surgery the doctors found a tumor. Sophia immediately drove down to St. George to be with her mother and plan what they would do next. Ruby would have to stay in St. George long enough to recover from the surgery, but then she would move in with Sophia, who would care for her through her treatments. I have only met Ruby once. It was at the wedding reception of Soph's daughter, Liza, and Spencer was four days old. We had him with us, and as we walked through the line, Ruby said, "Give me that baby!" and grabbed him out of my hands and kept him for some time. She is a fun and vivacious woman, just like her daughter. For Ruby we put together a "Welcome To Cache Valley" bag. Soph said her favorite candy is Reese's, so we got every kind of Reese's candy bar available. I didn't realize there were so many to choose from! The regular peanut butter cups, the pieces, the crisps, the creams...I think there were 6 or 7 different kinds. We also got Ruby two great books of inspirational quotes. The first one is called "One Bright Shining Moment." It's a book of inspirational quotes for women by President Hinckley. I got that for Christmas last year and I just love it! The second one was a book of quotes and recipes by Sister Hinckley. I want that one for myself! We put a card in the bag that told Ruby we were sorry about what she was going through, but looked forward to getting to know her better. We drove that out to Smithfield, and Sophia has it waiting on Ruby' bed, for when she gets here, which will probably be in the next few days.
Clarissa is 10 years old. In December, the day after her 10th birthday, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The doctors have not come right and said how long Clarissa has to live, but her tumor is terminal. She is in Daniel's grade at school, and her uncle is my eye doctor, but we do not know her personally. I do know that I have a 10 year old child, and I can not imagine what I would do if I was told that he had a terminal brain tumor. She has completed her chemo and is back in school for half days. Her little friends have been so wonderful. Her two best friends made friendship bracelets and sold them at school for a $1 donation that would go to Clarissa. That was what Daniel contributed his $20 to several posts ago. Those two little 10 year old girls raised $240!! And it came from children at the school that wanted to do something for Clarissa. I called her aunt, and found out some of her favorite things. For Clarissa we got some Goldfish crackers, some Nestle Crunch candy bars, a gift card to the movie theater and a gift card to Casper's Ice Cream. We put them all in a pretty bag, and tied a few balloons to it. Clarissa's card said that although she did not know us, we were sorry to hear about what she was going through and that she was in our thoughts and prayers. We signed that "Your Secret Family." We have plans to leave a little something on her door every month. We parked a few doors down from her house, and the children crept up to the door, rang the doorbell, and ran--while I took pictures of them. Spencer was so giddy with the excitement of his first doorbell ditch.
Eliza turned 3 last week. She was diagnosed with liver cancer one month ago and has been in Primary Children's Hospital ever since. She is the daughter of some former ward members who moved to the Salt Lake area shortly after she was born. I also have a three year old child. I can not imagine watching my baby lay in a hospital bed for a month, tied to machines and in pain. Eliza's tumor is the size of a grapefruit. She is going through chemo right now and it is taking its toll on her tiny little body. Once the tumor has shrunk, the doctors will either remove half of her liver, or she'll have to have a liver transplant. She runs fevers all the time and has to be covered with ice packs. She coughs up fresh blood. She can't eat and has had a feeding tube put right into her intestine. Her parents feel confident that she can recover from the liver surgery or transplant IF the chemo doesn't kill her first. Why does this horrible disease have to happen to children? With Eliza's care package we included things for her older sister(11) and brother (7) as well. We bought some Goldfish crackers for them, as well as two color books and some crayons for them when they visit Eliza at the hospital. Eliza got a color book, as well as 3 new books for her parents to read to her when she is awake. We also made home made chocolates that went in all three bags. Our letter expressed our love and concern and again said that they are in our thoughts and prayers.
I don't think children stop too often to think about people with diseases like this. Knowing Sophia, and realizing that Clarissa and Eliza were the ages of Daniel and Spencer made a huge impact. We know that our little bags might not have been filled with things that these three girls needed, and certainly they weren't filled with anything that was going to miraculously heal them of their afflictions. But they were filled with love, and we hope that through those little bags they and their families would be reminded that Heavenly Father loves them and knows their needs.
Tomorrow I have a photo shoot with my Kick Asphalt Bike Club girls. There are 10 of us who will be riding in Little Red Riding Hood the first Saturday in June. We have decided that this year we want Little Red to be about something more. So are going to do a fundraiser for Eliza. Our hope is that we can find people willing to donate so much per mile, or just whatever they can, that we can then give to help offset Eliza's bills. We are taking a picture of us in our matching bike shirts and gear that we are going to put on our flier. We are even checking into seeing if we can have Kick Asphalt made a charitable organization so that donations can be tax deductible. We are really excited to try to do something to help this sweet little girl.
Thank you so much for having this be your birthday present, Papa. Hope your birthday was wonderful!