Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanks(for)Giving-Mel's 80th Show & Tell

I know my posts have been a little blah lately, the lack of BFP's has had me really down, among other things, but today is Thanksgiving, and so I am gonna change it up a bit and highlight some of the good things in my life.

This Thanksgiving, I am extremely thankful for my good health, my loving husband, my wonderful family, the fact that I have survived this year, and of course the support of great friends both IRL and here in this community. Even during those times where I have fallen deeply into the crevasses of grief, I have felt all your hands of support on me, and for this I feel a depth of gratitude that knows no words.

For the last week I have had something new to feel thankful for too, and it is that which I am going to focus on today for Mel's Show & Tell. Today I am thankful for the outpouring of generosity and encouragement that we have received in regards to our Doing Good In Her Name initiative.

For those of you who don't know, we have set up a new site in Peyton's honor at www.doinggoodinhername.com to assist critically ill infants and their families at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, the hospital where our sweet Peyton spent her life. It has only been a week, and Doing Good In Her Name is off to a great start.

A very close friend was the first to make a donation to our collection. I was floored when she gave us a check for $100 to be used to purchase food and parking vouchers to help the families with sick infants at the hospital. The parking is very costly at Peyton's hospital, and the expense can really add up. I know from experience how appreciated this gift will be. 

Next we received a beautiful batch of items for our CCMC drive from a girl I went to high school with. We haven't seen each other since graduation (*gulp* 12 years), and she reached out to me last week to let me know that she had put some items together for our collection. I was blown away by her generosity. Take a peek at these wonderful things that she donated.


Then, earlier this week, I found two goodies in the Doing Good In Her Name P.O. Box. First was a $20 donation from my cousin. She has really been there for me through this last year, and her generous donation really touched my heart. Then, on the same day, another box came, sent to us by the mother of the woman who donated the above items. She too had heard about what we were doing for the little warriors at CCMC, and wanted to help. Take a look at all of the wonderful things she sent. So many children will benefit from her generosity.

The blessings continued. Today one of my bloggy pals from the U.K. added two wonderful Baby Einstein CD's to the collection. She was so smart, she ordered them from Amazon.com's U.S. site and therefore didn't have to pay overseas shipping, which I thought was just wonderful. I wish I had pictures of the CD's, but I didn't get a chance to take any yet. I will add them as soon as I do.

And then there were all the beautiful messages from so many of you about donations that you are planning to make to honor Peyton's memory. Words cannot express just how much these messages, too, have meant to me.

As members of this babyloss community, I know that you can truly understand just how desperately I need to feel something good come out of all of this grief and loss. Whether your help comes to us through donations, or by simply saying a prayer or sending up good thoughts on behalf of this initiative, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU. You all are helping us make this dream of helping other little warriors like Peyton a reality.

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I know how difficult this holiday is going to be for us all, and I am praying for each of you to feel some sense of peace, despite the pain of facing this day without your little angels. Tomorrow I will be thinking of all of you, and of each of your sweet little ones who have become so important to me through your blogs.  I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

To see what others are showing and telling, visit Mel's blog here.


10 comments:

  1. I think its so wonderful you are doing something for Peyton's hospital. There are so many little things that people don't know about the NICU life, or the life of a sick baby. So many things about the death of a baby. The costs, the stresses, so many things that parents don't even think about. Its a hard road, but you are doing some so amazing to help them all.

    Happy Turkey Day! *hugs*

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  2. Hi sweetie. You are doing such a good thing.

    Hope today is ok for you. I am thinking of you while cooking the turkey and making the gravy.

    Hugs!

    the grey lady

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  3. This is such a wonderful thing to do in honor of Peyton, and so strong of you to be able to reach out to these parents. These gifts will help them so much.

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  4. I was surprised to read that your hospital makes families pay for parking. Our hospital validated NICU parking (we dont have a PICU, that is at their sister hospital, but they do the same thing) for parents. Perhaps you could connect with the hospital and see if they could do something like that?

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  5. It's so good to be doing something positive in Peyton''s memory. My husband and I did something similar for the anniversary of my son's death. And while I'm sad beyond words that I can't have him with me, I'm glad he was able to inspire me to do something positive in his memory. I'm sure you feel the same.

    Sending you lots of love today...

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  6. What a wonderful tribute to your beautiful girl. Are you planning on this being a long term project? If so, after the beginning of the year, I would like to contribute so handmade items.

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  7. Hugssss and I am thankful for your support and kindness.

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  8. What beautiful generosity...praying for you this Thanksgiving...

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  9. Happy Thanksgiving (belated anyways). I'm so glad that you are getting great donations. I need to get my butt in gear and get some stuff for you! It's getting to the end of the year and I need to get all my donations in!

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  10. Aw... I'm so happy to hear that this initiative has taken off in such a short amount of time. Congratulations and much love to you and all the families whose hearts you'll touch through your kindness and grace.

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