Relay for Life...

Thanks to CANCER, so many kids will never see this many candles on their cake. I feel blessed to have three healthy kids but that feeling felt selfish as my dear friend Mimi was losing her four year old Julian to a horrible monster called, Medulloblastoma or brain cancer. Julian passed away in January of 2008 and the impact this sweet angel had on thousands of people around the world was divine! He changed lives! His faith and his strength was that of a superhero! That is why I walk in RELAY for LIFE...it is why I support CUREsearch...it is why my buckets of change end up in the slot for the Ronald McDonald House in the McDonald's drive-thru. This year I am walking with a group of wonderful people from my church. We are walking for our captain Becky who lost a dear friend, a newlywed named Meredith. Meredith lost her battle with cancer last year, she was in her early 20's. Even though my team shirts say Meredith's Miracle, my heart walks for all the babies, toddlers and precious kiddos that will fight this year. No child should have to go through what these kids go through. If you have never known a family dealing with childhood cancer, you have not known HELL! Visit the following carepages to get to know some families who will amaze and inspire you to change the world. Go to carepages.com and register..it's free and you won't get any spam. Then click on visit and type in the following heroes names (no spaces, all one word)... JuliansWorld passed away at 4 ColemanScott passed away at 5 (left his twin brother) SuperBay has been fighting for over 3 years and is finally off chemo! (You can also search my blog for the names Julian, Coleman and Bailey and see posts about them) These families are very close to my heart - like family. I ask you now to donate ANY amount you can afford to this cause. There are kids lives LITERALLY hanging in the balance. Please. Go to MY RELAY PAGE and pledge - even $1 - anything will help! Thank you and may God bless you for your generosity and your prayers for these families. ALL donors on my RELAY site will be entered to win some AWESOME prizes, jewelry, art, etc! Peace.

Project Care...American Cancer Society

DAFFODIL DAYS! TOUCH A LIFE TODAY!

If you have been reading my blog for a while you know my passion for cancer patients. Well, I have a good friend whose passion may even outshine mine. After losing a dear friend to colon cancer last year, Becky turned her tears for Meredith into activism. Becky's passion didn't go unnoticed and The American Cancer Society offered her a job a few months ago. I am proud to introduce you to my friend, Becky Ferrier, who has a special message for anyone who has ever considered touching a cancer patient's life with kindness. Dear Friend, Each year the American Cancer Society and the residents of our county welcome Spring with the celebration of the American Cancer Society Daffodil Days. Daffodils are the flower of HOPE, representing the courage of cancer patients, the compassion of volunteers and the dedication of the medical community to finding a cure. Fresh cut bunches of daffodils, pots of miniature bulbs or specially designed Boyds™ Bears with daffodils will be distributed to donors as we attempt to paint our community “Yellow with HOPE.” A very special part of our Daffodil Days celebration is “Project CARE”. Project CARE is special edition Boyds Bears which are delivered anonymously to pediatric cancer patients at hospitals and treatment centers throughout the county. Project CARE lets these children know that someone cares about them, wants to brighten their day, and is committed to the fight against cancer. The Boyds exclusive limited-edition bear for the 2009 Bear and a Bunch campaign is Carrie N. Hope. The 10-inch plush, brown-colored bear, which has cream accent muzzle, ears, and paw pads, and brown eyes, is holding a denim bag with Daffodil Days embroidery in yellow that contains felt daffodils. As with previous Bears, Carrie also has an embroidered daffodil on one paw and the American Cancer Society logo on the other. Help to comfort children in our community by giving a special edition Boyds Bear to them in their time of need. Bring a smile to a child's face and support this effort with a $25 donation. Bears will be delivered anonymously. We thank you for all of the support that you have given to the American Cancer Society and hope to see you at an upcoming Relay For Life event. If you would like additional information about Daffodil Days or a list of local Relay For Life events, please contact your American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org. Thank you again for helping make HOPE bloom! Sincerely, The 2009 Daffodil Days Committee CLICK HERE to find a Daffodil Days venue near you! Thanks, Becky, for all you do! I'm proud to be your friend! Please share you experience with cancer, your plea for a cure, you tears for those lost to this disease and/or how many thousands ;) of Daffodils you ordered for the cause in the comments of this post. Becky and I would love to see your passion, too!

RELAY FOR LIFE...

DAY ONE:

My three favorite walkers!

What an AMAZING experience! If you have experience RELAY, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven't, make it a point to join in the HOOPLAH! It's one of those surreal experiences that you truly can't explain.

There were friends walking hand-in-hand.

There were kids racing on the track.

There were survivors hugging their families.

There were lots of tears.

There were commemorative T-shirts with faces of cancer.

There was laughter.

There was food.

There was fundraising.

There was HOPE.

This mom was sobbing through her words about her favorite survivor...her daughter!

4/5 of my family.

A bagpipe played AMAZING GRACE as we sat in silence for the Luminaria Ceremony.

My luminarias...I would have liked to have honored every child that inspires me but I could have easily gone broke doing so... just know that they were honored in my heart as I walked the luminaria lap!

DAY TWO:

My good friend, Becky read an amazing tribute to her friend, Meredith who passed away in April. Read Meredith's story here you will be inspired!

I don't know if all RELAYS do this but at ours you could buy necklaces and you got a bead upon completion of each lap. You get a different colored bead on the 5th lap as that was your mile marker...here are my little walkers showing off their beads!

Here is my friend's son, who walked his little legs off...this little 6-year old has TWO necklaces to hold his 13 miles...THIRTEEN MILES...worth of beads! He walked those miles in CROCS...quite the ad for CROCS, don't ya think?

All in all, it was a fantastic experience! I was sad when the organizers started taking tents down and loading vehicles...I DON'T WANNA BE DONE! I WANNA KEEP WALING! I WANT TO WALK TILL THERE IS A CURE!

Thank you to those of you who donated to my walk. I raised $420.00 and only four donations were people I actually knew! That's AWESOME!!

It's 5 o'clock somewhere...

At 5 o'clock (EST) I will be heading ... 3 kids in tow ... to the TWIN VALLEY RELAY FOR LIFE!

Wearing my Julian's World and Team Larson bracelets and my 4 the kids shirt!!!

Not sure yet if I am spending the night or coming home at 2am when I finish my portion of the walk.

If you would like to donate, please go to MY RELAY PAGE.

If you would like to see how else you can help, go to it's 4 the kids and check out our artists and our precious Cancer Kids!

Want the media to see the need for funding, visit the CANCER PETITION!

Light a candle for King Julian here!

CANCER IS KILLING OUR BABIES...

RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES!

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!

RELAY FOR LIFE for me...

My new favorite shirt! Tomorrow I walk for these guys! Bailey, AJ Mikayla, Haley, Julian, Kennedy, Coleman, John Eric and so many, many more that have blessed my life with strength that abounds! They have stolen my heart! They are precious. No one deserves the HELL these babies are going through... If you can...please follow THIS LINK to my RELAY site and donate a little bit. Maybe you could give up your lattes for a week, maybe no drive-thru for a couple days so you have the extra money to share with the kids who will have poison pumped into their veins tonight. Thanks for blessing them with your prayers! PLEASE link this on you site! Our Relay is Noon June 20 - Noon June 21st: 7pm is our Survivor Lap (I am taking the kids for this...I want them to be moved so they never forget and they are always PROactive!) 10pm is the Luminaria Ceremony and I walk from 12am - 2am Will blog later about some fun stuff coming to MY SEMBLANCE!!!!!

RELAY FOR LIFE...(bumped)

Follow THIS LINK to my RELAY site. I WALK THIS WEEKEND FOR THE KIDS! IF EVERYONE WHO READS THIS COULD GIVE JUST A LITTLE... LOTS OF LITTLES MAKE A BIG! LOTS OF BIGS MAY JUST BRING A CURE! Please help me save some lives! Coleman explains “It’s hard to be hooked up to a pole all day when it’s a sun-shiny day, ann be in your hos-pita woom all day when yoa don’t wanna be there ann wish ya tould be outside in-said, but NO, ya tan’t. I wish that no more tids would det tancer, tuz it's tewwible to haffa do all-a the suff what ya dotta do. If no more tids dot it, then we tould all yust be no-mal wif no more pokes." Coleman’s twin Caden chimed in and gave his two cents, “cancer is the worse day of my wife (life) because you don’t getta pway wif your brudder when ya weally want to. Sometimes the hospital is fun …if ya aren’t froe-in up wike Coleman does sometimes. I wish that no tids ever det tancer, so they tan haff fun all-a their days until they be daddies." Cancer kills. Cancer is a demon that the body just can’t expel. Cancer makes me cry. If we all let it hit deep enough to cry, we will be moved to make a difference.

Welcome back ME!

WOW! I am quite the blabber mouth so the fact that I have been away from my blog for so long has just been a sin! And my stats show it.

I have gone from close to 400 hits a day to under 70 in the mere couple of weeks that I have been working on my NAMESAKES. Does that mean I am less funny? Too tired? Stressed and under pressure? and my readers are leaving me?

Well, when I am in the zone and being creative, it is a bit of a technical tango that I must perform to balance my everyday busy-ness with entertaining the muse...my muse...she's fun and happy, by the way. Not one of those GOTH kind of muses. Mine is more of a free-spirit hippy muse! She's way cool!

I have been busy filling the orders as per the buyers' suggestions and requests...let me give you a peek at what has been keeping me busy!

This NAMESAKE was ordered by a woman who wanted to bless The Bartel's. (cp: JohnEric)

The next two are for sisters...very different in their hobbies and interests but that makes my job fun - no two alike!

Kelsie is the oldest so her NAMESAKE needed to reflect her age.

Here is another sisterly duo...we matched the designs to their wallpaper!

Gabby has Down's Syndrome and for those of you who know - there is a gorgeous poem called, "Welcome to Holland" that shines a new light on being a special needs mom.

It's a lot of work but 50% of every sale goes to pediatric cancer patients and their families! Check out it's 4 the kids for more information.

PUH-LEASE don't forget to check out my RELAY site! I am walking for the kids!

Click here to check it out or to donate. If every person who reads this donates just one dollar I would by far surpass my goal by our June 21st walk!

I miss telling you all the craziness that happens in my house - Friday was the last day of school so you KNOW there are stories!! LOL!

BTW.... the NAMESAKE ORDER PAD is almost free of orders - know what that means? That means that soon there will be a 24 hour time frame that I will take more orders.

Also, there is another creative idea coming soon, too - just check back you won't wanna miss this!