RAOK for Leah's Birthday Celebration!

I can't tell you how much we appreciate those that participated in RAOK for Leah's birthday celebration! I know it's hard to tell us what you've done to be kind to someone else, but it really meant a lot to us. Here are some things that were done:

1) Leaving big tips for your server

2) Paying for the person in line behind you

3) Donations to Leah's Legacy Foundation, GBSI, Reese's Rainbow, an adoption fund and The Bell Center  in memory of Leah

4) Goodies dropped off at Children's and DCH NICU for the staff and parents (Hard one!)

5) Someone left a Happy Birthday card and balloon at Leah's grave

6) Extra work done for GBS Awareness

7) Soup made for a sick family

8) Hot chocolate given out as people arrived at work on a cold morning

9) Sent us encouraging cards, texts, messages

Here are some specific stories I received:

1) While in McDonald's on New Year's Day The lady in front of me, in a wheelchair, frantically searching for money to pay for her meal..as she started to leave I thought of y'all and stopped her and asked her "Would you give me the honor of buying you breakfast?" She smiled and said thank you and teared up a little.. She had a dog in her lap. He was a seizure alert dog. I cannot imagine being in a wheelchair much less having a seizure disorder. I just couldn't let her go out in the cold all the way back to her house for money. I didn't have a flyer, but I figured it didn't matter. 

2) Took a friend home from preschool so his mom could stay home with her littles.

3) I donated an Angel Pillowcase to Children's in memory of Leah.

4) Helping an elderly woman get to the bathroom, giving hugs (which is my favorite :-)), paying for coffee, and bringing someone a gift.

• 5) Yesterday I paid for the food off the person behind me and I gave the cashier a flier to give to the person! And today a coworker was texting me telling me that her dad was admitted to the hospital on another unit and he was wanting some blue bags that the Ed has that other units don't stock so I called a friend and got him some and took them down to his room and gave my friend the flier

• 6) In honor of sweet Leah's birthday I helped a busy Mama by having her 2 children over this afternoon. I later paid for several very cold children to have a hot chocolate treat. We have sent several messages of encouragement to others and pray that your family had a special day remembering your precious girl! 

7) And, our sweet Taylor took her friends' plates to the trash after lunch, colored a picture for her teacher and helped her friends clean up their messes. Precious girl!

Here are pictures from our celebration of Leah's birthday:

.

We sure do miss our girl! Thank you to those that participated in RAOK. If you forgot to tell me what you did, please do. You can comment below or message me and I'll add it. I want to know them all! 

Leah's Birthday Celebration

Next Tuesday is Leah's birthday. For her birthday we are going to perform Random Acts of Kindness, and we're asking you to join in! We'll be performing these acts from January 7th, her birthday, to January 13th, the day she died. Please print off this flyer and give it out when you perform an act, then post the act and a picture (if you have one) on Leah's Legacy Facebook page, or message Leah's Legacy. Afterwards, I plan to compile all of the Random Acts of Kindness performed in her memory into a blog post for everyone to see.

We thought performing Random Acts of Kindness would be a great way to celebrate her life. It's seems fitting to be Jesus to someone, the One Leah spends her days with.

Here are some ideas:

From Random Acts of Kindness organization

Children:

Say something nice
Ask if you can help
Make and send an encouraging card
Invite someone to play
Give away toys/books they don't play with anymore
Thank your parents
Give a hug
Make a new friend
Smile at strangers
Let someone in front of you in line

Others:

Pay for the coffee/meal/etc of the person behind you
Donate used toys/books/clothes/kitchen items/etc
Compliment your server at a restaurant
Write a letter to someone who had made a difference in your life
Take the buggy to the cart stop for someone else
Take your children to visit a nursing home
Create a blessing bag and give it to a homeless person
Serve in a shelter
Donate to Leah's Legacy Foundation :)
     www.leahs-legacy.org

There are many, many more in the link above, and I know opportunities will present themselves throughout the week.

Please don't forget to give the flyer to the person you are performing the act for. Maybe they will even pass it on! We want to continue spreading awareness about GBS and Leah’s Legacy Foundation.

Also, remember to take a picture and post it on Leah's Legacy Facebook page, or at least send a message. 

Thank you for your prayers and support this year! We've needed them and will continue to need them. This world of child loss is very difficult and painful.

Love to you all!

Easter

Saturday morning, we started our Easter weekend off with a 5K run for colorectal cancer awareness, the Rumpshaker! We were running in honor of one of my best friends, Amber, and in memory of her mom. We had 46 people on our team, "This Toot Shall Pass", and raised over $1500! We won some team awards for fundraising and team spirit. 

The team!

Amber had just put up the picture of her mom on the memory wall.

Yay!

Brandi got 2nd place for Most Team Spirit!

Later that afternoon we went to Ella and Miles' 3rd birthday party! I can't believe our kids are 3! Amber had a cute Easter theme, but did a great job incorporating Ella and Miles' request for Minnie Mouse and Thomas the Train themes. 

We started off participating in our church's Easter Egg Hunt. Taylor got a basket full, but we do not need all of that candy!!

Can't even hold it up she's got so many eggs!

After playing on the inflatables for a while (Taylor's favorite thing to do), we got busy with cake and presents!

Birthday girl and boy!

Taylor Bug loves Papa!

And Nannie!

Trying so hard not to help open presents!

Can't help it anymore!

Sunday morning we went to the sunrise service where Leah is buried. Honestly, I can't believe that is part of my life. Then, we went to our church, out to lunch and family came over to visit.

The cross had flowers on it at Leah's funeral.

Taylor's Easter baskets from Mommy and Daddy and Nannie and Papa!

This was such a fun weekend! I can't believe that March is already over.

Weekend Fun!

Adam and I decided to have a date night Friday night, so Taylor spent the night with Mama Donna and Papa Rex. She helped Papa Rex put together a picnic table, dyed eggs with Mama Donna and put on fake nails with Aunt Hehe.

On Saturday, Berber and I got to have a girls' day out. Adam and Wes got us massages and facials for Valentine's Day and I added mani-pedis from a Groupon. In between we had a girls' lunch and shopping. It was a very relaxing day for us. For the guys, not so much! 

Taylor had been invited to two birthday parties on Saturday. The first was for a friend at church at Pump It Up. She loves inflatables! 

The second was for a boy in her class at school, and it was at a fire department. Taylor has only been going to her new school since January, so Adam and I haven't had a chance to meet any of the parents yet. He said he still didn't get a chance to meet them because he had to follow Taylor around everywhere. 

I don't think Taylor could be any closer to the cookie cake than if she were the birthday girl!

I can't believe March is almost gone!

Taylor's 3rd Birthday Party!

We celebrated Taylor's 3rd birthday this past weekend at Wee Flip. It was an awesome party! The kids had so much fun! Wee Flip had it decorated, provided cupcakes, drinks and snacks, goody bags, and even took some pictures. This really was a stress-free party for me!

Look how much joy is on the birthday girl's face! You can tell how much fun she had!

They played for an hour, then we did cupcakes and finished with some parachute time!

They were singing Happy Birthday to her. I don't think she knew what to think about that!

We had lots of party guests! 

Baby Andi and Berber

Miles and Ella

Jules and Shook

Sophie and Henley

Peyton

Mallory

Savannah

Thomas

Joseph

Stormy

Kathryn

Katherine

Wow! That's a lot of kids! Taylor had such a good time and Mommy was stress-free, exactly what I needed during the holidays and 7 months pregnant!