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! 

Jammies

Last year Taylor did dance and by the end of the year, she was begging me to do gymnastics. We told her she could only do one and she picked gymnastics. I've had so much fun watching her grow over these past several months! 

She says her favorite is the bars, which was always my favorite! 

Handstand!

I'll have to remember to get pictures of the trampoline and jumping into the pit next time. We're gonna try out teeball this Spring. I'm excited about that. We've already bought her a tee and bat for at home and she's ready to try it! Maybe this weekend...

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!

Magical Times! - Day 4

Read about 1st day, 2nd day and 3rd day.

On the 4th day, we went back to Epcot. We rode several rides, and I think Taylor's favorite was Soarin'! 

It was hot, hot, hot! 

Once we were through with Epcot, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom, but it started raining and Taylor had fallen asleep. Adam decided to go back to the room. Taylor was very indecisive and wanted to stay at first, but then decided she was tired and wanted to go back too. Taylor and I ended up back later that night for the Electric Light Parade and the show on the castle and fireworks. It was all fabulous! 

Since a 5th day wasn't much more and our flights were late afternoon leaving Orlando, we were able to go for a little while Friday morning. We went back to Magic Kingdom and rode several things she hadn't gotten to ride on the first day. 

Taylor asks me all the time,  "When are we going back to Disney World?"!! I can't wait to take her back!

Magical Times! - Day 3

Read about 1st day and 2nd day. 

On our 3rd day, we had breakfast with the Disney Junior characters at Hollywood and Vine. At that time, Taylor LOVED Special Agent Oso. It was so cute watching her looking for him, so excited to see him, and then dancing with him. This was my favorite character meal! We saw Oso, Jake, June (from Little Einsteins, we didn't know her) and Handy Manny. 

After breakfast we headed out into Hollywood Studios!

One thing that was REALLY FUN was the character dance party. Taylor had so much fun dancing with Minnie, the Genie, and so many other characters. It was a little stressful for Mommy because she kept following the characters around and I couldn't keep up!  

Before Tower of Terror

Yes, Taylor rode Tower of Terror. She DID NOT like it though. She still tells me she didn't like that ride!

After Tower of Terror, we headed back to the hotel for a little while to rest. Adam and I fell asleep, and Taylor kept on playing. We made it back that night to watch Beauty and the Beast, which I loved! Taylor didn't really want to sit still. Afterwards, it started raining and we had to duck in somewhere to eat. We wanted to see the fireworks show that night, but weren't sure with the rain! It finally stopped raining and we got to see it. It wasn't my favorite and it had some scary parts for Taylor so she didn't really like it either.

I should mention that we had the dining plan. We got it for free as a special for going in September. We got one Table Service, one Quick Service and one Snack per day. The character meals were all Table Services and Cinderella's Royal Table counted as two. Taylor and I were able to share the Quick Service meals, so between that and the snacks, we had plenty of food. As we were leaving on Friday, Adam even had to get a couple of snacks for the road because we had them leftover.