Georgia's Journey of Hope 2009

I thought that Georgia was going to be born on the third. 3 has always been my lucky number and I thought that it would be appropriate for my third child to be born on October 3rd. I even had contractions bad enough for several hours that we called the midwife. The contractions eventually eased up and spaced out. Georgia would not make her appearance for 3 more days.

It seems appropriate however that something big was meant to happen on the 3rd day of October. Perhaps my sixth sense was just off by a year. Today a community came together. There was no official head count but you definitely showed me that a bigger venue will be at the top of the list for next year! Many of you seemed surprised by the numbers. I can't say that I was. I realized a while back that Georgia's Journey of Hope was going to be bigger than I had originally thought.

When I first booked the hall I marched in telling myself that if I could make $1000.00 that I would be proud of myself. Surely $1000.00 could help make a difference and after all we are still reeling from the loss of Georgia. As preparations got under way the fundraiser seemed to take on an energy all unto itself. Many of you threw yourselves into it as if Georgie had been yours. All of you will never know how much it means to me to know that you continue to love our "Georgie Baby". She was always everyone's baby!

The initial counts taken home from the hall are over $7000.00. This does not include some cash donations as well as ticket and t-shirt money that Mike and I have already collected. Some people still have money to hand in. It will take a few days to get it all sorted by I am estimating we brought in approximately $8000.00!

I don't have a lot of pictures. I am expecting more and will post some of them as I receive them. For now please enjoy these.

This is Kristen. Our balloon maker extrodinare. She sat there for 4 hours doing balloon animals, flowers, hats etc

Here's Ginette painting Maya's face!

Here's my brother Kevin sitting at the Unite for the Cure Table with the amazing chocolate suckers that Tanya made. They say things like 'unite', 'hope' and 'Georgia'.

Here's Mike on the big bouncy slide. The kids loved this thing! Thank goodness that it fit. Thank you Funquest!!

I had an army of volunteers help me make today possible. Please know that I am grateful to each and everyone of you for sharing yourself with me. Thank you as well to all of our amazing sponsors and to all of you that came and had a great time.

At the end of the day as my friend Nat and I sat there alone waiting for the attendant to come and check everything out, a single pink balloon came floating down from the ceiling. It kind of danced around with the air currents as if saying, "Look at me!" I couldn't help but scoop up the one lone balloon and take it home. The signs that my daughter gives me are sometimes so obvious. I'd like to think that this time she was simply saying, "Thank you".

Love to you all,

Kristen

I got a feeling...

I gotta feeling that today’s gonna be a good

that today's gonna be a good day

that todays gonna be a good good day ooh hoo (x4)

Black Eyed Peas

Sing it! You know that you want to.

Love to you all,

Kristen

3...2...1...

We have been working hard the last couple of days getting all of the details worked out for tomorrow. I spent last night and this afternoon helping to organize and wrap the prizes. In the end we have 24 prize packages. I can't believe how many people have donated! It is really overwhelming. Mike's nanny had a beautiful memorial quilt made as one of the prizes. I prefer to call it a hope quilt. It has pink ribbons on it that say things like 'faith' and 'hope'. It is absolutely beautiful. We've also had many people just handing us ticket money without taking tickets claiming that they can't come but still want to support what we're doing. Thank you!

I have no doubt that Georgia's Journey of Hope will be a success. If you live in the area please consider coming. Georgia's Journey is as much about Gwendolyn, Nicholas, Dakin, Sophia and so many others as it is about her. It represents a community of people coming together not just to honor one little girl's birthday but to honor the lives of so many children lost to and living with SMA. It is at its very core love in action.

Love to you all,

Kristen

Tainted

Today it was 0 degrees as the girls and I walked to school. Had we tried to drive the car that was parked on the front street we would have had to scrape off all of the frost. With the change in weather comes a change in wardrobe. Away go the shorts, sandals and sun dresses and out come the long pants, socks and gloves. I have always believed that the clothes one wears can affect the way one feels but I have had quite the shock over the last couple of days.

As I started looking at some of my long sleeve tops and sweaters I was immediately overcome by feelings of helplessness and desperation. One look at my long sleeve purple shirt and I can see the doctor confirming Georgia's SMA diagnosis. As I glanced down at my shoes today, for a few moments I was speed walking through the halls of the hospital in a state of panic instead of leisurely walking through the grocery store with Maya.

I pulled out my gloves this morning but didn't put them on because all I could think of was driving home from the hospital in a snow storm to have dinner with the girls already panicking about how I was going to get back. My clothes are all tainted. They are tainted with the most negative feelings on earth. While these are feelings that I lived and accepted they are not feelings that I wish to carry with me every minute of every day.

I have one t-shirt and when I put it on I am empowered. I am hopeful. I am a mother who has accepted the unacceptable. I am a woman with the courage to carry on and fight for others. This one shirt represents everything that I want to be and everything that I believe I can become. It doesn't carry invisible memories of Georgie, instead it shows them off to the world. It says that I am a warrior and invites others to join the fight. It links me to some of the most amazing people I have ever had honor of knowing, even when I don't really know them.

My clothes are tainted but my heart remains pure. Sitting around helpless and feeling desperate will change nothing and one shirt isn't going to get me through the winter. It's time to change my clothes. I hope that Mike doesn't mind when I tell him that I have some major shopping to do! : )

Love to you all,

Kristen

A Dinner Party

My friend Renelle is an amazingly creative, kind and generous human being. I am only just getting to know her. Her little boy went to school with Calla last year and she is actually married to somebody that I went to high school with but our friendship is rather young. Despite this fact, Renelle is constantly surprising me.

This past Friday Renelle invited a dozen of her girlfriends over for a dinner party. She had volunteered to provide all of the food and had asked her friends to make donations to Unite for the Cure as if they were going out to a restaurant. In the end, some of the others chipped in with food and such but that didn't seem to put a damper on the donations. In the end, this group of women raised $880.00 in one evening! One mother had challenged some of the other mothers to consider donating part of their child tax benefit. The card that we have been given signed by the women who attended the event said this, "A small thing done in great LOVE is a great thing." I couldn't agree with you more ladies!

Thank you Renelle, Melony, Joyce, Thiea, Gerry, Cheryl, Michelle, Jaclyn, Michelle, Nicole, Tricia, Nicole, Tamara, Courtney and Nikki.

Did I mention that Renelle's husband Todd along with his friend Andy (another old friend from high school) built two children's picnic tables for the prize draw on Saturday?! How's that for generosity!

On a side note, for those of you still in denial that Fall is here check out the picture below:

If you look carefully you should see some of the hundreds of geese that were hanging out on our front street this morning.

Love to you all,

Kristen