The Garage Sale

Well. after lots of help from family and friends we joined our community today and had a garage sale. Thank you to all of you yet again that donated items, helped me get organized, showed up ready to buy or just to smile. Thank you especially to my mom who stood at the Unite for the Cure table for 7 hours telling complete strangers why it is so important. Even I don't have the energy for that!

In the end we raised $895.00 for pediatric palliative care in the city and $405.00 for Unite for the Cure. That's $1300.00! Not bad for a day's work. Thanks for the cinnamon buns mom, the chocolates Abby and Natalie and the ribbons Tanya.

Once again we find ourselves overwhelmed by your generosity and kindness. We continue to find our spirits uplifted by all of your support. I'm too tired to write more tonight. I plan on relaxing in front of the television with Mike and a glass of wine. Tomorrow I'll post about Calla's big day.

Love to you all,

Kristen

Housekeeping

I have been letting my entries slip the last couple weeks. My apologies but I have become quite busy. Mike and I have been getting things ready for Georgia's Journey of Hope, the garage sale, Unite for the Cure as well as balancing all of the everyday activites like work, grocery shopping and back to school. Firstly, I want to draw your attention to the right side of our blog where you will now find a link to the fundraiser website. It remains a work in progress and we would love to have any suggestions or feedback about making it better. I plan on spending some time on it after the garage sale.

The flyer announcing the fundraiser should be ready by the end of today. All volunteers will receive a copy via email but if anybody else would like one please contact me. I am still in need of a few volunteers to help with facepainting so if anyone is interested please let me know.

I also wanted to send a big thank you to a few people. Thank you to Carol and Colin Rogers for their generous donation to Unite for the Cure. Thank you to Abby and Natalie Rich for making chocolates to sell at the garage sale. Thank you to Tanya Francis who is working on awareness ribbons to be sold at the garage sale and the fundraiser. Thank you to all of you that have offered and dropped off stuff to be sold and to all of you that are coming at different times to help me get organized. I don't know what I would do without all of you.

Before signing off I just wanted to say to Sue, "The Outlander series is one of my favorite series ever written. I have read the first three books several times and I rarely read a book more than once. Did you know that there is a new book coming out on the 22nd? I won't be touching it until October 4th!" : )



Love to you all,

Kristen

PS Calla starts school tomorrow. Stay tuned for pictures!

Let the Light Shine

Since losing Georgia I have stopped dismissing every coincidence in my life as just that. Sure, I still believe in coincidences but I am often surprised by how the right person, the right book, the right situation etc. will just present itself when I need it most. The other day we received our monthly flyer from the local pizzeria and I was surprised to see that she had included the following passage:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I have had many moments since April 21st where I would love to have hidden under the blankets and shrunk down until people stopped noticing me, but who am I to do that? There are still moments where I would love to just make myself invisible and sneak away unnoticed but I know that is not what I am meant to do. It is not who I am meant to be. I have been given a gift, many gifts actually but the one that I am referring to right now is the one that will have the greatest impact on the rest of my life.

Georgia's life and death has set my life's journey down a new path. A path that is filled with possibilities despite the many twists and turns along the way. It is up to me as her mother to help let her light shine. One of the ways that I do this is by reaching out to others to help me find ways of honouring her. October 3rd will be just one event in a continuous string of ideas and events that we will continue to remind people of the light that she brought with her. In doing so I have been liberated from fears and am learning to shine on my own.

I have no choice but to adopt this tactict you see because I will never just 'fit in' again. I am now the woman that lost the child. I am the woman that people recognize as 'the one that lost that baby'. I know that I am many other things to many people but I also understand how many people see me first. I will never just 'fit in' again. And so the question when one is left to stand alone is, "Do I shy away and try to make myself invisible or... do I rise up...face my fears head on...and let the light shine?"

Love to you all,

Kristen