She is Our Angel

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Kristen's Light and Christmas!

As most of you know I have a desire to keep Kristen's light burning.

My gifts are small, but they are made with love and care and the thought of Kristen

is ever present as I work on my projects.

I was able to put together a "Dora" bag for a little girl whose father suddenly

became ill and passed away.

Another little boy who is fighting for his life loves

Yo Gabba Gabba.

After a diligent search I was able to purchase some Yo Gabba Gabba fabric and

make both he and his brother a pillowcase.

If you know someone who could benefit from one of my projects,

please send me an email.

I know it may seem early to even think of Christmas.

However, there are at least 87 women who never stop thinking about Christmas.

I am honored to be one of those 87 women who serve on the

executive board for Festival of Trees.

Our work is already in full swing as we are preparing for the Festival.

The Festival raises money for children at

Primary Children's Medical Center.

Last year over 1.8 million dollars was raised.

We hope to send that number even higher this year.

My particular assignment is in the Elf Emporium Shop,

(formerly known as Small Fry).

I am over seeing the felties.

Over 10,000 of these felties are hand made and filled with candy.

Felties have been a part of the festival since the festival began over 40 years ago.

As you can see they are fabulous!

Each year we add a few new patterns and retire some.

Again, the thought of Kristen is always with me as I work hard to fulfill

my responsibilities.

I'm thankful to a local fabric company who so generously donates bolts and bolts

of fabric to be used to make things for the children at the hospital.

Several quilt groups have already been busy making quilts to sell.

I was able to obtain some of this donated fabric as my committee will

be sewing pillowcases and activity bags to sell at the festival.

A sweet friend has already donated 2 Build-a-Bears for our

annual Build-a-Bear Drop,

Aren't they fabulous!

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Buddha

It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

Eleanor Roosevelt

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

Edith Wharton

Kristen always was and continues

to be "Our Light"

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Jam in a Jiffy

I love this stuff!

I have always made freezer jam.

I've always used pectin and the recipe on the box. It seemed to contain

more sugar than berries. I recently heard about

Cornaby's Jam in a Jiffy.

It is a low sugar instant jam mix. You add 4 cups of ripe fruit and a

1/2 cup of water. That's it. I paid $3.49 for a package and it makes about

6 cups of jam.

My jam is delicious!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

prayers for a sweet friend, please.

Meet Brighton...

This picture was taken May 1st

Brighton needs your prayers.

He was involved in an accident a few weeks ago.

He is struggling as well as his family.

His grandma is my dear friend. She supported and loved Kristen.

She is always there for me.

Please help me as we lift their family in prayer.

Here are a few words from Brighton's mother...

On May 1st Brighton woke up and showed us for a brief magnificent moment that he is in there. He smiled that beautiful infectious smile of his and everyone near and far smiled with him. We all collectively exhaled. Leave it to my little B-man to give us hope in the form of a smile. I think Brighton wanted to provide us all with just enough of an exhale before

the inhaling was to begin again.
Brighton is experiencing involuntary spasms and clonus. His body tightens up and releases in a rhythmic sort of pattern. This is likely due to the initial lack of oxygen although the doctors said it may have been the cardiac arrest he suffered a few days later. It doesn't really matter. When the doctors say the words "neurological damage" everything else sounds like fax machine noise. All his tests come back normal, but his body is telling a different story. We are still getting occasional eye contact and smiles, but Brighton is also somewhere else at times. Also, a tracheotomy is likely in his near future. He works hard to breathe with the ventilator tube and when they removed it once he stopped breathing altogether and it was put back. We don't want a repeat performance of that. It's really too early to tell what challenges we are facing and I will never be able to answer the question "Why?" in this lifetime, but I can tell you this: Brighton has been brought back from the brink 3 times since April 11th. His name and story has been shared by so many people in so many ways. Great faith has been exercised on his behalf and I have felt the profound love you all have shown him and our family. He's not even mine anymore. Brighton is ours. He represents hope and light and I simply have to believe that there is a reason why his impact on the world is so great. I JUST BELIEVE he has more to do and so for as long as it takes, we journey on!

Remember...he smiled to show us he's in there.

Here is Brighton last October