Hello!

We are so glad that you took the time to find out more about the gift we've given you. My daughter spent 12 days in the NICU when she was born. She was full term but had severe birth depression, her blood wouldn't clot, her kidneys quit, her liver gave up, she swelled up with fluids. It was a harrowing adventure, to read more about Danya's gift and to read the online journal I kept click here. I remember knowing that the day Danya got her first sleeper was the day she stepped onto the path toward full health. It was an amazing moment that I wanted to share with all of you. So on Danya's first birthday I commemorated it with a small donation, for her 2nd birthday it was more than 7 times the amount! Only God knows how big the next will become. If any of you would like to share your story to inspire others please contact me, using the link on the right. I would love to hear from you.

Bringing the Gift to the Hospital

Today was our drop off day!
We met up with our new hospital contact and walked to the NICU. Memories of going every day to visit Danya flooded back as we washed our hands. It was about 6 days ago that we mark 2 years since we brought her home. So today as we brought our gift I reflect on the journey we've taken to get here.

Over the past 3 months onesies, sleepers, and other newborn and preemie outfits have trickled in from around the country and state. At first my whole goal was more than last year, then God directed us to think bigger and we set our 150 goal that was broken! Yay we recieved 168, more items came in this week. Yesterday I washed and prepared everything even though it will all be washed again by the hospital, I wanted it all prepared.
The hardest part was sorting the sizes out again. Wait I take that back.
Folding socks is the hardest part. Those are some seriously small socks.
All the boxes and bags prepared with our new logo.
Tied up with a bow, so it looks more like a gift. I got a little wrapped up in the drop off so I failed to take a photo before we dropped off the NICU stuff, the hospital had a photographer with us for their newsletter so perhaps we can get a copy of the full wagon.
Here Danya is waiting until we got the name of a little girl who she could give her special toy to. This is the toy we brought along with the Elmo Balloon. The Patient services rep found us a little girl who is just a little younger than Danya and we gave her the doll. She lit up when she saw the gift and balloon. I am so glad that we were able to brighten her day. These are perfect for the hospital because they can be washed sooo easily.

It was a great morning. It struck me that parents could be checking this blog to find out more by this afternoon. I hope that they feel blessed by all that you all have done. Thank you, to all our generous donors.

Drop Off Day Aproaches...

This Tuesday is the new drop off date. The contact we were working with retired, so our original drop off date had to be changed. God is bigger than all of that though. We are so excited to drop off all of these items you so generously gave. Tonight I was missing my sister as I tried my hand at creating a logo so that the families could remember us and come to this blog and find out more about the journey the clothes took before they were given to their child. I am not an artist. I knew my sister would do this for me, and you may see her more polished logo eventually, but for now it's a work in progress.

I've also made it a blog button, so that you can add it to the sidebar of your blog and let other people know what we are doing. Just paste the code from the box on the right into an HTML/Java script gadget in your layout designer. It will look like this:



Then when anyone clicks on it they will come right here. This year we have been very blessed and I really feel like God is calling us to be a gift to the families of the NICU and Special Care nurseries all year round. Please check back often to see what we are up to next.

Nothing is To Big for God!

Tonight was our BBQ and Dedication time. (For those of you not from Hawaii often times the party is held in the garage, so yes this is the Laundry area of my garage. No worries though all of the clothes are being washed before they go to the hospital, who will in turn wash them again before they go on the babies.) We had a great time talking with our friends and neighbors, and sharing what we are doing and why. They have all been so generous and have become Family over the past 2 years. They also took the time to write notes of encouragement to the NICU families that will be given to the parents who receive our gift. If you want to add a comment with a note of encouragement I will put it in a card for you too. After Danya was tucked into bed and all the clean up done I counted what we had received. I still thought perhaps we were going to be short of the goal. I knew that God had really lead me to choose this goal so I thought if we are not there then more will be in the post office box tomorrow. So I counted..... 57 preemie and micro preemie outfits.....70 newborn outfits.....34 hats and pairs of socks... add that up..... carry the one......... 161! One hundred and sixty one items for the babies of the Kapiolani NICU. Last year we received 20, this year God stretched our vision and we received 161! I feel like typing it a few more times. 161! 161! 161! I still have a couple hats waiting to be finished on my sewing table and there are still some items that people said they would send that they haven't, but that doesn't change the fact that we exceeded our goal.

Our contact at the hospital retired and I didn't find out until late last week, so now I'm waiting to set up a time with one of the other March of Dimes representatives in the hospital, plus Danya and I have a slight cold so we want to be healthy enough to see her Dr. when we drop it off. God is SOOOOO Good!

Closer and closer!

Thank you to Grandma and one of my mom's co-workers!

We are at 63%! We have 94 outfits and there are several people who have promised more before next week. I am so excited! It's just such a blessing to have you all joining us as we prepare to give this gift to the families.

Danya participated today in her own way too. We were at the store using her birthday money to buy her a bike, when we saw a toy clearance aisle. We walked down the aisle and we found one of Danya's favorite toys. Fisher-price's snap-n-style babies, they are great. I call them beginner Barbies because the clothes just snap on and off. The babies don't even have "real" hair, so they are perfect for more sterile environments. So Danya choose one and we will be bringing that to the PICU as a special gift for a sick toddler. I'm hoping that they will be able to connect us with a little girl about Danya's age to give it to. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision today to do this.