12 Days of Giving, Day 5

For Day 5, I was so bummed to have to miss a huge event that my committee for Tippy Connect has been working on since August. Since our sponsorship of Big Brothers Big Sisters ends this month, we decided to put together a holiday celebration and invite kids who were in need of Bigs, along with fellow Tippy Connect members and other people from the community who had an interest in becoming a Big or learning about BBBS, and we held a Holiday Big Drive for BBBS. We put together stockings for the kids and collected games and school supplies for BBBS and the kids. Back in August, Josh and I took advantage of the great back-to-school sales and spent about $30 to get a TON of school supplies. We got all of the crayons you see in the box, along with just as many markers and some other supplies. Then at a few of our Tippy Connect After Hours, we were able to offer free appetizers to individuals who donated $5 or brought a game or school supplies, so some of those supplies are seen below, too. We raised just over $115, so we were able to use that money to buy some more things for the kids. And Josh was nice enough to help us out with the books you see below. They're from the Kohl's Cares for Kids program and they are leftovers, so Kohl's is able to donate them to local kids programs. So it was nice that each kid got to go home with a stocking full of candy and school supplies and also a book, and then BBBS had a lot of games and some books to keep there at the office for when the kids come there.

Josh and I had signed up to go to the Big Drive, but it turned out that it was held the evening of my surgery, so we had to miss it. I was excited to see that it made the top story of our local news, so I got to see how it turned out...a little bit at least. I'm pretty sure we had several people sign up to become Bigs and also someone who was interested in joining the BBBS Board, so I think the night was a real success. Josh and I are considering becoming a Big Couple so that we can spend time volunteering but still spend time together, too.

12 Days of GIving, Day 4

So I have obviously gotten a little sidetracked from doing my 12 Days of Giving. I am still hoping to complete it, I just may have to do a few things in one day...or it may go a little past Christmas. Either way, for Day 4, we chose the Almost Home Humane Society. There are so many needy pets and it's just heartbreaking. We got some things together to take over...and we were sure to even remember the cats! We got some dog and cat toys and treats. Hopefully they'll help out a little bit.

our baby is gone

Sometimes life just isn't fair. We went for our 10 week appointment yesterday and there was no heartbeat. Our doctor said the baby stopped growing at about 9 weeks. I will have surgery on Thursday morning and they will do genetic tests and we may be able to find out what the baby was.

We are hurting so much right now and pretty much just trying to make it through the days but we appreciate everyone's prayers. Please pray for our sweet angel and for our families who are all hurting with us.

I don't regret sharing our news before the first trimester was up. We saw the heartbeat at one appointment and heard it at another and everything seemed to be moving along perfectly. Our baby was loved beyond words by so many people after we shared our news so I will never regret it. I am just sorry that so many people have to hurt with us now. We don't know what happened; I am trying not to blame myself. I try to think that there was nothing I could have done but it's a very difficult thing when your own body betrays you in this way.

Please lift our baby up and pray for peace and comfort for Josh and I and our families. We will get through this together just as we have the past 3 years' worth of struggles.

Jordy's Holiday Party

Shell and Dan had their Holiday party this year and somehow I forgot to take any meaningful pictures. Instead, I have a bunch of pictures of Jenny bopping around the house and popping up in pictures here and there. Makes me laugh so hard!!

Anyway, here are a few that I do have. We had just taken a real picture, but it didn't turn up on my camera, so it must be on someone else's. Instead, I get one of me cracking up at Shell and Jenny.2 years ago, Jace wore this hilarious Women's XXL holiday sweater and it might have been the funniest thing I have ever seen. This year, he and Laura wrapped the sweater up and Shell & Dan's neighbor won it in the gift exchange. Billy won the Snuggie that Josh and I took. I told him to hug the snuggie and this is the look I got:
Here are some more funny pictures of Jenny. Here she is hugging Jace:

And here she is hugging Billy:

Makes me laugh!! Needless to say, it was a really fun night. It was the first time we had seen a lot of our friends since announcing our pregnancy, so it was fun to celebrate with them. I'm just bummed that I didn't get any pictures of Josh and I or any real pictures with friends. :(

12 Days of Giving, Day 3

Day 3 was several months of work coming to an end!! This year, my young professionals organization decided to do a silent auction during our annual gala. I volunteered to chair the committee and it ended up being a LOT of work! I had a few people helping me (1 helped a ton, others, here and there), but essentially, it came down to a lot of work for two of us! However, I think it turned out really well. We got a lot of compliments on the variety of items and had a few really amazing big ticket items including a huge piece of artwork and a party with a private sushi chef. We raised almost $1,000 over our original goal, so I call it a success!

Here are the only pictures that I remembered to snag at the very beginning of the auction. It looks a little disorganized, but I swear it wasn't! Do you see a very handsome guy in this picture?:

Overall, this was a really fun event. Josh was so helpful and our entire loft was taken over by the 60+ auction items, but I think it was worth it!

12 Days of Giving, Day 2

For Day 2, I supported a great cause, plus got a treat in return! Over the years, I have absolutely loved the concept behind the (PRODUCT)RED line at the Gap, with Starbucks and with Motorola. A portion of the proceeds from RED products goes toward helping to fight AIDS in Africa. On this particular day, Starbucks donated 5 cents for every drink, so it was the LEAST I could do! If you think about the millions of hand crafted drinks they made that day, it was a really big contribution! Plus, I had to indulge in a cranberry bliss bar because it's my favorite wintertime treat from Startucks and we were celebrating because we were on our way home from seeing our baby's heartbeat again! (NOTE: I did *not* have any caffeine, I swear.)

(Top: Wendi, Susan; Bottom: Debbie, Cyndy, Denise)

Also, I wanted to share this cute picture of my coworkers. I took a tray of cranberry bliss bars in and was going to count that as one of my 12 Days of Giving, but Josh said it doesn't count because they're not needy! TRUE! So instead I will just call it a thank you. They were all so incredibly supportive during our quest for a baby, and all told me at different times that they were praying, so cranberry bliss bars are the least I can do to say thank you! They were all so excited about our news!

12 Days of Giving, Day 1

Every year, Josh and I figure out some way to give back during the holidays. For the past few years, we have spent most of our efforts on Jubilee Christmas at church. We usually donate a lot of toys that Josh picks up for inexpensively throughout the year at work and they are used for the "shopping" portion of Jubilee Christmas where the parents get to go in three or four different times to pick items out for their children in addition to the ones that were purchased by a sponsor. In addition to that, we typically select two or three children to buy for, so we get a list of clothing items and toys that they want and we go shop for them.

This year, I was inspired by my friend Laura to take a different approach to holiday giving. Many of my blogger buddies did a similar thing in the month of November where tried to give back in some way every day. I didn't get it together in time to do that, so when Laura told me about her plan for giving back throughout the month of December (I think she's doing every day, which is sooo ambitious!), I decided to get on board! I thought it would be fun to do 12 Days of Giving, so Josh and I sat down and tried to think of some different things that we could do throughout the community. It's been fun!!

For Day 1, we donated to Laura's Christmas Gift Drive. She knew of a family that was struggling this year, so she decided to raise money to help them and shopped at a store that is locally owned (she is in Ft. Wayne) to help out the owners, too. I'm so impressed with her generosity and thankful for the inspiration! This is a great way for us to give back to the community because we understand that we lead very blessed lives but there are so many people who do not. It's something that is on our hearts and we've had fun picking out some of the things we're going to do to give back. Stay tuned for more updates!!