Our Second Trip Back

As most of you know our family made the trip back to Spokane Children's Hospital with a whole lot of toys for some sick kids. I want to say from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Thank you to all of you who took the time to shop, included your family and kids in choosing toys and most of all for helping my family.

2011 Donations

It's hard for me to convey just what your incredible generosity has done for our family. With each toy drop off I would say good bye and then cry. You helped give us the ability to go back to a tough place with a smile on our face. You have helped warm our hearts during a tough time and gave us something to look forward to. Showing up at the hospital with just hugs for our hospital family is great, but being able to give back knowing how hard things really get is phenomenal. We know what a toy means. We know what it did for us.

 

We brought our boys this year and they were so good. It was obvious that Cooper's memory is a little mixed up. He gets this hospital confused with Kadlec and Amos. But what's important is that he remembers what Sutton went through and that we need to give back because you never know what someones struggle might be. It was great to see the nursing staff again and introduce them to Amos. It's so important to us that they know we talk about them all the time and are grateful for everything they have done for us. I think the best part was that they truly remember us. As I have said before I am always afraid that he will be forgotten or looked at as just another child who died. They have assured us that they remember Sutton and our family quite often. Which to me speaks volumes because unfortunately there are so many children who have spent time at Children's.

On to the delivery...
 

Our contact at Children's was completely surprised and overwhelmed by the amount of toys we had to deliver. She came out with two very small carts and quickly found out that wasn't gonna cut it. It took quite a long time to unpack everything and we filled two offices! We were told that this was the biggest toy donation they had received! Currently there are over 150 kids at Children's right now and they are all in need. The Santa Store opened this week for two days for child patients to shop for their families. The foundation staff went through everything and divided the toys up between the Santa Store and what was needed at the hospital.

Santa Store 2011



Santa Store 2011



Again, I want to thank all of you who donated this year! It was amazing to hear stories about how some of your children chose to give up one of their toys so that a sick kid could have one. We are also astonished by how many of you are merely acquaintances decided to donate and give from your hearts. At times I can't believe how many have heard of Sutton's story. We really want this to be an annual thing, especially after learning how in need the hospital is on a regular basis. You can be sure to hear about this next year and hope that you will join us again and help us spread the word. We really hope to make this bigger and better (we're thinking U-Haul status) every year and I truly think that with your help we can!

The holiday season is incredibly tough for us, but with Amos's arrival and having our family and friends around we will be able to celebrate what is most important. We will be walking into the holiday with our hearts lifted thanks to all of you.

Our wish for you this season is to be surrounded by those you love and fill the days with laughter, memories and traditions.

As always, it's been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to youuuuuuu!

***For privacy reasons we aren't able to get photos of the children, but you can only imagine their faces!