Giving back

I read something last night about the legacy you want to leave to your kids, and it got me thinking.  There are things that I care about very deeply....there's no guarantee that Izzy will feel the same when she's old enough to make her own decisions, but I think it's my job to expose her to these things.  So today, that's what I did.

Our first stop was to the UPS store (I know...you're thinking "you care deeply about UPS?" :).  We went there to ship gifts to 2 very sick little girls.  I've been following their story through CaringBridge, and both stories are compelling and heartbreaking.
One little girl (well, baby I should say), Kendall, just started chemo last week.  Here is a link to her CaringBridge website.  She has a long road ahead of her, and she's just a baby.
The other little girl, Aubrey, battled leukemia and won, but is now in the fight for her life with a liver disease, which, from what I've read, is a complication from her chemo.  Here is a link to her CaringBridge website.
 This story is heartbreaking too...everything has changed so fast, and not for the better.  And this little girl, being relatively close in age to Izzy, makes me hug her a LOT tighter and a LOT more.  I feel so fortunate that she's healthy.  I have no idea how these parents are doing it, but the amazing amount of support that they're receiving is incredible.  And, say what you want about social media, but it's through this method that I found out about these girls, and it's how the word is getting spread.  There is also a contest that I urge you to vote for.  Please follow this link to get more information and to vote!!!

Our next stop of the day was to The Ronald McDonald house.  I went there with the intent of donating some of Izzy's old toys.   I read online that you could, but unfortunately, according to The State Board of Health, all of the toys must be new.  It make sense I guess, but I thought that these toys could be used by the siblings of kids at Riley that are staying at The Ronald McDonald house.  It's a bit disappointing that we couldn't donate, but now I'm looking in to donating to a woman's and children's shelter.  I'm sure they could use them.

Our last stop of the day was to the Humane Society of Indianapolis.  I saw a plea on Facebook for bags of dry cat food, so we bought a few bags last night and delivered them today.  While we were there we saw THE CUTEST puppy, Fila who needs fostering.  She was a mix of a brown siberian husky (blue eyes and the nose) but her fur was sooo soft and short.  Anyway, she had been hit by a car and had her front left leg in a cast.  It didn't seem to affect her too much, as she was jumping around in the snow like any other little dog would.  I WISH I could foster her, but Joacim is totally against it.  I know we can't have another dog (this place is a madhouse already) but I do feel that we could foster.  Maybe someday...

Izzy may not have completely understood why we were doing the things that we did, but if there's one thing I know, it's that she'll never understand if I don't try.