Blanket of Love

Throughout 2014, thus far. I have been truly humbled by the amount of love and support Drew, myself, and Knox have been given by friends all over the United States, but perhaps none has hit me quite as hard as Saturday evening. 

As most of you know I was a member of the American Junior Simmental Association for many years, and competed at national classics for 11 years. Since aging out I have attended national classics to judge, promote our business, and continue my investment in some amazing young people of our breed. I served two terms on the AJSA Board of Trustees. 

You have seen from an earlier blog that Project Linus gave Knox a blanket while we were in the hospital, and the AJSA was making blankets for Project Linus as their service project. 

Knox, himself donated four blankets, and his great- Nana gave us two more blankets to donate as well. 

Other friends donated money in honor of Knox to make blankets. 

On Saturday night at the banquet, the junior board gave an update on their service project that the completed. The Louisville Project Linus chapter was given 150 blankets to brighten sick children's day. 

Allison then began to talk about three future AJSA members that got off to a rough start. Knox and his friends Breham and Berwick Bloomberg; twins of my good friend Blake who were born at only a pound a piece. They just got to go home last week. The AJSA Board presented our family as well as the Bloomberg family with blankets they made for us. 

They called us to the front to accept these blankets. I was a bucket of tears. Knox and Drew had stayed at the hotel so it was just me and my tears. I love the simmental breed and the AJSA, but knowing that they support my little guy and thought of him as they did this program was too much for me to handle.

We have been blessed by some great friends and even strangers since Knox came into this world, but this gesture was just too much for me to handle. I was (and still am) overwhelmed by their thoughtfulness to Knox. It will forever be a moment that will hold a special place in my heart as well as those young people who thought of my little man. 

Thank you AJSA board, you will never know how much I appreciate this blanket. I look forward to telling Knox about you all as he gets older. I am so proud of the success of your project and for helping children who need a bright spot in their day. 

 

Giving

In the spirit of Easter weekend I thought I would do a post dedicated to some of the wonderful organizations that have gave to our family and Knox while we have been at Nationwide Children's hospital.

Brynlee's Baskets

The other day we walked in to our room to find that an Easter bunny had came to visit Knox a few days early. There was this wonderful basket put together with toys appropriate for infant/toddlers. Brynlee is a little girl who delivers Easter baskets to children throughout the hospital. This year through donations there were able to deliver 60 baskets. I posted our picture of Knox with his basket on their Facebook page. If you would like to learn more or give click here. 

The Lauren Faith Miller Foundation 

This foundation was formed in honor of a little girl who lost her life to a congenital heart defect at the age of 3. In February, which is Congenital heart defect month, they made tshirts and sold them through booster.com. I have seen the shirt several times as nurses wear them, but sadly I can't get my hand on one. On the day of Knox's first heart cath we received an envelope from the foundation with hospital gift cards in it that are good for any food or gift shop in the hospital. Around the holidays they also furnish a catered meal for families in the CTICU; which I thought was very thoughtful. If you would like to learn more or give to their foundation click here. 

Project Linus

A few days after we moved over to the step down unit we came in to find two handmade blankets for Knox. One was a crib blanket which fits nicely over the boring hospital sheet in the cribs, and the other was a lap blanket. Project Linus gives blankets to patients in children's hospitals. There are different chapters of the organization all over the U.S. If you would like to learn more about Project Linus click here. 

A few days after we received our blankets I found out that the AJSA Junior Board had selected Project Linus as their service project and would be donating blankets at the junior nationals to the hospital in Louisville. I immediately dialed up Hannah Wine to tell her that Knox had been a recipient of Project Linus. Knox will be donating a blanket to the AJSA's cause in July. If you would like to learn more about what the AJSA is doing click here. 

When you sit at the hospital day after day it is simple gestures of love and support that you greatly appreciate. All of these organizations will be getting donations in the future from us. It's the least we can do for all they do.