Tuesday Blog Party Winners and Exciting Announcement

Wow, it's been a quick week. It's already time to announce the winners of my Tuesday Blog Party Winners:

Shoes

By default, since she was the only entry...

Ora

Baby Einstein DVD's

Min: 1 Max: 11 GenerateResult: 10
winner chosen by random.org

Kacie

Onto the exciting announcement...well, even though the Blog Party ended yesterday - one of Tuesday's Momma's friends has come through with two more HUGE giveaways and they will be open until May 16th. The first is for an overnight package at a luxurious bed and breakfast in Denver, Colorado. Winners will get to pick their date. There will be THREE winners for this giveaway. To enter the giveaway, you will need to donate $20 towards pediatric cancer research for one entry and $10 for each additional entry. Second, the SAME generous woman is giving away a one week stay at her Florida vacation home, just 2 miles from Disney World. Winner will get to pick their week. The only blackout will be when she is using it herself during the winter months. There will be TWO winners for this giveaway. To enter this one, you will need to donate $30 for one entry and $10 for each additional entry. For all the details on the packages, the donation button, and to leave a comment that you are interested in entering, head on over to Who Says Eight is Enough? via this link.

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Tuesday Blog Party Giveaway

From now until May 12th, I am holding this give-away to help benefit the Tuesday Fiona Whitt Foundation. Tuesday was the beautiful twin daughter of my sister-in-law's dear friend Jessica Kate. Tuesday bravely fought and sadly lost her 8 month battle with stage 4 neuroblastoma in January of this year. Debi (my SIL) and her friends from Jess' multiples group have decided to put together an annual blog party to help raise funds to fight pediatric cancer, specifically neuroblastoma, as it is the least funded of ALL cancers yet one of the most fatal.

The first item up for auction is a pair of brand new chocolate brown size 13 Medium Kenneth Cole Girl Ballet Flats.


I actually bought these for my daughter online, but was a bit suprised to receive TWO pairs instead of one. Unfortunately, I paid for 2 pairs as well. I thought I'd just keep both pairs since Katie scuffs up all her dress shoes so quickly, but Debi pointed out that they may make a great giveaway for the Tuesday Blog Party.

My second item is a set of 3 brand new (still in shrink wrap) Baby Einstein DVD's: Baby Mozart, Baby Bach, and Baby Galileo.

I figured since my first item was so specific that these DVD's may interest a slightly larger group. Even if you don't have a baby or toddler yourself who may appreciate them, they would make great baby shower gifts!!

All you have to do to enter to win either auction is simply leave me a comment letting me know whether you are interested in winning the shoes or the DVD's and then and be sure to donate $1 to the Tuesday Fiona Whitt Foundation for each entry.

Please leave a separate comment for each giveaway and a separate comment for each entry you would like. I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner on the 13th.

Also, head on over to the Tuesday Blog Party to see what other fantastic items are being auctioned off. There are lots of great auctions going on and all it costs is one dollar to enter each one. If you would like to make one donation, instead of many individual donations, please feel free to donate however is easiest for you. If you end up donating $10, but only find 5 auctions you are interested in, you can use those additional dollars as additional entries :)

Thank you so much for supporting a great cause! Cancer sucks and is striking too many of my friends and family. As my friend Carolyn, who is currently suffering from stage 4 breast cancer that has moved to her lungs, says: F$&k Awareness; find a cure!" (Although she spells all 4 letters out very nicely.) So for Tuesday, my friend Carolyn, my dad, my aunt Mildred (my dad's sister), my cousin Kelli, my aunt Dotty, and most recently my Aunt Carol...enough is enough...find a cure!!!!

P.S. I'll start back up sharing all about our Disney trip soon...just waiting on those pictures from the Photopass that I told you about.

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Would you mind getting your knees a little dirty?

I feel terrible for not writing this post a long time ago, but it seems to be crucial now. Veiyah needs your prayers.

I am new to praying like my life depends on it. I have experienced the trials of cancer and loss with my father and my cousin Kelli and in retrospect still feel a numbness towards those experiences. I feel guilty that I didn't pray more and with more feeling. I think in both cases I was in denial that bad things really would happen to people I know and love. I believe in a loving God and I never thought that he would actually take them. When he took my dad, I realized that my father struggled throughout his life on earth. He felt a lot of pain. He missed his entire family who had gone before him. I knew he was in a much happier place with God. Kelli's death didn't really hit me until her funeral. I was at a busy time in my life. She was a lot younger than me and I didn't really have a personal relationship with her. I just always believed that her youth would pull her through. She passed away on my birthday. I was pregnant with Katie at the time and also happened to feel Katie move for the first time that night. I have always taken that as a sign from Kelli that she was ok.

Maybe it's the fact that my mommy hormones are still ramped up from having a baby and breastfeeding or maybe just a growth in maturity, but I was touched to really pray for the first time in December when Tuesday took a turn for the worse. Till that point I believed without a doubt that she would become healthy again. I prayed for a miracle. My only solace is that the miracle God gave us was to bring so many people closer to him.

I'm hoping that everyone who has been offering so much love and support for Tuesday and her family wouldn't mind taking some more time for Veiyah. I know there are many babies out there that need our prayers - but I would appreciate if you could stay down on your knees for just a little bit longer to pray for Veiyah. I originally "met" Veiyah's mom Ani on Babycenter.com during our pregnancies. She was thrilled to be having twin girls. She learned during her pregnancy that one of the twins had congenital heart disease and Situs Inversus (Heterotaxy). Sadly, her "healthy" twin Aderah suddenly got sick in utero and passed away 2 weeks before both baby girls were delivered. I followed her family through their mourning on Ani's Carepages blog. Like Tuesday's parents, Aderah and Veiyah's parents have remained strong through their faith in Jesus. Please pray for them and their beautiful little girl.

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Baby Picture Sunday - Lights, Camera, Action

Debi's done a switcheroo this week and asked us to post our favorite baby VIDEOS for Baby Picture Sunday.

My first one, is way back when...when Katie actually ATE carrots and potatos, back in March 2006. She was 8 months old.

But really, who wants carrots and potatos when there's CHOCOLATE!!!! Katie had her first taste in June 2006, at 11 months old. We were in NYC for a work trip and we were eating dinner very late, which of course made her pretty miserable....until....YUMMY!!!

And finally, while we're celebrating our babies this weekend - please say a prayer for JK and all of beautiful Tuesday's family and friends. They are experiencing the most pain a family can go through right now and I am devastated for them. I have been praying for Tuesday for some time, having learned about her cancer at the very beginning from my SIL Debi. As everyone who knows her story is, I was completely devastated this week at her sudden turn for the worse and brought to tears last night. Please God..look after her. Help her brothers and sister to remember her. My family experienced a similar string of ups and downs with my cousin Kelli, who lost her battle with Leukemia only a year 1/2 after being diagnosed. It seems to me to be a cruel situation when there is wonderful progress only to result in a quick turn for the worse. I highly encourage you to check out the video that JK has just posted of Tuesday dancing with her twin sister Piper. It's made me cry all over again and I am awed by JK's strength as she celebrates her daughter.

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