And I promise I have had no Starbucks today, although that sounds really good right now! Bear with me....I've been taking care of so many things this morning...well afternoon now! I was up late last night, my mind whirling with ideas for upcoming fundraisers, who knew that my heart would feel such satisfaction from organizing and raising funds for others!  Because not everyone is on facebook, I wanted to share what we are up to lately with fundraising.

A few weeks ago some lovely ladies, Kristi and Jessica, donated a portion of their commissions to Habitat for Hope in our honor.  They raised $170 through Jamberry and Thirty One sales. From that Thirty One sale, I was able to get some pretty nice items, that reminded me of going back to school, and since that is right around the corner...an idea started to form. And since I got all those items from the Habitat for Hope fundraiser, I think it only fitting we use these new items to try to raise money more money for them!

Team Princess Strong will be doing a Back to School Auction, I would ideally like to do it next weekend (August 2-3), before everyone starts doing their back to school shopping, but it just depends on how many items I get donated before next weekend.  I realize that August 9-10 might be more of a reality! There will be 3 different auction items/sets. 

1.  A Thirty One Her Deluxe Backpack and purse, a hostess exclusive. This bag I would like to stuff with school supplies and gift cards to help purchase any additional supplies. 

2.  A Thirty one black Cinch Sac, with Princess Strong on it. This set would be ideal for the after school run around most families go on! It will be filled with a St. Jude blanket, gift cards to fast food restaurants, snack baggies and a water bottle. 

3.  A Thirty One Chill-icious Monkey Lunch Thermal with lunch containers, ice packs, plastic wear and a gift card to help purchase lunch groceries.

In order to make all this happen, I will need the help of many who would like to purchase the items to make this auction a success. I created an online registry with the items we will need. You can purchase them online and have the items sent directly to my house. If you are local and would rather just buy them and drop them off, please feel free to do that too. We can always find a place to donate extra school supplies to if we end up with too many.  The last online auction we did, raised $1900 for St. Jude, I know this one is not as large, but I'm excited to see what we can make happen for an organization who did so much for our family during our journey in Memphis.

The registry can be found athttp://www.myregistry.com/public/princessstrongbacktoschool

This leads me to the next item...when you look at this registry you will see two iPods listed...let me explain!

Team Princess Strong will be participating in the Pink Heals Color Rush 5K.   Proceeds of this fabulous race to benefit a wonderful LOCAL organizations:Mary Washington Hospital Foundation- Color Rush 2014 will be creating the "MWH Foundation Pediatric Oncology Fund" to benefit the MWH Regional Cancer Center! This Fund will be created in memory of Princess Ellie Marie Blaine http://www.marywashingtonhealthcare.com/mwh-a-sh-foundations/foundations

A portion of proceeds will also benefit The Owen Lea Foundation- http://waffie.owenleafoundation.org/

Ellie's Elves will sponsor a Toy Closet for Mary Washington Hospital's Pediatric Oncology Infusion Room and the Main Hospital Pediatric Unit- https://www.facebook.com/PrincessElliesElves (Coming soon... check out Facebook to hear about their latest project!)   

At the Color Rush they will be holding an on site silent auction. We will be donating a "Keep the kids quiet in the car set!" We have a great Thirty One tote for the car and we'd like to fill it with "car quieting goodies". We would like to put one iPod in that gift set.  The other iPod listed would be donated to the Pediatric Oncology Unit for the kids to use while they are there.

Our dress code for the Color Rush is white...so of course we needed a white Princess Strong shirt for the event!  We are combining our shirt with Ellie's Elves and the proceeds from our shirts will go to the MWH Foundation Pediatric Oncology Fund.  If you are interested in purchasing a shirt please go to https://www.booster.com/princessstrongelvescolorrush.

There is also a Pampered Chef Online Party open until August 6th.  Julie is donating part of her commission to Team Princess Strong for the CureSearch for Childhood Cancer Walk.

We once again have a team for St. Jude Give Thanks Walk.

Lastly I was invited to participate in Crop for a Cure, sponsored by the Fredericksburg Tri Delta Alumnae Chapter.  I am excited to finally set aside time to put our hundreds of pictures from our Disney Trip, into a scrap book and to share our story with an organization that donates so much money to St. Jude!

I've decided my new philosophy is it doesn't hurt to ask.  I know I probably typed too much, but I couldn't help myself, I've exploding with ideas today and just feeling blessed with the opportunities in front of us.

I appreciate you taking the time to read through all I have shared today.  Please share this blog with your family and friends or anyone whom you think could help us out with the many things we have going on.  Its so exciting to see what a group of people with a Princess Strong heart can do!

Prayers, Praise and Pink

~Carly

Hope

This song was played in church yesterday.  I've sang it a million times.  Yesterday it was sang by a special guest, and the projector was scrolling through random pictures. Then there was an image that stopped me in my tracks.  There was a picture of the beach and the shore. In that image I could see her running to me, like some cheesy Hallmark movie, with her arms wide open.  I couldn't breath and I grabbed Richard's leg.  Will it really be like that? I have no clue, but I can't help but wonder.  

There are many moments in my life now, that I know I have dreampt of or seen before, and since I don't believe in coincidences, I believe God shows you small glimpses of your life to come. I think we are just too caught up in our every day lives to recognize them.  I don't think I ever shared before the first time it happened to me.  I was in TN with Ellie and it was the 4th of July celebration with Habitat for Hope.  We were lining up the kids to take a picture, and in an instant, I knew I had seen this very image before.  It happened so quick, and the feeling was gone.  But it was one of those feelings you just want to live over and over, because you know it comes from God. To me, when it happens, that "deja vu" moment - it assures me, God has already been there, he has planned it all out, he knows the future and if I would just open my eyes and my heart, He will give me that glimpse, a glimmer of Hope.

Hope...its what helps me through each and every day.  It is the confident expectation that I will once again see Ellie, whether she's running to me with open arms or we just bump into one another, I'm so happy to be given that promise, that Hope that we will be reunited one day.  It's a wonderful feeling to have that reassurance, especially on days where her absence from this house is felt all over!

So your here's your Hope...

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:2-5

 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:24-25

So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:7

For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 1 Timothy 4:10

and my favorite

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12

Prayers, Praise and Pink

~ Carly

Sisters

I miss you. Each day with your sister, I see how much you all are alike, which makes me miss you, I also see how different you too are, which makes me miss you even more. 



















 She has your spunk. She hits and then smiles. She throws temper tantrums and falls out on the floor. She loves to dance, and every once in a while she moves her arms just like you did. She jabbers endlessly and I have no clue what she's says. She picks on Noah and just like with you, he sits there and takes it. The word "no" means nothing to her and I think she enjoys time out. She comes in the bathroom and watches me get ready, I jokingly ask her if she wants me to do her hair, like I did with your, but she just blabbers something back. She puts her food in her toes....which I'm pretty sure you did too! These moments of you that come shinning through make me miss you so much. I realize that this is the way now that I will "see you and hear you" but it's also not you. 








She doesn't like dresses...at least not the puffy ones you would have loved. She doesn't like hair bows, or hats, or even pony tails, she pulls them all off, which drives me crazy because she has more hair then you and it's always in her eyes. She drinks from a garden hose and doesn't mind getting dirty. When I realize the differences in you two, I miss you even more because my dress up pretty princess isn't here. I took SG out of her bath the other night, and unlike you, she doesn't like to snuggle in her towel afterwards, but on this night she did. And as she laid there on that pink kitty cat towel, for a few moments I felt you. I don't know if you were really there, but it felt like I was holding you. I squeezed her close (couldn't believe she let me) and just felt you, it made my heart hurt so bad, but also left me longing for another moment like that, because I know that's the closest I'm going to get to you on this side of heaven.






I'd never force her to be you, no one could be you, you, my sweet girl were definitely one of a kind. Her fancy dresses stay in the he closet and her hair stays in her face, and I love her for being who SG is meant to be. I do wonder sometimes when she gets a little older will she talk like you. Will she have trouble with her "L's"? Will she constantly say "him and her" instead of "he and she". I could see that causing the same "missing you pain" all over again. 

I get sad when I think she will only have a picture memory of you, she won't have her own memories...so I would assume.  She will only know the stories we tell her.  I am happy that the Lord is blessing us with another girl, so she will have that sister relationship, I just hate that you won't be here to boss the girls around and tell them exactly how to place their princesses.  

Prayers, Praise, and Pink

~Carly