Ride 4 Grace, stamping, and more!!!

What a busy last few days this has been! So much has been going on that I can hardly keep up with things. (I hope to catch up with blogs within the next day or so!)

First I'll share with you what I did on Saturday. My Aunt Nancy is having all of the grandkids put their hand prints (or foot prints for younger kids) on stones for everyone to have. So my mom and I took Kyndra and my niece Audrey to her house to get that done. We didn't make too much of a mess!

What's really neat is that my Aunt Nancy got stamps made of Carleigh's footprint so that she could be on the stones too. I want to say thank you to Streicher's Quickprint in Findlay, OH. Once they learned what the stamps were for they gave my aunt's money back to her and gave her the stamp for free plus an extra one that was rounded. I'm so blessed by their generosity!

So for Carleigh's print I started off with the flat stamp but then moved to the rounded one, as it worked much better.


On Sunday we (Anthony, me, my in-laws and their friends) did the Ride 4 Grace to help raise money for Sufficient Grace Ministries. It was a bike run hosted by Kelly's friend Dave. And guess what!? I got to meet Kelly!! In person!!! SA-WEET! It was so good to finally meet her and give her a great big hug (love you Kelly!). (Just too let you know she is even sweeter in person than she is on her blog. But I bet ya'll figured that anyway.)


It was a hot and sunny day, but I was glad it wasn't raining (like it did on Carleigh's run)! The wind was blowing pretty good, which helped keep things a little bit cooler. And if you're wondering why I'm wearing pants if it's so hot out it's because I didn't want my legs sticking to the seat of the motorcycle.


The ride was great and the route was beautiful. We got up to Perrysburg and stopped at an ice cream place called Mr. Freeze, I believe. Holy cow! They give the biggest portions of ice cream I have ever seen in my life!!! My medium ice cream in a cup was in a large-sized cup plus overflowing! (I got orange twist.) I couldn't even finish it all and it tasted so yummy on such a hot day. We ended the ride in Bowling Green at one guy's house. We got a drink and then headed back to Findlay.

Ok, now to the bad part.......I GOT THE SUNBURN FROM HELL!!! Seriously. When we were on our way out to the church for the ride I was thinking I should've put on some sunscreen and that would've been a bright idea but.....yeah....I didn't and now I am paying for it!! (The picture just does NOT do this sunburn justice. My MIL got it pretty good too!) Poor Carleigh's tattoo is half red. :(


I got a package in the mail today from Mary Ellen and it was quite a surprise! If you remember, Mary Ellen owns Lighthouse Photography and edited Carleigh's NILMDTS pics for me. What I got in the mail was a lovely photo of Carleigh's feet and a small book with edited pictures. They are really, really nice!! Thank you so much Mary Ellen!! You have been so very kind to me! (Sorry poor pic I took it with my phone.)


I want to bring a special little girl to your attention. Her name is Harley Carson. I met her mom Katie (DancingK) through Cafemom. We are in a couple groups together, which includes a group where our daughters were born in the same month. Harley has been diagnosed with Alper's Syndrome. It is is a rare, progressive neurodegenerative disease of the brain in which there is no cure and is eventually fatal.

I pray for Harley daily and that God would slow the progression of this disease. Right now, Harley's liver is failing and that is not a good thing. I ask that you please pray for Harley, Katie, and Cameron. I also want to make you aware that we are trying to raise money to get a shadowbox for Harley. This is something Katie and Cameron would truly cherish and it costs about $300 to get one. If you feel led to help, please go the Fundable website that is set up and donate.


You can read updates about Harley on her blog, her CaringBridge page, or her Cafemom group.

Carleigh's photo is up on Say It With Flowers in Rory's Garden Part 2. Her flower is the 41st one if I counted correctly. It is a purplish daisy and it's so fitting! Go check out all the beautiful photos of names on flowers.