Cards for Cancer

Spirit Jump is a wonderful organization and I have enjoyed being a Spirit Jumper. They are sponsoring an event called Cards for Cancer on April 10th. On that date or close to it, teams of volunteers will bring cards to cancer centers in their areas for the centers to give out to their patients. It is a way to uplift their spirits and let them know they are being thought of. I immediately signed up as the Captain for the Handmade Louisiana Team in honor of Jonathan. We will be donating cards to the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. Amy (my HML and all around buddy) and I got together and made some cards to donate. It was fun to create the cards and I hope other members of the HML teams also get involved.

Snow

Everyone was so excited about the possibility of snow. We get snow so rarely down here, but it will happen on occasionally. It happened. Snow! Snow today was especially meaningful to us today. Last year it snowed the morning after Jonathan was buried. So many of us thought it was God's way of helping us to feel some happiness during our mourning. It did. Today was the anniversary of Jon's death and it snowed again. Not as much as last year, but it still counted as snow. Again, it was seen as a something to help us with the pain. Since 1850, snow had fallen in "measurable amounts" rather than traces in the city just 18 times, according to the National Weather Service. This one was the earliest recorded snowfall.

Sometimes little miracles are brought into our lives. To me, this was one.

Rehearsal Time

Tonight was the rehearsal for tomorrow's dance review. This will be our 13th year watching Robyn perform and will be Cara's 8th review. I enjoy watching the rehearsal, because I don't get to see much of the review. I am backstage doing the class mom thing. I get to come out and watch my girls' dances from a special seat on the front row for the class moms, but that's about it. For some reason, every picture I took tonight was blurry from the movement of the dancers. I tried all different settings and the batteries are fresh. It definitely shows movement. This picture was from Robyn's jazz number (I did have Cara's up, but she made me take it off).

It was wonderful to see so many of the girls wearing the t-shirts Robyn had designed for the review. She was able to raise $180 in profits to go toward Jonathan's wish of putting in an irrigation system for an orphanage in Zimbabwe. I grumbled and stressed a lot about doing these shirts, but they came out well and Robyn was happy with them.

Number 10

For the past month and a half, I have been on a roll knitting hats to donate to the cancer patients at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. When Jonathan was undergoing chemo, the hospital had lots of hats for young children, but few in teen sizes. In fact there were none at all for boys. So I am focusing all of my knitting on the older child size and making sure to do some in "manly" colors. I am drawn to the brights, pinks, reds, and purples, so I have to make a conscious effort to buy yarn in colors a guy would wear. I hope I have chosen colors that would have made Jonathan proud.

Working the Needles

Lately I have been knitting up a storm. I really am loving it. I posted about it twice already here and here. I have found a pattern that is easy for me and one I can adapt in size, texture and color. The last two hats I knitted, I used bamboo circular needles. It was ok for one of the hats. That yarn was a little slippery and moved easily on the needles. The last hat I completed, I did not like the bamboo needles. I am not real thrilled with the yarn either. I bought some new nickel circulars and as now using them on this new hat. It is making a big difference. I am using the same yarn as the previous hat, but the new needles are making it easier to knit with it.

I am making these hats to donate to Children's Hospital in New Orleans. Robyn's best friend, Jonathan, lost his battle with brain cancer in December. He spent some time in Children's Hospital during part of his treatment. He was a wonderful person and is greatly missed. You can follow my progress on my hats by looking at the little graphic on the sidebar. I will update it with the latest number of hats completed...in case anyone is interested.

Cranes

My older daughter's best friend, Jonathan, died at the beginning of December. Since that time, she has been putting 2 cranes by his grave each time she goes to the cemetery. This is not all of the cranes, as some have blown away, decomposed, or were taken by others who were visiting. It is a colorful site to see when we pull up in the car.

I miss Jonathan very much.