What Have You Done For Someone Today?

For those of you that have been checking in on our blog and waiting for an update, we're sorry it has been so long. Ever since our event it has been a bit of a whirlwhind. We have been in the midst of organizing, organizing and more organizing. Not only are we forming our non-profit and working on executive proposals and prospectuses (all terms we are learning about), but we have also been busy doing LOTS of boxes. This, of course, is the part we love! We have made a delivery to Banner Desert Hospital and have even seen our boxes reach as far as Australia and North Dakota.

We have been working on teaming up with an AMAZING group of medical professionals - Phoenix Perinatal Associates. They are specialists in the area of obstetrics and gynecology with advanced training in the management of high-risk pregnancies. I was referred to their office when I first learned of the news with DeLanee and have had 2 babies with their office since then. I have felt so blessed to have been in their care during one of the hardest times of my life as well as the happiest. I cannot say enough good about the level of treament you receive as a patient as well as the compassion they show you as an individual during a difficult time. I am so happy at the interest and support they have shown in sponsoring Lanee's Legacy and appreciate all they've done so far. We recently used their offices to assemble boxes as well as being able to store our supplies. I (and my family) are so happy to not have my living room stacked to the ceiling with boxes!! They currently are storing many boxes that are completed and ready for delivery as well as those that still need completed. Those who are in need of one of our boxes can now go to their offices to pick one up. They will also be happy to receive any donations anyone would like to offer.

We also were recently invited to a Winter Wonderland Festival in Kearny, Arizona that the Copper Basin Chamber of Commerce hosts. During this event they do a luminaria honor walk where those who want can buy luminarias (lighted paper bags) in honor of a lost loved one. Christine Hartin and Nathan Broyles are residents of Kearny and lost a son, Zayvian David Broyles, to fetal hydrops. They were given the opportunity to choose which charity would receive the proceeds from the luminarias. We were so honored that they would select us. We had such a good time participating in their festival and were happy to meet so many awesome people!

Thank you Christine and Nathan!

Their son's luminaria:

I would like to share a story with you I recently heard. Its about a man named Dr. Jack McConnell. He was 1 of 7 children who lived in a humble home and grew up in the hills of Southwest Virginia. His father was a methodist minister and his mother a homemaker. Every night around the dinner table, his father would go around the table and ask each of his children the question "what have you done for someone today?". This became so engrained in the children that they would look for opportunities to do a good turn for someone else each day. As the children grew their motivation changed to an inner desire to help others.

Dr. McConell came to have a distinguished medical career and acheived wonderful things throughout his life including the development of the tuberculosis tine test, participated in the early development of the polio vaccine, supervised the development of Tylenol, and was instrumental in developing the magnetic resonance imaging procedure, or MRI. But what Dr. McConnell calls his greatest accomplishment is that he created an organization called "Volunteers in Medicine", which gives retired medical personnel a chance to volunteer at free clinics serving the working uninsured. Dr. McConnell made this statement: “In one of those paradoxes of life, I have benefited more from Volunteers in Medicine than my patients have.”

I don't want to compare us to Dr. McConell (we can't all be that great, right?), but what I can relate to is that we often feel this same way in that we benefit far more than any recipient mother of a box. What I have learned is that in one of the darkest times in my life it was helping others that ultimatally helped myself. It was by attempting to look outside of myself to notice someone else and what they may be going through to realize I am not alone.

I am reminded of a scripture in Luke 9:24 that states: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”

I believe that what this scripture is trying to say is that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. I have certianly found this to be true in my own life.

Recently we have had SO many people help our organization to ensure that no mother leaves the hospital empty handed. We appreciate those that have taken time from their lives to help us. It is my hope that anyone who participates in assembling boxes, making donations or providing service in any other way may also experience some of these same feelings that Dr. McConnell was talking about. We certainly thank everyone that has helped us recently in furthering our cause and helping those that need it.