Please! It will take 2 minutes tops!!!!

Hello all! If you could read the post below and follow the instructions, it would be so great! The family that I wrote about is about 20 something points behind the leader, and the contest ends tomorrow. I would really love for them to win! Please please please follow the instructions. It won't take long, and I promise I'll make a great kit for you soon!!!!

(Yes, I am imploring).

~Summer

Give this family a vote!

I feel like lately I have just been asking favors, and I apologize for that. My computer has crashed and we will hopefully be getting a new one his weekend. Once we do, I promise to make a new kit for this site!

The favor that I am asking of you is this: My photographer friend, Trevor Dayley is holding a contest on Facebook which ends ON HALLOWEEN (only 2 days away!) It is called Extreme Family Makeover and there have been 20 families who have entered the contest. Whoever gets the most votes, Trevor will come and do a free family photo shoot with them.

So, we have a family in our neighborhood that I would say is one of the most service-oriented families I know. In the 6 years that I have known them, they have taken care of so many different foster kids. They have a large family to begin with, but every single one of their kids helps out with the foster children that come into their home. All of the kids are hard workers, do well in school, play musical instruments, and have a fabulous sense of humor. The parents are both examples to me of how to raise excellent children, and how to keep the family together like glue!

I would love for them to win a photo session. If you could take 2 minutes and do these 3 steps, that would be GREAT!

1. Go to Facebook.com and search for Trevor Dayley Photography. Locate the word LIKE and click on it.
2. Next click on Trevor's photos and find (I believe on page 2) the Extreme Family Makeover pictures.
3. Find our dear friends, the Eberhard family (they are in the red and green Christmas colors making silly faces) and then click on he word LIKE under their picture.

That's all! Thank you so much to those who take the time to do this!

Summer

Two new kits!

Ahh, did I get your attention with the title of this post? I am about to disappoint you though, my two new kits aren't for free. I am starting a separate blog called "Two Bucks That's All" so that I can start making a little profit from some digital kits. The name says it as it is, the kits are $2 a piece and instructions are on that site if you want to purchase them. Do not worry though, I will still be making free kits on this site!

For those interested, these are what the 2 new kits look like:



So head on over to Two Bucks That's All!

And to all of you who made donations for the Payne family, the amount has come to just over $1,190.00! And some have emailed saying they will still be donating. That is amazing!!! I will be so excited to write and mail them a check. That is more then I could have hoped for. Thank you so much!

Easton kit

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well. My heart feels heavy for a mother out there that I met 9 years ago. Her name is Joy Payne. I always thought it was funny that her name was an oxymoron. But at this time, she does not feel the joy, only the pain. One of my dear friends (who is best friends with Joy) wrote this:

"Our best friends Tom and Joy Payne just had their 3rd child, Easton, who is now 3 months old. He was born with dwarfism, a mild case of Pierre Robin syndrome (where the lower jaw is too small and the tongue blocks the throat), and a cleft soft palette (which also causes airway obstruction). This baby has a tracheostomy and a feeding tube in his stomach. They feed him every 3 hours around the clock and must suction out the tracheostomy when he spits up—which is almost constantly. You can imagine that with this challenge, they get zero sleep. They are up around the clock managing him. At the time he was born they also had two other children to take care of.

This, of course, turned their lives upside down. They have been working with the state to be approved for 24-hour nursing care. This will not take effect until the middle of November, they are told.

However, to add to the trial that they are facing, when Easton was 11 weeks old, their 3-year old son Jaxon drowned.

They now face the overwhelming costs associated with her hospitalization from the pre-term birth of Easton, his immense medical bills, AND the ambulance, life-flight, hospital and burial costs from Jaxon’s death. …Along with the horrible pain, grief and guilt that comes with losing a child this way…

Their insurance covers no nursing costs. 4 days after the funeral of Jaxon, they woke in the night ready for one of Easton’s feedings as his emergency alarms started sounding. He was not breathing and had no pulse—Tom, his father had to revive him by doing infant chest compressions and CPR into the hole in his throat.

They cannot keep living this way until the red tape clears for their nursing care to kick in. Being this physically exhausted is extremely detrimental to their emotional healing and they are terrified that “another child will die on our watch”.

We’re asking for any donations you can give so that this family can pay for a night nurse for the next month until the state care begins. Prices can range from $3,000-5,000. We’d also like to help them cover all the other medical and funeral bills that are piling up. Please give whatever you can to this amazing family. They have been through so much hardship, and it tears us up to not be able to give them whatever money they need. PLEASE HELP US LIFT THEIR BURDEN SLIGHTLY AND GIVE THEM HOPE. Thank you."

I cannot imagine losing a son, and simultaneously trying to care for a newborn with such health concerns. I just cannot imagine the pain. It is tiresome enough to have a newborn. I am at a loss. So, I decided to throw together a quick kit called "Easton" in hopes of raising some money to help this amazing family. Please say prayers for them. And if you feel that you can donate some money, please feel free to do so using my donate button. I will accept donations until one week from now (Sunday, October 17th). When you pay through PayPal, please leave a note that says "Easton" so that I know that's what it's for. Thank you!

Here is a picture of sweet Easton:

And here is a picture of Joy and her family. The little boy Jaxon is the one who they lost from the drowning:

Click here to download the FREE "Easton" kit:
Easton kit - papers 1
Easton kit - papers 2
Easton kit - elements