Today’s 99 books in 33 days goes to two more from the @MckMama community.  I so appreciate all of your support in sharing your stories with Memoir of Me.  Jeannine says, “I wanted to nominate my daughter Maddie. She is 9 months and received a life saving bone marrow transplant at 4 months old. Thank you.”  You bet, yay!  Maddie!  You are amazing!

The next nomination is from Josanna.  She says, “Although he is still quite young, he loves to cuddle and hear stories.  Currently, my husband is finishing his degree, so I am working full-time outside the home.  My job requires me to travel about 75% of the time.  This is what needs to happen for our family right now, but it is still hard.  It is hard for my husband because he knows how much I want to be home full time, and it is hard for me because I miss my family.  I’d love to have a book that tells the story of all the fun times we have together.  I love the personalized letters that you put at the end of each book.  What a special book for a child to have and definitely cherish! Plus, it is so hard to find books in the US that refer to the mom as Mum, so a personalized book would be fabulous.  If I won, here is my letter that I would love to have in the book.”

Dear Augustus,

You rocked my world the day you were born.  For the first 3 weeks, you lived in the NICU... You were so content to be held and rocked.  All of the nurses and doctors loved hanging out with you - “the picky eater” of the NICU.   We were with you as much as possible, constantly encouraging you to grow strong, sleep lots and learn to eat - we wanted you home as soon as possible!  Once you came home - the partying began! You and I had a wonderful summer traveling all over. You loved to sleep in the middle of hot, loud swim meets.  You loved watching the kids swim fast and you loved the loud noises.  It was so much fun to look down at you in the sling and see your happy, sweet face smiling back at me!  We went swimming in the lake, and tubing in the river.  You are a natural fish!  When your daddy was off work, he came to play with us as well.  In the fall, I had to go back to work. Sometimes, you and your daddy fly out to see me.  You are such a good flier!  On your first flight, the flight attendants gave you an award for being so good!  You didn’t even make a sound.  Which made your Daddy really happy, since you two were traveling alone!

Sometimes, when I am away for work, you go to Camp Mimi or Camp Jinon.  You are such a good sport!  I wish I could be with you all of the time, but my work has me travel a lot.  When I am away, your Daddy reminds you how much your Mummy loves you. Knowing you are at home waiting for me, helps my week go by so quickly.  You are the light of my every day!  I am so grateful that God placed you in my life! 

I love you past Pluto and back...

Mummy

Thank you Josanna.  Daddy can read your special book "Dear Augustus, Love, Mummy" while your away and share all your special memories.  Love, Michelle

We have three more books for 99 in 33 gift-giving frenzy!  This is for Heather, “I would like to nominate my cousin, Susie Lewis.  She is expecting her first child on June 17th.  On June 15th of 2009 Susie very suddenly lost her 27 year old brother, Ryan, to a clot in his lungs while he was playing on the floor with his nieces.  Ryan had just found a direction for his life and was going to graduate from college this fall.  Susie is going to name her baby (girl or boy) Ryan in honor of her brother.  Their entire family is really struggling to get through each day.  This will be a special baby that I pray brings healing to their family and something to shine about in the middle of this rain.  A book from you would be a very special and meaningful gift.  Thank you so much for what you are doing.”  Yay Susie, I think a Memoir of Me book will carry on the story of Ryan in your letter to your little girl or boy.

The next three books go to Shannon’s triplets!  Nicholas, Delaney and Alannah.  Shannon says, “My kids are 2 year old triplets, they were born 10 weeks premature and spent 3 months in the NICU...and always wanted a book or story to tell them when they are a bit older about the long and amazing story they went through to be here today. It’s not as medically shocking as some blogs I have read...but it is my miracle. 2 had heart operations at only a few weeks old...Nicholas was 2lb 15oz...Delaney was 1lb 15oz and Alannah was 2lb 9 oz.

I spent 3 months on bedrest...and I know there is so much more to write but I just want to make sure they knew they were amazing miracles who should always love each other because the only constant they will have in the far future is each other...even if they beat each other up now haha...no matter what people say about multiples...they do not do better at sharing!!  Thanks...even though it’s not very spectacular…they weren't planned...and very spontaneous...but no one could love them more than me. Shannon, I think triplets sound super spectacular! Thank you for sharing their story.  We will be so happy for each of them to have their very own Memoir of Me book.

Sincerely and Grateful to pass along these special stories!  Michelle

Today, we give away books to the niece and nephew of Cami – who inspired our 99 books in 33 days.  Here is her letter to them.  “Dear Taylor and Thomas, You are two very special kids and the best niece and nephew anyone could ask for. I hope you will always remember the trip we took with your mom to Disneyland. We all had such a blast on the rides and eating junk food. But Mickey Mouse evaded us all day. We were on a mission to get your photo taken with him, but he was just too busy elsewhere to grace us with his presence. And then, just as we were about to give up, there he was, standing about ten feet away and there was nobody in line to take pictures. We got that great shot of you guys and your mom wearing your new, personalized mouse ears. It was perfect. You are both growing up so fast and turning into smart and loving young people. Remember that I will always love you and be here for you both. Love, Aunt Cami

The next two books go to Cerriah and Alexis, two amazing and spirited girls.  Their mom Gina writes, “Hello! I read your post about the 99 books and I would love to nominate both my girls. Both of my girls were diagnosed with Type I diabetes at a very young age. My oldest, Cerriah was 3 and my middle child, Alexis, was 4 years old. In their lifetime they have endure 6 shots a day and 10 finger pricks a day. That may not seem bad, but when you do the math you see that they have had thousands of shots and finger pricks in their short lives. Cerriah has almost lost her battle numerous times. In 2008 we had the ambulance at our house every month. My neighbors already knew to come and take care of my other kids when they saw the flashing lights. Cerriah had strep on her blood stream and nearly passed away. Her temperature when we got to the hospital was 106.8 . That's not a typo.  Life is never dull in this household!   Both girls take their diabetes like champs. They never complain, take shots and blood draws better than most adults, and are always watching their carbohydrate intakes.  

Although life is tough for them, they never take life for granted. Both girls have over 900 hours of community service and have raised thousands of dollars for various charities. Alexis won a national award in 2008 for her community service and Cerriah won a national academic and volunteer award in 2009!  They have their own organization where they collect books and bears for hospitalized children. Being on the receiving end of books and bears has made their hospital stay a little brighter, so they wanted to make sure they extended that same experience to other kids.I thank you for the opportunity to share our stories. I am sure you have thousands of emails, but it felt good just getting this all off my chest. I have amazing girls that never let their "dis" ability affect their perception of this world.

Thank you Cami and Gina for your nominations for 99 in 33.  We are praying for little Cerriah and Alexis.  We hope your Memoir of Me books bring you special moments to share together.  Love, Michelle

I have two drawers that are of prime real estate in our kitchen.  The two drawers hold puzzles and games.  These items, I’ve played with both Tucker and Alyssa when they were five years and under.  Alyssa is now seven and half years old.  I’ve done the math.  That means this drawer is full of things we haven’t used in over two years.

I go to this drawer, every month or two, with the well-meaning intention of packing away these games and puzzles for my grandchildren.  I want to use the drawer for things we use on a daily basis.  I put my hand on the knob and pull with resolution.  I peer inside, standing over the drawer’s contents, and it happens every time.

The drawer’s slides apparently operate my heart, too.  My heart opens, wide and unprotected, and drops memories -- one by one -- into the drawer.  Alyssa’s chubby hand moving a unicorn in place on our Noah’s Ark.  Tucker smiling up at me as I dramatically swish my blue girl down the green chute and he moves his yellow boy up the biggest ladder.  The ABC dinosaur puzzle with the missing “F” piece we’ve never found.  The memories tumble out into the two drawers from my opened heart. 

I quickly close the drawer in effort to close my heart, too.   I close the drawer to prevent too much spillage of these moments passed.  I close the drawer to keep each memory next to my pulse, beating strong through my veins.  I close the drawer to keep it packed with things I don’t use, but things I really need.  

Some day, I suspect, my soul will have secured these moments into my energy field.   I quote my fav philosopher, “The soul generates and organizes energy of love, the energy of compassion, the awareness of truth, the awareness of creativity and intelligence.”  And some day, my soul will organize my two drawers.

We are on our day 15 of gift giving frenzy at Memoir of Me!  We have shared many heartfelt and adorable stories of amazing children and families.

There are two touching stories I am sharing today for 99 books in 33 days.  The first family has four children, Joel, Emily, Karl, and baby Joshua.  Their third child Karl, was on the verge of not making it several times. Karl has stuck through some really hard times and overcome so much for such a little guy. He recently underwent a surgery to reverse an ostimy and will have one to add cochlear implants later. Both parents are deaf as well.  They recently just had a wonderful trip to Beliz together and Kurt is doing really well.  Thank you L for sharing his story and creating Memoir of Me books for them!

The other special family who is the recipient of 99 in 33 has a son named Gavin.  The family just passed the one year anniversary of their Gavin dying from cancer. He was only eight years old. Gavin was an amazing spirit and kid that lived so much in a short period of time.  They have other children and will be sharing their memories together of Gavin in their Memoir of Me book.  Thanks again L for sharing Gavin’s story to keep his memory alive in a Memoir of Me book.   

Thank you again for sharing your special stories.  Please send me more!  Love, Michelle

3 more in 33.  I share two more stories today of the three.  These are nominations from MckMama community.  This is from Jessie.  She says “I saw you linked from MckMama's Facebook. Thank you for what you're doing for these families!  The family I think would truly appreciate a book is the family of Jonah.  You can read about their story at his mom Patrice's blog.  I've known Patrice since I was a teenager from Bible camp.  Patrice and Matt's first son, Gabe, was stillborn, and their almost-one-year-old, Jonah, has a very rare skin disease, Epidermolysis Bullosa.  Basasically, if anything causes friction on his skin, his skin blisters and comes off.  As of right now, there is no cure.  Patrice stays home to care for Jonah 100%, and is the most selfless mom I know.  A book like this would mean so much to the Williams family.  Please consider giving one to them.

Laura Bower, Executive Director & Child Passenger Safety Technician, nominated Kyle David Miller’s family.  Kyle was born March 13, 2002 and from the moment he was born he filled our lives with such joy and sense of completion. His big sister Katie was so happy to have a little brother, she had been talking about him for months before he was born,  Kyle was a blessing, perfect in every way.  In 2005, Kyle was killed in a car accident.  He had had his seat belt on, but a 5-point harness secured and tethered to the car is the safest way to keep your child in a car until they are 80 pounds.  Please visit the Kyle David Miller Foundation and help put a child into a safe car seat - thank you!  If you want to buy a 5-point harness, please visit http://www.hipmonkey.com - all proceeds go to the foundation!

Thank you to the families for sharing your heartfelt and touching stories.  Love, Michelle

Today, I share one of the 3 books in our 99 book gift giving frenzy.  Carrie won a Memoir of Me 99 books in 33 days for her daughter Charley through Midwest Mommy.  Carrie blogs on the her site calle Mom-Wife-Triathlete.  Here is some of Carrie’s story “I am due with #2 June 2nd. Charley is amazing - always been a good baby, good sleeper and so smart. She is just now starting to talk in full sentences - and is cracking us up daily.  One thing she does that makes us laugh is now she is like a parrot - but not just with words, with expressions too. It is like looking in a mirror some times and I can't believe I do those things, too!! It is just too funny to see an almost 2 year old (Feb 28th is her bday - and she was born in a leap year...one day before!) do what I do. One thing that made us laugh so hard was I'd yell into our bedroom from Charley's room when I needed something - like a bottle if she was up at night - and I'd yell - "Jimmy bottle!" and then the next day she was sitting in her chair in the living room and I guess wanted a bottle (aka sippy cup) and she yelled "Jimmy bottle!" we almost died laughing!"

Thank you, Carrie, for sharing the funny, adorable stories of Charley.  We hope you capture some of these great memories for her on her leap year b-day in a Memoir of Me book!  Good luck with baby number two!

That makes for 27 books we’ve given away.  72 to go!  Love, Michelle

Mandy from and Nati nominated Ellyn and Seth from Profoundly Seth. I took Ellyn’s letter to Seth and created a Memoir of Me book for Seth.  Here’s the letter that will be in their Memoir of Me book.

Dear Seth, Today, you are ten months old. I like ten... It's also very close to 12, which, I'm not sure if you've realized, means you'll be A WHOLE YEAR OLD SOON! That completely blows me away.  It’s been overwhelming, then, a huge blessing...insurance approval for cochlear implants!  And the money to pay for them! Handing you off the anesthesiologist that morning may have been one of the hardest things I've done, surpassed only by the day I had to hand your brother over to the nurse as she wheeled him away from me for the last time. But you were a champ, and your surgeon said that surgery could not have gone better. Recovery was hard, but you bounced back and the day you were activated was one of the most amazing days of my life. Seeing your eyes snap to mine and you start laughing was so beautiful. Every day since has been a joy, seeing you react and learn every second. You are AGE APPROPRIATE for speech and language! I love the comments we've been getting from our therapist. One called you a poster child for CI's. Another called you a superstar. But what you are to me, my bouncing, 10 month old boy, is a miracle. My very own cuddly, loving miracle. I love you, Bubby. Mama

Jessie, another McKMama follower, made this nomination “The family I think would truly appreciate a book is the family of Jonah Williams.  You can read about their story at his mom Patrice's blog.  "I've known Patrice since I was a teenager from Bible camp. Patrice and Matt's first son, Gabe, was stillborn, and their almost-one-year-old, Jonah, has a very rare skin disease, Epidermolysis Bullosa.  Basically, if anything causes friction on his skin, his skin blisters and comes off.  As of right now, there is no cure.  Patrice stays home to care for Jonah 100%, and is the most selfless mom I know.”

Last 3 for day 8 of 99 in 33 is Michaela for her friend Alisha. “One of my very dear friends went to heaven in September. I write this fighting back tears...Alisha was diagnosed with cancer. She has a 6 year old little girl and she was 7 ½ months pregnant with her second daughter. While still pregnant during an ultrasound they discovered that she had cancer in her ovaries. She was taken to Denver to give birth so that they could attempt to treat the cancer, her daughter Irelyn was born prematurely but very healthy and strong. When they went in to do the surgery and hopefully remove what they thought was early stages of ovarian cancer, they discovered a very grim scene within Alisha. They removed as much of the cancer as they could, but as you can imagine, she had a long road a hoe. I am heartbroken, we weren't as close as we were in High School, but I love her and I am so destroyed by this. Mostly it crushes me for her little girls. I just can't imagine their life without their mommy. I thought that Alisha's little girls are SO DESERVING. All they have are memories and her youngest daughter only has the photo's and stories people show her and tell her. We have been trying to figure out a way to memorialize Alisha's life somehow and this would be perfect."

Grateful and thankful.  Love, Michelle

My book club sister Anna nominated her friend Samantha's two little ones, Lauren and Alexandra. This is the story from Anna, “Lauren and Alex lost their dad this summer to a tragic drowning accident in Grand Rapids. The two girls were on the boat when their dad died saving the life of a member of his youth group. These girls LOVED their daddy-playing superheroes with him, dancing and twirling in the living room, reading books. I laughed so hard watching the two of them take on their dad, the velociraptor - shooting him with their Spiderman webs and laser sound effects. Lauren and Alex have two younger siblings who will probably not remember much about their dad because of their ages when he died. It strikes me that Lauren and Alex now take on a very important role...they are now their father's story keepers - they are charged with passing down the memory of "who dad was" to their younger sister and brother. Maybe a Memoir of Me book can help them pass on their dad’s story...”  Samantha, Lauren and Alex, words are inadequate.  Your husband and dad was valiant and honorable. 

Jacquie, a mom from Alyssa’s class, shared this touching story about her sister, Dawn, her life partner, Cindy, and Ian.  On October 28^th, 2006, Ian was born to Shauna.  Shauna is addicted to Meth and Ian was born addicted to the drug.  Shauna left Ian, literally, on Dawn and Cindy’s doorstep.  Shauna knew she couldn’t do for Ian what Dawn and Cindy could do for Ian.  That day changed Dawn and Cindy’s lives in an amazing way.  They were so grateful Shauna chose them to care for Ian.  Over the last three years, they have given Ian endless love full of constant attention.   Ian also now has the financial stability and resources, including medical insurance, to do whatever it is that his heart and mind desire.  Dawn and Cindy worked very hard for three years to make the adoption legal.  The process was grueling.  But after 3 yrs, Ian was officially adopted last September!  Jacquie says, “I am officially the Favorite Aunti!!” Yay Ian, Cindy, Dawn, Shauna and Jacquie! 

Today as I type this, I am in such awe of the people who share their spirits in such breathtaking ways. Love, Michelle

My fellow mountain bike wife Carmen nominated Bella.  This is Bella’s story told through Carmen, “Bella is the daughter of my twin sister, Carrie. Their family has gone through a very rough time as of late. Nathan (my brother-in-law) lost his job just before Christmas and they currently find themselves as a family of 4 with very little income and no health insurance. Mommy just went back to her job today leaving daddy home with the kids. It was a tough morning for her that is for sure. Bella is 3 years old and just got a brand new baby brother, Matthew! She is a beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed firecracker. She loves princesses and can rarely be found wearing her regular clothes...she is always dressed as a princess! Her favorite is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I am sure that a Memior of Me book would bring their whole family a great deal of cheer!"

My brother Pete sent 99 books in 33 days to his co-worker Tiffany.  Tiffany nominated her daughter.  “Jordann is a 4 year old girl with more charisma and love for life than most of us have in far more years on this planet. Jordann was only 15 months old when her brother was born and Max has some sensory processing challenges and often needs extra care.  She cheerfully takes her place as Max’s older sister and biggest advocate.  Jordann is a bright little girl with a great zest for life and teach and play with her younger brother Max.  At 2 years old she was saying things to us like “Daddy is that condensation on your truck window this morning?”  She loves talking about the weather outside, but is quick to tell you that she does not like storms, even if it is just the angels bowling.”

My dear college friend Amy has a sister Wendy.  Wendy, whose youngest child is 12, was pleasantly shocked when she found out she was pregnant.  Will has been a joyous addition to a family of 4 siblings ages 9-15 years old.  Here is Amy’s nomination: “Dear Will, I am writing this to you as you turn 6 months old!  I was there on the day you were born; one of the most special days of my life... one I will never forget.  To me, you were the best gift our family received in 2009... sent to us by angels.  It has been such a joy watching you grow in your first year.  There is so much to love about you: your eyes that twinkle when you smile, your silly little giggles and gurgles and your soft, squishy cheeks.  I feel so lucky to be able to help care for you and watch you grow.  I love you with my whole heart and soul.  Auntie Amy

Here is an adorable pic of Bella in her Belle dress.  Sincerely happy to share 3 more stories!  Love, Michelle