Give Me Some Happy

What’s shakin’, party people?! It’s a pleasure to once again co-host the More Than Mommies Mixer. If you scroll down to the bottom of this post, you’ll find all the details about the mixer and how to link up. And now, I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to take advantage of my blogging stage this week and tug at your heartstrings.

Some say it can’t be done. Others swear it’s a recipe for disaster. Yet, I’ve accomplished a feat most believe is impossible: I roomed with three girls in a cramped apartment for a whole year at college and we are still friends today.

<Insert audible gasps here>

We try to get together once a month and at our November shindig, I begged: “Someone give me good news. Tell me something happy.” I don’t know if it was my PMS or the incessant depressing news reports, but I needed a dose of joy, pronto. We looked around the table at each other, silently, faces pleading for someone else to have a story that didn’t include another illness or loss or heart break.

Nada.

And that’s when we decided: WE’LL FIND THE HAPPY, DAMMIT!

Every Christmas, we do a Secret Santa exchange, but this year, we’ve opted to donate the money we would have spent on gifts for each other to a charity of our choice. There are a zillion deserving charities in this world, so I thought I would have had a more difficult time deciding to which I would give my money. But then there was Jessi.

Jessi is 18-years-old, but she’s not supposed to be. In fact, she wasn’t supposed to live for more than a day because she was born with water on her brain, a hole in her heart that affected all four chambers, severe reflux, and a seizure disorder. When she was just four days old, she had surgery to drain the water from her brain. Before she was 1-year-old, Jessi had two open-heart surgeries.

Just think about that for a minute: while most children are smashing cake into their chubby little faces, this baby girl spent her first birthday in the hospital. Instead of cake and a party, she had another surgery and got a feeding tube placed. 

When Jessi was just 12-years-old, she suffered a series of Grand Mal Seizures, and then had a stroke. I don’t know about you, but when I was 12, I was going on family vacations and starting to notice cute boys at school.

In 2008, a third open heart surgery was deemed necessary, and in 2011, Jessi was diagnosed with Pre-B high risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia . In 2008, my husband and I celebrated the news that we would be parents for the first time;  in 2011, we welcomed our second child. 

Jessi has been put on palliative care and her mom and dad are facing something no parents should ever have to face: how to make death most comfortable for their daughter.

Somehow, these remarkable people find the strength to smile and be thankful for God’s grace. I don’t know how because I would surely be curled up in the fetal position in a corner of my house. But not these people. Jessi’s mom wants nothing more than to raise awareness about her daughter’s condition and help other parents in the same position. The only thing the woman has asked for is a prayer for her daughter. Selfless much?

Didn’t this crazy blog woman say she wanted happy news?! 

Yes, yes I did. And I have it: we can help Jessi’s family.

Send a prayer, a monetary donation (a PayPal account was set up for Jessi and her family: funds4teamjessi@gmail.com), or even pay it forward and blog about this story to help Jessi’s mom help other parents–whatever you are able to do will make a difference. Jessi is the fighter, but let us be the champions of her cause.

A special thanks goes out to one of the biggest hearts I know, Jessica Brun. This lady has done so much for Jessi and her family already, and she continues to forge ahead and do everything in her power to help. She’s a good egg.

********************************************************************************************

Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test!! Sorry…too much Disney this week…

Hostesses: Christine and Janene at More than Mommies
Co-host: Moi
Life of the Party: Dani
and
Monica the Mixologist

Hop Along with Us (I never tire of a good pun):

• Follow your Hostesses – Christine and Janene from More Than Mommies
• Follow our Co-Hostess – Meredith at The Mom of the Year
• Follow the Life of The Party –  (we choose a different Life of The Party EVERY week! All you have to do to be in the running is Tweet about us using the #MTMmixer hashtag –
• Follow our Mixologist –   Every week we will choose one participant to get our party started at the #4 slot.  All you have to do is link up (and follow the “rules”) to be considered!
• Follow the person directly BEFORE you on the hop!
• Finally, we ask that you post one (or both!) of the following buttons in either a post or on your sidebar to let other people know where you are partying today!

<a border=”0″ href=”http://www.morethanmommies.net/2012/11/the-more-than-mommies-mixer-see-and-be.html”
target=”_blank”><img src=”
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/MoreThanMommies/Mixer2.jpg”/></a>

<a border=”0″ href=”http://www.morethanmommies.net/2012/11/the-more-than-mommies-mixer-see-and-be.html”
target=”_blank”><img src=”
http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r578/MoreThanMommies/Mixer3.jpg”/></a>

Link up your blog or Blog post for GFC or RSS:

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Link up your Facebook Page:

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Link up your Twitter Handle:

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Link up your Pinterest Boards:

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…