Handing out Hope

I was reminded several times this weekend about how important it is to provide others with hope and comfort! I am so thankful for everyone that has surrounded Ferrari and I during our difficult times these past couple of years, and I have a desire to do the same for others. This is definitely the top reason for this blog. This is a great place for anyone to come get hope and encouragement anonymously.

Last week it was brought to my attention that some family members of mine were going to visit the hospital where I delivered, Banner Good Samaritan, and make a donation. Instantly, I knew I wanted to help. For those of you who don't already know, my friend and now cousin; (we actually married cousins, which kind of makes us cousins now too, right :) lost her baby girl Reese in September. We both delivered at the same hospital, therefore our family has a huge heart for providing hope to moms who will experience a similar loss at Good Sam. I only had a few days to put some stuff together, but I already knew what I wanted to donate. Once we knew the twins were coming and there was no stopping them, the hospital was kind enough to bring in some stuff for me to shop through. I was not prepared with outfits or blankets for Arie and Hadie, so they show me what other people had donated. I am so thankful to the women who sewn their tiny matching outfits! One of Ferrari's aunts had sewn matching receiving blankets for the twins, however; since my children were only 1 lb. each, the regular receiving blankets were enormous! We literally had to fold them into quarters to wrap them up. So, I was on a mission to make blanket sets that had matching blankets in two sizes. One blanket is the regular receiving blanket size, and the other is a small one about the quarter of the size of the regular one. This way moms who have have preemies have one that fits, and moms that have full term babies have one the right size. There is also a significance to providing each mom with two blankets. I was devastated when I realized the twins needed something to be buried in, but they only had one blanket and one outfit each. As a mom, I wanted to keep these items for memories. So, I decided to give each mom two matching blankets. They can keep one, and wrap their baby in the other! If you can't tell already, I have a huge passion for helping mom's that go through infant loss! I hope to start a non-profit soon that will provide moms with a box of necessities! I will definitely keep you posted on this!

Here are the 6 sets of blankets I was able to put together by Saturday. Each set also has a card with a few encouraging words and my blog address.

Here is a picture of all the stuff together that my family donated! There were blankets, onesies, stuffed animals, hair accessories, picture frames, lots of food to thank all of the doctors and nurses at the hospital and much more!

I hope our family can make this a tradition. A tradition of "Handing out Hope" together!

I was reminded of an awesome scripture yesterday at church!

"Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any troubles with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4