Sorry I have been missing from the blog for so long. Since November 1st I have been in over my head with purse making, getting ready for three fundraisers (that were all held in less than a 24 hour period), and managing to get gifts to send back to the Midwest and Northwest. Wow! Seems like November didn't even happen :-)
On the upside, we had three fundraisers for Lila last weekend, and raised over
$1300 for her continued therapies and treatments. We are so thankful for all of the support and love that has come her way this year. You all have been an integral part of changing a little girls life forever! Wait, one step back...during the month of November, it seemed as though we had "lost" Lila. She was sleeping an unbelievable amount of hours. After going to bed at 7:00 p.m., I would have to wake her up at 8:00 a.m. to go to school. She wanted to eat continuously, was not able to balance no matter how hard she tried, was very spacey at therapies, and I was getting a little worried. After mentioning this to her physical therapist, she assured me that Lila was going through a growth spurt, and kids with CP have inconsistent growth between their muscles, tendons and bones, and would be fine in no time. Sure enough...we "got Lila back" just 2 days ago! It is nice to have her initiating balancing independently, telling stories all day long, wanting to do fine motor activities, and singing like she has never sung before. Whew...internally, I was a bit scared. Thankfully, Libby knows her stuff, and made me feel a lot better :-)
Back to fundraising...thank you to Ivye for opening up her house to all of us vendors on Friday evening. I had such a good time hanging out with the girls from church, and sharing Lila's story with our community. Saturday morning was the sign language class organized by Patty Orr, a dear friend. What a great idea that was! There were about 30 people in attendance, and based on the response, they all had as much fun as we did! We were all laughing a ton, and enjoyed changing rooms and learning different groups of signs. At the end of the class, we all went into the auditorium and signed The "12 Days of Christmas" together, which was hilarious...Lila would always just wait there doing the sign for tree, anticipating that each verse ended in "a partridge in a pear tree"...hahaha! A huge thank you goes out to the sign instructors, of which were all volunteers! THANK YOU ALL!!! At this event, we were selling 2012 signing calendars, of which we have about 40 left. The photos below are of a few of the pages in the calendar...so cute! If anyone is interested, they are $15 and I can get them to you ASAP. I would be happy to send them as well :-)
Lastly, an old friend from Chicago, who also happens to live in Reno, hosts an artists fair each Christmas and it is called "Handmade Holidays". This was located at her home in South Reno, and was such a nice, quaint event. There were three other artists, and myself, with items on display, and all of the guests were so kind and generous. I sold lots of purses, and was able to get the word out about Lila and her treatments, always hoping that the word will spread and I will be able to help another family who is struggling with these tough decisions as well. Just a great afternoon all around! Sarah also was so kind in creating a raffle basket with items from each vendor, of which all raffle ticket sales went to benefit Lila! Thank you so much, Sarah! So wonderful spending the afternoon with you :-)
That wraps up the past could of weeks. Had a good Thanksgiving with Mor Mor, seemed to fly by, and looking forward to a peaceful Christmas with the girls :-) Lila and I may be headed to Louisiana for another intensive PT program on December 31st, but still working out some of the details on that one. The therapy would be 5 days a week, for three weeks, and the cost of accommodations is throwing me off, so hopefully tomorrow I can come up with a solution :-)
Happy Holidays to you all! I promise to give updates more frequently :-)
