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A Time to Remember - Two Years

3/25/2014

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This past weekend we celebrated our two year anniversary in making hospital gowns for children across the United States and around the globe. What a great accomplishment, what an amazing experience, what a blessing for my own life the past two years have been (even with the crazy times)...but we also took the time this year to celebrate the lives of the children we have made gowns for and remember those that have passed away over the past two years.
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Each child we made a gown for that traded in their super hero capes for angel wings had a lantern with their name, date of birth, date the became an angel, diagnosis and anything else the family, us, or the person who purchased the lantern in their memory wanted to say on it.

This year we released 45 lanterns - there were a few duplicates from where Gracie's Gowns had a lantern for the child and someone else wanted to purchase a lantern in memory as well, but overall there was one lantern per child. We had a few lanterns as well for children that we did not make a gown for, but were warriors as well - and we gladly added remembering their courage, strength and smiles to our ceremony.
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Due to some weather related issues, we started later, but lanterns went in the water around 8:00 p.m. and the final one went out about 10:00 p.m. It was a very cold night, but watching the lanterns float in the water, seeing their reflections and just how they illuminated the water was breath-taking. Even more so, it was very, very emotional for me. Too have a visual of the children that lose their lives battling illness was heart-breaking...to know that this is only the children our organization has personally worked with in two years was devastating. There are so many more children who pass away each day, week, month and year that if we lit a lantern for each of them - we'd have to worry about them catching themselves on fire...there wouldn't be enough water for them all to float.

Watching the candles go out was probably the most emotional part of the whole night.
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The lanterns - if the wind didn't blow them out - started to sink as they were wet. They are biodegradable, which is the point for them to get wet and sink/fall apart/etc. But as they did...you would see this light, barely above the water...like it was holding on unto the last second. Fighting until the very end to stay shining. They flickered, almost went out, flickered some more, got brighter and held on...and then once the water came closer, the flame disappeared without any warning. Just like our little warriors.

They fight until the very end, giving it 100% and then some - they have so many close calls and yet still manage to pull through and almost make a complete turn around and then...in a blink of an eye, they are gone.
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Here is all of the lanterns we released out in the water - a beautiful tribute and celebration of their life.

Over the next few months, I will be creating an angels/in memory of page here on our website. It is my hope to get each child that we know has become an angel and learn about the ones we do not already know, on that page with their parents permission and help.

This will become an annual event for Gracie's Gowns - and for those that may not be able to attend at night, it is in my plans to do a balloon release during the day and make that a family event as well.

To view all the photos and lanterns from the event - you can visit this link below:

Gracie's Gowns Two Year Anniversary Lantern Release
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Tickets on Sale - Spring Raffle - Just for Mom

3/19/2014

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Gracie's Gowns is hosting a combined Pampered Chef and Scentsy raffle fundraiser just in time for Mother's Day!

We started selling tickets in February and will continue to have them on sale through April 30th, 2014. Tickets are $5.00/each.

Payments can be made by cash, check or PayPal - we will also have an "Add to Cart" button on our events page.



You can mail payments to the address below - please make any checks out to Gracie's Gowns, Inc :
Gracie's Gowns 
c/o: Jessica Kidd 
159 Ordinary Road
Mineral, VA 23117

They are two part raffle tickets, we will be keeping the part that has your name, address and phone number in order to contact you should your name be drawn as a winner during the raffle that will start on April 1st. The second section also has the same ticket number and that will be mailed to you once your payment has been received. 

Each day in April, we will be drawing a winner for one of our Pampered Chef or Scentsy prizes. They will alternate each day between the two companies. All prizes will be valued at $30.00 or more!! We will post the winners each day to Facebook and to our blog with a picture of the item won and the number drawn. Numbers will be drawn using random.org starting with the number 1 and ending with the total amount of tickets sold.

Your ticket can win more than once, but to have the best shot at winning an item, multiple tickets are encouraged.

Prizes will be mailed out weekly on Mondays - tracking numbers will be available as well once they are mailed. 

So make sure to share with your friends, family and everyone you know who loves Pampered Chef and Scentsy to help support Gracie's Gowns - all funds raised (after the purchase of the raffle items and shipping costs) will be put specifically towards our Christmas Box Program for this year


Here are some of the items we currently have in our raffle prizes!

We still have a few days left for any Scentsy Independent Consultant that would like to contribute towards our raffle prizes! All of our Pampered Chef days have been covered, but we have six Scentsy days that we need covered with item(s) valued at $30.00 or more. They can be bundled together to create the $30.00 value and we will be advertising your Facebook page and/or website each day that the item(s) you donate are given away.

Our Facebook event for the raffle is here - we will be posting winners every day to the event, as well as, our Facebook page itself:
https://www.facebook.com/events/631836276853318/


We have 60 tickets sold so far, we'd love to sell many more, so please share this with your family and friends so we can make this fundraiser really successful! Our biggest expense for the Christmas Box Project is going to be shipping, so the better start we can get on collecting the funds we will need helps us greatly!
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Fabric with Lots of Love - Lilahroo's

3/12/2014

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I have the wonderful opportunity to help out another great organization with some fabric to continue their mission. This time it is for Lilahroo's! Monica makes these precious, cozy, comfy and just wonderful blankets for children fighting medical challenges.

Do we have one? No - but my, oh my, you can just see from her photos and stories of children that have received one just how comfy they are! As someone who has made blankets for years, these are great quality, with wonderful fabrics. Cozy flannel on top and super soft minky on the back...perfect blanket ingredients!

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Here is Autumn with her gown and Lilahroo while at her clinic appointment! Doesn't she look super cozy there?!

There website to learn more about what they do, who they are, how to support and even all the stories from families that have received a blanket from Lilahroo's is:

http://www.lilahroos.com/


They are also on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lilahroos/621064347914209

So since the kiddos and I are getting a lot closer to moving time and we've been holding onto some of these fabrics for a while now, without any requests to use them for, here are the cozy flannels we had to send Monica's way and even a minky fabric too:
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They will be on their way shortly - as in probably tomorrow's mail!!
Can't wait to see what little ones get wrapped up in a cozy blankie made from these fabrics.
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Lucy's Bunny for William

3/12/2014

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I know we posted about this on Facebook, but I just really felt like I wanted to write and post it on our blog as well - especially since we have followers here, that don't Facebook.

Every so often (and much more than I ever want to admit or think about), we have a little one that passes away before their gown is received. Sometimes even before we have started their gown request. While I know it is always a possibility, it is still the hardest part about operating Gracie's Gowns.

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Lucy is one of those precious little ones. I had just completed with sewing on her gown and the next day her mother Rinda messaged me through Facebook saying her precious little girl had passed away. She was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and the complications from her heart defect gave her a beautiful set of angel wings.

I asked her mother if she still wanted Lucy's gown as a keepsake and she said yes, but then I had another idea in my head and heart to make it a little more special - Lucy didn't just leave her parents behind, but also an older brother named William.

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It was agreed that my little idea was perfect for her brother William - he is three years old and is having a hard time understanding why he can't see his baby sister anymore...it was to put Lucy's gown on a special animal and send it to him. So whenever he misses Lucy, he can give this animal a hug and send a hug to her as well.

The search began for the right size animal and I found this fluffy bunny that her gown fit perfectly on.

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This precious bunny came from our local Build-A-Bear store in the Spotsylvania Towne Centre. I went there knowing their animals were a bit larger and in prayer I would find something perfect.


I got a huge surprise though while there - as the bunny was being stuffed by the manager, we were talking about what occasion it was for and I showed him Lucy's gown and how it was for her brother. He noticed the angel wings right off the bat and I told him she passed away at fifteen days old from a severe congenital heart defect. The manager then took the tag off of the bunny and donated it to her brother William.

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I even showed him the little heart snaps that we used on the back of the gown, while we were putting it together.

The manager refused and I mean refused to let me even remotely pay a dime for the bunny - and I couldn't have been more blessed to see this idea become a reality for William and Lucy's parents.

This precious bunny is making it's way to their home in Australia as I am writing this posting and I know it will be received with many, many hugs. 

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There she is - Lucy's Bunny.


As hard as it is to lose one of our little ones, period, it is so hard for me for them to pass away before we can get a gown to them. But now we have this amazing, heartfelt way to still provide a little something for their families to hold onto. It is a blessing to finally (after almost two years) have a way to remember these little ones as well and their brave fights, however long or short they may be. 
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Lia Sophia Jewelry Raffle Ends - Giveaway Posted

3/12/2014

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Our Lia Sophia Jewelry Raffle ended the last day of February - can you believe we're already near the middle of March this year?!
I feel like this year has just flown by and I can't even remember what has happened. Maybe that isn't such a bad thing some days?

Here are the last of the winners from the raffle and something special to share as well!
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Ana has decided to give her item away to the mother of one of the children we have made a gown for. She lives in Spain and did not want Gracie's Gowns to pay the extra shipping costs to mail her the bracelet that she won above and would like to give it to someone else.
So we created a rafflecopter giveaway where any of our families can enter to win the beautiful bracelet above! It ends in 4 days and a winner will be chosen and posted to our Facebook page.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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