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Operation NICU Surprise - Johns Hopkins Children's Center (Maryland)

7/11/2014

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Our second NICU we chose to receive a box of NICU Smocks was Johns Hopkins Children's Center NICU located in Baltimore, Maryland. They have a state of the art NICU that was built in 2012 and it includes 45 private NICU beds. They services neonates with all sorts of complex congenital birth defects and disorders in addition to the little ones just born too soon. The thing I love the most about their new NICU is that each room has the ability for a parent to stay in the hospital with their baby, something most NICUs don't have, well many intensive care units don't have that, even the ones for adults. You can learn more about the NICU and what they offer through their website at: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/neonatology/

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Johns Hopkins Children Center's NICU was nominated by Adrianne in honor of her son Xavier who was cared for by the wonderful doctors and nurses in the NICU. Xavier was born with more complex issues than just premature delivery, but the doctors and nurses went the extra mile to care for him through it all. This was a few years before the new facility was built, but Adrianne was awesome in sharing with us some photos from and (and now). You can read their story below in her own words.

My son, Xavier (now 5), was born 4 weeks early due to low amniotic fluid. I had a normal pregnancy and didn't expect anything different despite his late prematurity. Little did my husband and I know that on Friday March 13, 2009 things were about to change dramatically. When Xavier was born (at 4lbs) there were immediate signs of distress...he had difficulty breathing as well showing signs of seizures. He also looked different than typical children. He was born at a hospital close to our home that had wonderful OB/GYN and infant care. But despite their best care we were told they were unable to provide enough support for Xavier in their NICU. We were told on his fourth day of life that he had to be transferred to Johns Hopkins in order to undergo further testing and access to doctors skilled in more complex cases. We were in shock to say the least. We were not expecting any of this and suddenly our lives were turned upside down. Getting to the NICU at Hopkins was a whirlwind of nurses, doctors, and tests. I have to admit I was bitter and just wanted to bring my son home and not have him poked and prodded. We were told that Xavier likely had a genetic syndrome and he was, in fact, experiencing seizures. He also had to learn to breathe and eat on his own. It was noted that he also had a number of congenital anomalies. Xavier spent a total of 32 days in the NICU and in that time my husband and I created relationships with doctors, nurses, and even other families that last until this day. They rallied in our highs and supported us in our lows. Xavier's nurses gloated at the fact that I was able to provide him solely with enough fresh breast milk and at the skill of his dad as he was the only one Xavier would drink from a bottle for. They called us immediately with good test results and sat with us to understand more difficult ones. In that time out dread and fear were able to be calmed by simply talking with the nurses about "normal" things. We joked, talked about the weather, and we brought them food (a fed nurse is a happy nurse lol). When the day came for X to come home our doctor met us in the hallway singing the Rocky anthem as we strolled X's stroller into the NICU. You never want to see your child go through such difficult things but I know our son was in the best hands. 2 years after his birth Xavier was finally diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome called Schinzel-Giedion syndrome. He's one of approximately 12 kids worldwide. We would have never gotten this diagnosis had it not been for our geneticist and genetic counselor...providers who have been with us since the NICU. We have been with our different specialists through surgeries and hospitalizations. Each year we attend the NICU reunion to see the nurses and other babies who were with us from the beginning. Xavier has even attended daycare and now school with the little girl who was next to him in the NICU. We never expected to have a child with special needs but we are fortunate and forever thankful to the staff at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center NICU.
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Thank you so much Adrianne for nominating Johns Hopkins Children's Center and for sharing your story with us and our followers as well - the NICU Smocks have already made their way to Johns Hopkins Children's Center (they were mailed the first week of this month) and we hope they bring many smiles to the facility, but even more so to the families that receive one of them for their little one. Here are a few pictures of the gowns and because my oldest colored the box so pretty, she insisted I share a photo of that as well.
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When we have more sewn and ready, we will work on pulling some more NICU nominations and dispersing them to other hospital around the United States and the world. It is such a blessing to send these everywhere we can, but even more so to wrap the littlest miracles in something comfy of their own.

Have a beautiful weekend!
Gracie's Gowns
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Another Box of Goodies - Off to Oregon

5/13/2014

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We talk about Healing Helpers a lot - why? Because they are just so awesome!!

I am all about practical gifts for children in the hospital - hence we make hospital gowns. They are fun, they can be used and they make sense. Healing Helpers do that as well. 

They provide comfort, they are fun and they make sense by providing a child with a best friend that is just as special as they are! They are an awesome teaching tool for parents and care providers alike. They can help start a conversation and help "break the ice" in ways nothing else can. Just like our hospital gowns, they show the individual behind the chart...not just a diagnosis.

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So with our move coming up really fast, we've been going through more and more in the crafting areas and the kiddos are more than willing to pass along their "loved, but not essentially for living with" animals over to Healing Helpers to be used in making best friends for other children around the world. 

It fills my heart to see my littles so giving and so caring of other children that are just as special and unique as they are, but have more medical concerns then they do.


Then it is up to mommy to finish filling the box with her "loved, but not going to be used anytime soon, I am a craft supply hoarder at heart" supplies to be used in the making of pockets and organs and bands and more!

So we have so felt, remnant pieces of fabric from gowns and other pieces of fabric from personal projects.
The fabrics are used for the pouches with zippers and the felt is for all the other amazing surgeries, wrist bands, key chains and anything else Michael and Lani-lee come up with over there!
They are literally creative geniuses! 

I can't wait to see some of these get used and look forward to sending more lovely items their way in the future - Healing Helpers is a very special business to us and great supporters as well! It is always nice to have a set of friends that share a similar passion and yet go about it in such a different way we can compliment each other and work well together!


You can see all Healing Helpers has to offer and browse their website at:

http://www.healinghelpers147.com/

Don't forget to tell them we sent you over!
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BENEFIT YARD SALE and BAKE SALE - May 10th!!

5/6/2014

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This SATURDAY - the MOMS Club of Louisa is hosting a benefit bake sale and yard sale for Gracie's Gowns! We are so honored that the MOMS Club of Louisa has chosen us for their service project this year. Way back when my youngest was first born, we were members of the MOMS Club of Louisa - had been for almost three years at that point. What a great place to meet other mothers in your local area, have play dates and just enjoy the adult conversations too! Since then they have grown and do so many wonderful activities for families in our area and really try to reach out to all the mothers with children of all ages - regardless if they are working moms or stay-at-home moms.


It was a real treat last year to present Gracie's Gowns to the current members of the MOMS Club of Louisa and to share what we do and how we serve children in the local area, but also across the globe.
I will be at the yard sale this Saturday sharing Gracie's Gowns with those that come by to browse for goodies for the whole family and then some! So stop by, say hi, I'd love to meet you and you never know what you might find!


The address is: 116 Apple Orchard Drive  Louisa, VA 23093
It is located in the Countryside Subdivision just outside the "main drag" of the town of Louisa.


You can drop off items this Thursday and Friday at the same address between the hours of 10:00am and 6:00pm, to be sold to benefit Gracie's Gowns as well. They will be tax-deductible donations! So instead of taking those too great to throw-away items to Goodwill you can drop them off, still get the tax receipt and help benefit our ministry in making these precious children a hospital gown of their very own!


The MOMS Club of Louisa has set a goal of $500.00 to try and raise for Gracie's Gowns - so even if you don't find anything you need or want item wise, pick up a baked goodie for the trip home!


SEE YOU THERE!
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End of Spring Raffle Winners

5/6/2014

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Our spring raffle ended last week and we rounded out the items given away with several great prizes!
All prizes have been mailed out and should be received very shortly if they haven't already arrived - there are a few I still have to deliver in person, but that will be taken care of this week as well.
I would like to say thank you so much once again to everyone who helped out with this fundraiser and while we didn't reach our goal in ticket sales, we still broke even with our expenses and have a great time seeing everyone get excited about the items they won!
We hope everyone enjoys their new goodies and we look forward to doing our summer charity raffle late July or early August depending on when I can finish getting everything sewn up and completed.
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Our twenty-second winner was Brenda Hill - her items were from Scentsy!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Christi Smith - a Scentsy consultant that is also the mother of a child we have made a gown for. 


This cute bunny is a charity item by Scentsy for March of Dimes - we'd love to be able to get a few more of these to include with our NICU gown donations to hospitals.

Christi's business website is:
http://csmithrn04.scentsy.us

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Our twenty-third winner was Karen Valdez - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Audra Smith - a Pampered Chef consultant that is close friends with a gown recipient's family.

Audra's business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/audra

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Our twenty-fifth winner was Brianna Horney - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

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Our twenty-ninth winner was Megan Jensen - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

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And there you have it - the last of our raffle winners!!
CONGRATULATIONS to all our winners and once again thank you so much to everyone who helped, donated an item, purchased a ticket and just spread the word about our raffle!
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Week Three of Winners Spring Raffle

4/22/2014

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We are entering the last week and some of our spring raffle now!
It has been so much fun drawing winners for the prizes given in this raffle and I hope everyone is loving their new goodies. Here are the winners from last year.
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Our eighteen winner was Vicki Quick - her items were from Scentsy!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Karen Day Hill!

Karen's business website is:
http://karendayhill.scentsy.us

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Our nineteenth winner was Susan Casey-Ellis - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Audra Smith - a Pampered Chef consultant that is close friends with a gown recipient's family.

Audra's business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/audra

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Our twenty-first winner was Irene Luck - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun



CONGRATULATIONS to EVERYONE!!!
And thank you to everyone who has helped with this raffle by purchasing a ticket, donating items, sharing our event and inviting your friends as well!
We still have some tickets for purchase for the last of our amazing raffle items! There's a deep covered baker from Pampered Chef, Scentsy bundles and more still to be given away!
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First Week of Winners - Spring Raffle

4/8/2014

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Our first week of winners and a special drawing winner have already happened!! So exciting and the majority of these items have already been mailed out too - thanks to some extra running around we've had to do in our personal world and was able to swing by the post office on those trips too.
We're excited to start another week of winners - after I draw today's winner - we still have 22 awesome days of prizes left to give away and another special drawing prize if we can still 200 tickets in total (we're at 117 right now). Lots of great Pampered Chef and Scentsy items are being given away and you're not going to want to miss out on the upcoming prizes for sure!
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Our first winner was Debbie - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

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Our third winner was Patricia - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Audra Smith - a Pampered Chef consultant that is close friends with a gown recipient's family.

Audra's business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/audra

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Our fifth winner was Ellen - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

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Our seventh winner was Becky - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Audra Smith - a Pampered Chef consultant that is close friends with a gown recipient's family.

Audra's business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/audra

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!!


To purchase your ticket(s) you can visit our website under the events tab - www.graciesgowns.org/events.html
and purchase them there using the Add to Cart button through PayPal.
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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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