Christian's ROAK Celebration

During the Month of April - we will be celebrating the life of a baby boy gone too soon. My friend, Erin, lost her sweet Christian four years ago on April 26th. At the time, I was a mommy to a one year old Jack and my heart broke into a million pieces for her and her family.

When Erin decided that the best way to honor Christian was to do a ROAK celebration of his life...I was SO excited to participate. Bringing JOY to others is something I really want my kids to know and to do...not because I tell them to, but because it's just what good people do. So we use the month of April to celebrate Christian and to bring JOY to others. (sidetone: we like to bring joy throughout the year, too - we just make a conscious effort in April to do so in Christian's honor)

If you would like to join in ROAK fun - you can go HERE and join the event. We really hope you do!!

THIS is Erin's post about the event.
And THIS is Christian's story.

My Favorites & a call to Action

Here are couple of my favorite pictures from the past two days. Jack and Tucker are "best friends," so I was excited to catch "a moment" between them. I'm not kidding when I say that Jack calls Tuck his best friend. The other day he told on Tucker because he wouldn't play with him! It went like this:

Jack: (yelling from his bedroom to Tucker in the kitchen) Tucker come play with me or I'm not gonna be your best friend anymore
*No response from Tucker
Jack: Mom, tell Tucker to come up and play with me or I won't pet him anymore
(I relay the message to Tucker, who is sleeping on the floor)
Jack: Is he sad, Mom?

Seriously. Is that not a) the cutest? and b) a SERIOUS cry for a brother to play with?

While Jack was riding his bike with his buddies - Josie insisted on a stroll through the neighborhood. And if we're walking around the block - she MUST hold my hand. In a store? Nope. Parking lot? Always a struggle. But a stroll around the block? Of course! She's becoming so independent. It makes me a little sad.

And finally - a CALL TO ACTION! One of my friends from grad school, Erin, lost her sweet baby boy, Christian, {almost} three years ago. She always finds such special ways to remember him and this year, she's asking people to do a Random Act of Kindness (RAOK) in his honor. When I read her blog post about this I was in tears (because I'm on the brink of tears 99% of the day, thanks to hormones) and thought it was an AMAZING idea.

Here's the thing - how often do we go out of our way to think about a total stranger? How often do we do something just for the sake of making a person's day a tiny bit brighter? I know I don't do it often enough. So this is my mission for the month: three RAOK in honor of Christian...and the HOPE that some of you will join me!

It doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive or time consuming. Buy coffee for the person behind you at Starbucks, take a treat to your local firemen or police officers, pick up someone's tab at a restaurant, or drop a card in the mail to a friend you haven't talked to in a while... You never know how your small act could make someone else's day better. And honestly, we need more kindness in this world. We really do.

You can read Christian's story HERE, you can read Erin's post about the R.A.O.K. HERE, and you can print cards (if you want to pass Christian's story on when you do a RAOK) HERE. Find the event on Facebook HERE!

Thanks, everyone!

Beautiful Butterfly

The other day the kids and I took a walk around our AA neighborhood - to mail some "fan mail" - and we saw the most beautiful butterfly! Every time I see a gorgeous butterfly I think of my friend, Erin, and her sweet baby boy, Christian. You can see her post about Christian's Butterflies HERE.

Anyway, when we saw the butterfly we stopped to watch it for a while. Jack asked a lot of great questions...and thanks to my stint in Kindergarten, I was able to answer them.

Josie liked the butterfly, but preferred to watch it from a distance.

And this would be the part when Jack picked up a stick and pretended to drink nectar from the flower with his long "butterfly tongue." I'm sure the neighbors think we are completely normal.

It's Moving Day! I will be SO happy to see all my "stuff" unloaded off the truck. But I don't want to see the truck again for a LONG, LONG time.