How Cool is This?!

When my niece, Amelia, completed her treatments for leukemia, her family decided to hold not one celebration, but two big celebrations in her honor. One was held in May in their hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and one will be held in June in Janesville, Wisconsin, the town where my brother and sister-in-law met and married. From the sounds of things on Amelia's caringbridge site, they had a blast at the first one.

I had been thinking that I would like to find some thing or some way to honor Amelia as we attend this celebration in Janesville. Michelle Kemper Brownlow saved the day! She offered a 24 hour window of time when you could order one of her hand-crafted namesakes. I just happened to visit her blog at the right moment and got my order in. The really neat thing about her offer is that 1/2 of the proceeds go to pediatric cancer. So, not only does this gift for Amelia honor her, but it also gives back to others who are fighting the pediatric cancer battle.

A while back, I received the namesake in the mail. It is perfect. The colors and princess theme fit Amelia to a T! Plus, Michelle added the scripture reference which their family has claimed throughout Amelia's leukemia battle. It might be the most special gift I've ever given. I took a few photos on my digital, but kept putting off posting it on my blog (I'm not that great of a photographer). We have been unable to access AOL for a while (I wish I could blame Comcast like Cardiogirl, but I can't!), so I haven't been logging on as often.

Imagine my surprise, when I logged on last night to find a picture of Amelia's namesake (Michelle decided to tackle it first, since it was needed by a June date as a gift) on Michelle's blog. Plus, she did a video explaining her passion behind this project and talked briefly about Amelia's namesake. Once she completes the first 14 orders, she will do another brief window of ordering.

Michelle also mentions her new site, called 4-the-kids, which is really worth checking out. If you visit this site, you can also see Amelia's namesake in the section about meeting the artists. Be sure to check out the stories of some of the cancer warriors (like Coleman - who is home and doing well after his stem cell transplant, despite some concerns over the spot in the scan still showing). And, if you want to do something to help fight pediatric cancer, without having to purchase a gift or spend a dime, please sign the petition at www.thepetitionsite.com/1/CureChildhoodCancer. If my link doesn't work, there is a link on the 4-the-kids site, too. They are hoping for a million signatures. Last I had heard, they had only secured 4,000. Please take a moment and sign the petition.