Happy Birthday Michael!

On Michael's birthday we delivered all of the bibles and stuffed animals to Mercy Hospital.  We are so thankful for everyone's help and were able to donate 400 baby bibles and 239 stuffed animals!  There is some peace in knowing that good will come from Michael's passing. 

We were greated at the hospital by Maggie, the Mercy heartprints coordinator.  Maggie will be the one who gets these items to the families.  She is the one who spoke with us right after Michael died and has checked up on us since.  We are so thankful for her help throughout this process.

We also meet with some of the Doctors and Nurses who took care of Michael.  It is so hard to believe with so many patients they would remember our family and Michael.  We were especially excited to see Michael's nurse Shannon.  She was his nurse the day he passed away.  I wrote about her right after he died in an entry called "The gift."  She means the world to our family and we are so thankful she was there for us that day.

And this is what we looked like heading into Mercy.  3 girls, a wagon and a ton of donations!

 This is a picture of the girls and all 400 bibles!

This is a close-up of the bibles.  They are fairly small, just about the size of our Michael Monkey.

A big thanks to Uncle Daniel, Aunt Julie and Cousin Ethan for the stuffed animals! (I somehow forgot this on my last post)

A big thanks also to Sam! (We received these after I posted the grand total.  That is why the number changed to 239.  Oh and Ainsley was having an "off " day this day)

AND....we finished the day with a cake that the girls picked out.

GRAND TOTAL.....................................................235!!!!!!

We blew the top right off of our goal.....235!!!!

We cannot thank everyone enough!  We have collected 235 stuffed animals and have received almost $1500.00 in donations towards bibles (that is 400 bibles!!!).  We plan on taking these items to Mercy on August 13th, Michael's 1st Birthday.  We cannot possibly express how thankful we are to everyone for helping us accomplish this goal.  All of these stuffed animals will go to the siblings of that babies that pass away way too soon.  We hope these animals will be a reminder of their precious baby brother or sister. 

A big thanks to Abigail!  Abigail is a special friend of the girls.  Abigail's baby brother, Coleman, is in heaven with Michael.  We know their baby brother's are looking down on them and wondering how their sisters could possibly be so silly!

 A big thanks to the Hudson's!



 And another picture with all of the animals, just because the girls think it is fun!

 Thanks to the Popp Family!

 A big thanks to Dave, Marti, Jonah and Miri for this "small" donation of 100 stuffed animals!  The look on the girls' faces was priceless when I opened the box and they saw all of these stuffed animals!

 .....AND one more of all of them!

Oh yeah, we're there!

A big HUGE thanks to everyone!  We have hit our goal and have currently collected 117 stuffed animals!  This is awesome and we are so happy that we will be able to donate more than expected. We will still be collecting stuffed animals until the beginning of August (Madigan says we should up the goal to 140).  Anyone wanting to donate please let me know.  We are so thankful that we can help many families thanks to everyone's generous giving.

The girls had a lemonade stand on the fourth of july.  We would like to thank everyone that bought lemonade.  All of the money went to the stuffed animals pictured below.

These are the stuffed animals purchased with money from the lemonade stand.

Another big thanks to grandpa and grandma bono for donating more stuffed animals!

A big thanks to Olivia and Vivian!

.....AND this is what 117 stuffed animals (with 3 little girls mixed in) looks like! 

Almost there...89

We are almost to our goal of 100 stuffed animals! But the girls would be happy to to make our chart bigger if we receive more than 100.  Right now we are at 89 stuffed animals.  The girls get SOOOOO excited everytime we get a package delivered and I myself get a little teary eyed just thinking of how many awesome friends and family we have and how generous so many people have been!

 Thanks to Dave and Vickie!



 Thanks to Steven and Nan

 Thank you??? for the turtle



Thank you ??? for the puppy dog and bunny

We had two separate packages, one with the turtle and one with a puppy dog and bunny.  They did not come with any information on who they were from. If they were from you (and you don't want to remain anonymous) please let us know so that we can thank you appropriately!

Over half way there!

We are so thankful for everyone's support and are happy to say we are over half way to our goal.  As of today we are up to 67 stuffed animals!

 Thanks to Cousin Hadley(and Ella and Hudson)

 Thanks to Traci R

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Prosise

Also a big thanks to everyone that has been sending money for the bibles.  We appreciate everyone's generosity and know that MANY families will benefit from everyone's generous donations!

32 and counting

A huge thanks to all of my co-workers and supervisors at ESI.  I usually work from home, but had to go into work on Wednesday for our quarterly meeting.  They surprised me by collecting 23 stuffed animals and donating money for the bibles.  I work with an awesome group of people and my supervisors have been so understanding of our situation this past year.  I am truly thankful to work with such a great group of people!  The look on the girls faces was priceless when I came home yesterday with this big bag of stuffed animals.  They said "wow mom the people you work with are SOOOOOOOO nice."  And I said, Yes they are!

Stuffed animals from ESI



Also, a big thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Bono for getting our fundraiser started!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Bono!

With all of these donations we are up to 32!

A Happy Birthday paid forward

August 13^th is quickly approaching.  I cannot believe it has almost been a year.  This has been the longest year that has seemed to go by ever so quickly.  In memory of Michael for his first birthday, we will be donating to Mercy NICU.  I cannot speak highly enough of all the people, and their generosity, that we encountered while there.  We only found out we were having a boy just a few days before we were admitted to the hospital.  Our lives were pretty crazy from the time we were admitted to the hospital to the time he passed away.  We had nothing for Michael, not one article of clothing, blanket, or stuffed animal.  We were very fortunate that so many wonderful people donate to the NICU.  Because of the generosity of others, Mercy was able to provide us with Michael’s very own BOY baby blanket and an outfit for him to be buried in after he passed away.  A very special lady also makes all of the infants that pass away white robes and white baby blankets.  All of these items are very precious to our family, as they are the few things we have that were Michael’s. 

So, to celebrate their baby brother Michael’s first birthday and in his memory, our girls have decided to collect 100 stuffed animals.  These stuffed animals will be donated to the brothers and sisters of babies in the NICU at Mercy (formally St. John’s) hospital.  We ask that all donations be new and about the size of a beanie baby.  The girls got the monkey in the picture after Michael passed away and they take it on family trips and put it in all the family pictures, even going so far as to name the monkey Michael.  Although they know the monkey is not Michael, it gives them something tangible to remind them of him. 

Also, Mike and I are donating baby bibles for Michael’s first birthday and in his memory to Mercy (formally St. John’s) hospital. These bibles will be given to the parents who have children in the NICU.  The cost of the bibles is approximately $4.50 apiece.    If you would like to contribute to the donation of the bibles or the stuffed animals please contact us before August 1^st as we will be making the donation later in the month around Michael’s birthday.

We would like to thank everyone for their continued love, support and prayers through this past year!  Mike, Jen and girls

UPDATE: I have had a couple of questions so I thought I would clarify things a little.  If you are interested in donating( and don't live close to us) please send me an e-mail at -jgprosise@hotmail.com or you can message either mike or myself on facebook.  We can give you our address where you can send the stuffed animals or donations.  The christian bookstore by our house is going to special order the bibles for us.  They are small baby bibles in pastel pink or blue (I will post a picture of one once they are in).  If you prefer to send monetary donations please let us know if you want the money to go to the stuffed animals or the bibles.  We appreciate everyone's help and will keep you updated with our progress to reach our goal!