Pull your Heartstrings

During Heath's early days in the NICU, we got to the point where Heidi and Colt were told that they could dress Heath. First thought was - ha ha, yea right - and where are we supposed to find clothes for someone so small?!?!?!?!?!? But after some searching on the internet by myself and Baba, we were able to find an internet store that sold NICU friendly itty bitty baby clothes. They were kind of pricey and the shipping charge was ridiculous. Then Baba got the idea to see if Christy (world's best seamstress ;P) could duplicate the clothes that were bought of the internet (size and construction wise). She said that she could, then a light bulb went off.

Christy had heard of a group in other cities that aided parents with babies in Neonatal Intensive Care by making them clothes small enough to fit their itty bitty sons/daughters. And the groups also made them hats, blankets, booties, etc that make babies feel more comfortable while at the same time helping the parents feel more comfortable. That's when everything started falling into place. Christy had the idea, and Baba and I, so touched with our dealing with Heath, decided to go with it.

We are starting a new charity organization, called Heartstrings & Angel Wings, that will make the clothes, hats, and other items that these babies in NICU need to be more comfortable. There are places that have clothes ready for these babies, but sometimes the parents are too overwhelmed with what's going on in their child's life to be able to have the frame of mind to find the stores online. If we can help even in that smallest capacity, it has the chance of meaning the world to these parents.

So what we are looking for now is volunteers. We need volunteers that can give either their time, talent, materials, or money to the organization to get us up and running. We have a variety of areas in which we need volunteers, some are: sewing the clothes, cutting the patterns, washing the clothes, getting more volunteers, spreading the word, donating money, etc. If you have time to help it is greatly appreciated. We are still in the process of ironing out the details of when and if we will have meetings, dropoff points, etc. Right now we are trying to judge the interest in the organization, to get better ideas of what we need in the group. Whatever you volunteer for, you will definitely get all the instructions and directions that you need to be able to perform your task to the best of your ability.

So this is what is keeping me busy - putting together flyers, brochures, making a website (still under construction), making a new blog (the hint referenced to yesterday, there's a link on the right), meetings, coming up with ideas etc. When the website is totally ready, I will put a huge link and announcement on this blog and the Heartstrings blog also.

Since we are still under construction, and are just trying to judge the interest, if you are interested, please leave a comment on this blog with your email or send an email to heartstrings_angelwings@yahoo.com. Be sure to leave your address and phone number and what you are interested in doing so we can contact you when the organization is ready to begin working. It may be a few weeks before we contact you, but you will definitely not be forgotten. Our goal is to make this organization a long-term success and we cannot do that without the help of our community.

We hope that the stories of these babies, our smallest miracles, touches your heart the way that it has touched all of ours. Can you be a blessing to one of these Angels??

Angels coming out to play

Angels coming out to play
Angels touch our life each day
Though we may not know they're there
There are angels...everywhere
Angels can cause a heart to sing...
Angels give our spirits wings!
An angel's touch can bring God so near
An angel's smile...can dry a tear.
Have you felt a tug on your heartstrings?
Chances are it was caused by angel wings.
They flutter softly in the light...
Shimmering with edges so gold so bright
We mere mortals to earth are bound,
Angels trod on holy ground.
So next time you are feeling low,
Remember...angels are there...
Wherever you go!