Fw: NICUPs Letters from Santa

From: Amanda Church

Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 11:36 AM
Subject: NICUPs Letters from Santa

Hello everyone, Some of you may know that I volunteer for the NICUPS (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parent Support), an organization that is funded entirely by donations. It helps families by providing (free of charge): one-on-one emotional and educational support books and other educational materials (all free of charge) family classes and meetings financial assistance during crisis situations breast pumps, car seats, baby clothing and other necessities (all as needed) For those unfamiliar with this project, they generate a letter from Santa to a child (or children) of your choice (or adults and pets, too!), for a donation of $6 per letter. Last year, this small group of 30 graduate parents raised over $50,000 from the letters. I'm emailing to let you know about the new capability of their website (http://www.miraclebaby.org/) to accept letter orders and contributions through secure, online credit card processing. Since anyone, anywhere in the world can access their site and easily request a letter, I am asking for your help by passing along information about their site. If you feel comfortable emailing family and friends who might be interested, if you are part of any parent on-line discussion groups, if you have neighborhood newsletters or workplace newsletters, either on-line or printed - these are just some ideas of ways to let others know. Please visit the website to contact the NICUPS for more information about Letters from Santa and order letters. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, and thank you in advance for any help you can offer! Amanda Church

Erica is growing like a weed

Hi All,

Nothing new with Jason and I, work as usual. We put in a retaining wall over the summer and so now we're working on repairing the lawn around it, as well as planting in it. All 3 of us took a mini vacation to Hannibal, MO in July and went to Table Rock Lake for a long weekend in August. Right now, I'm trying to plan a trip for Jason, myself, and another couple--maybe Jamaica or St. Thomas over Xmas break. We'll see what that brings; I've done nothing but google all inclusive resorts so there's still a little planning to go...

Erica is growing like a weed, but what kid doesn't? She sees her cardiologist in a couple of weeks, but so far so good. We'll keep you posted on that...

She started the school year in late Aug.--that has been an interesting trip! Normal beginning of the year jitters/nerves, but they never went away. Jason and I just didn't have a good feeling about the the way the class was being run or the teacher, but we couldn't put our finger on it.
 Erica cried and told us how much she didn't like school every morning, so I had a few informal conferences with the teacher about it (boy it pays off to work in the same school your child attends). Nothing seemed to help, and I still just didn't have a good feeling about the whole situation, so Jason and I set up a formal conference with the teacher. Our intent was to express our concerns and basically say that Erica wouldn't be returning to the class because it wasn't a good fit for her. Well someone was looking over us because by pure coincidence, Erica moved up on the waiting list for the full day preschool in the same building and could start whenever we wanted her to. Needless to say we took the spot and started her right away! Icing on the cake was that one of the teachers in her new class was one of the teachers she had last school year. That was a week ago Friday (you don't want to know what I've learned about what was going on in her previous classroom). Now Erica is still working through some of her anxieties, but they're the ones from transitioning from a half day to a full day of school (lunch, nap/rest time, etc.). Each day gets easier and she doesn't get so upset she throws up every morning, so that's a bonus! (I'm a little high strung too sometimes, so she comes by the anxiety honestly=0)

We also signed Erica up for soccer, but her first day of it was also the first day in her new class. Needless to say that was OVERLOAD for the poor kid, so we're not continuing it. We'll try another activity another time...

That's about all I can think of right now, so I'll stop blabbing.

Love,

Amanda

Timmons<>John Daniel<>Red<>Fredie Guy