Sunday check in/upcoming E(li)vents

I just wanted to lay out the plans and ideas I intend to make happen over the next couple of months.

-Eli shirts are available to order for ONE MORE DAY at www.booster.com/love4eli

 -Eli's 5th birthday is coming up, which is wonderful and terrible. I am (you are) throwing a party for local kids who are immigrants and former refugees. These are kids who don't often get the opportunity to let loose and just be kids. So we're having the party we'd have for Eli....except the party is on steroids and it's for kids who are still here and who deserve a chance to party. We are expecting over 100 kids. THANK YOU to everyone who has donated food and supplies! And special thanks to www.bouncearoundjax.com for donating bounce houses, slides, a trackless train, and all manner of fun!

-Eli's actual birthday is the 22nd. I'm hoping I'm up to making chocolate cupcakes that day. Eli's favorite. I"m dreading the actual day. The anticipation is probably worse than the actual day will be. I guess we'll find out.

-I would like to have an informal Eli day at a Jacksonville Suns baseball game in April. I'll just put it out there on facebook and the blog and if you want to come, please buy a ticket, wear an eli shirt if you have one, or wear green. Ideally I'm thinking a weekend in mid-April. The schedule is out, but tickets aren't available yet for the season so I'm kind of waiting on that......well, and to get through Eli's birthday and spring break.

-I'm looking to do a bone marrow registration drive this summer, hopefully in July. Another opportunity to wear Eli shirts! There are some things to work out, but I think we can make it happen. Again, gotta get through March before I can start organizing.

So those are the Eli things on the horizon. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this marathon of January-July. I'm constantly aware of what was happening a year ago and it pretty much sucked for these seven months, and then it sucked after those seven months ended. But somehow time marches on and here we are. We do the best we can. Sometimes the best we can is a huge party for some deserving kids. Sometimes the best we can is getting out of bed before it's time for school pick up in the afternoon.

I mentioned once before that Hospice offers grief counseling and support free of charge and how helpful it has been for our family. Our hospice here does grief retreats for kids ages 7-17 twice a year. We made Ty go, which is exactly how all parents/guardians of campers get their kids to go, haha. He was fine, but it was hard for me to leave him there to be vulnerable with strangers. When we picked him up at the close of the weekend, all the kids and teenagers were acting like they had known one another forever, they were smiling and joking. It was incredible. I cried all morning, feeling thankful the weekend had gone so well, proud of my big kid, and tender for all the losses that brought so many kids to grief camp.
The professional grief counselors that run the weekend know exactly what they are doing. The campers get a chance to feel a bit normal with peers who can understand their grief. I am beyond grateful to all those who support Hospice financially, so these types of events can be offered for kids who really need it.

Thanks for checking in!