Eyebrowlessness

That's a fun word.  Even though it's not a word.  It's still fun.  I have a habit of inventing words, you know (see other blog) :P

So, I have been sans eyebrow since Monday night.

I've only been out of the house once.  I went to McDonald's last night.  I didn't even remember my lack of eyebrow until I was home and looking at angel tree.  No one said anything.  LOL.

Elden's grant is currently at $529.50 raised during Angel Tree.

Brett's grant is currently at $577.30 raised during Angel Tree.

So in total the boys have $1,106.80.  When $393.20 more is raised, and they are at a total of at least $1,500, I get to shave the other eyebrow and be symmetrical again!

I miss symmetry.  I was always fond of it.



I must confess, I've been feeling a little guilty that more of the things I wanted to do for Angel Tree never came to fruition.  I really feel like I haven't done anything but beg, yell and holler, and I meant to do so much more.  This has just been such a complicated and difficult year that there never seemed to be time or money to get much of anything started.  A friend commented one day that she felt like her Angel Tree child got the 'short straw' because she didn't feel she had much to offer as his Christmas Warrior, and I have to admit that this thought has entered my head more than a few times lately.  Yes, Elden is over the $500 wall, which is wonderful, but it was all you guys.  All your generosity, your kindness, your love for him and the other kids just like him.

We have just under another $500 left to raise by New Year's.  I wish I could say I'd been sitting on some sort of fabulous fundraiser all this time, but I have nothing that I can get off the ground quickly enough to make a difference in Angel Tree, so I suppose, as I've done up until this point, I'll continue to beg, plead, and cry out on his behalf.  Over the next year I'm planning to do a lot of legwork on some other fundraising ideas I had so that the kids can still benefit from them - but it would really make my year to see Elden reach his $1,000 goal by New Year's, and he's already over halfway there thanks to you generous people.  I'm at a loss.  If there is anything I can do for you, anything you can think of, please let me know, obviously I'm willing to go to pretty much any extreme for these little guys, but this fundraising thing doesn't exactly come with an instruction manual, and it being the holiday season during a tough economic climate is certainly no help.

I want to say too that I know there are a lot of other Christmas Warriors out there in the same boat.  If you feel a pull to support them and their 'angels', please don't hesitate to do so.  There are a lot of kids on the angel tree, and ultimately the Reece's Rainbow community wants to see them ALL meet their goals.



That in mind, I want to share another unique opportunity (which I had nothing to do with, but nevertheless benefits Brett, one of 'my' boys) that you should ALL get in on in the next four days.

An organization called Sevenly has chosen Reece's Rainbow as this week's charity to support.  This organization designs awesome clothing and each week, the profits go toward a different charity.  From now until December 24, that charity is Reece's Rainbow!  As each $1,000 is raised through the shirt sales, another RR child has $1,000 added to their grant.  The 15th child on the list is 'our' Brett!  Already, $11,522 has been raised - in three days!  Isn't that amazing?  But our ultimate goal is $25,000 and we want to get ALL THE WAY there.

There is no down side to this opportunity.  The Sevenly shirts are *awesome*.  Check these out for yourself or someone in your life - the style of these is meant to appeal to teens, young adults, and the young at heart - as well as those of us who just LOVE Reece's Rainbow.

This is just one of the beautiful designs - you can see the rest at sevenly.org!  Orders will not arrive by the 25th, but these are perfect as a late Christmas gift, a birthday gift for the upcoming year, or just a random act of awesomeness (kindness is to mild a word - getting someone an awesome gift AND helping orphans with special needs?  That's just pure awesome).

Because we are trying to reach out beyond the existing Reece's Rainbow/Down Syndrome community, please share the sevenly link with your friends and family - everyone can love these awesome designs!  This is a fun and unique opportunity and we want to make the most of it.



So here ends my longish mish-mash of thoughts, which I thought was going to just be a couple of sentences and a picture to update my blog, but apparently, in case you haven't caught on yet, I'm long-winded and it turned into much more ;)  Please keep Reece's Rainbow and Elden and Brett in your thoughts and prayers this holiday!