As we approached the end of May and the end of another VERY successful Books for Charley collection, I put myself to work sending stickers out to the 3 heart families that helped us “grow” our little project. Each of them sent me messages with an estimate of how many they would need and I carefully packed them into envelopes with a few books for each to include with their individual donations. A few days later I got a message from our South Carolina family (Mason) letting me know that their package had arrived. Included with the message was an apology. You see, books had continued to roll in and they were short of stickers!
I had to smile and immediately responded back that NO apologies were needed and that we would never complain about an extra trip to the post office if it was for something as awesome as MORE books! It blows me away and it warms my heart to witness the enthusiasm that people have shown for this year’s collection. We’re definitely feeling the love here in the Midwest, and I know that Mason and his family feel it on the east coast as well.
So you’re probably wondering how many stickers I ended up sending their direction….
Mason’s mama recently posted an update after one of his GI appointments that included some Books for Charley numbers (as well as an adorable picture of him with his mama and brother). You can click HERE to read all of the details of Mason’s progress, but I thought that I would share the Books portion with you here…
“I am officially closing out Books For Charley and am soooo happy to report that we far exceeded my goal of 100 books. I need to do a re-count but I think we've exceeded 150 books!!! I've put a "Charley's Heart" sticker on every book and I can't wait to get them to the PCICU at MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina). I know God has a path laid out for each book. There are going to be 150 (or more) families that will be exposed to Charlotte's Story and little lives in the PCICU made a little easier from all the fun books that have so generously been donated.”
150 more books!?! HOLY COW! As these updates continued to roll in I found myself staring at my computer screen in disbelief. I love that we are able to witness not only the amazing support of our little girl, but also the LOVE that surrounds each of these families while they navigate their own heart journeys. Thank you so much Caron family for…well…being so incredible! I know that life with those 2 little boys of yours can be chaotic, and the fact that you took time out of your lives to help us with this is very much appreciated. Thanks also to those of you who donated to the MUSC donation! I hope that you all realize that amount of joy that each of these books will bring to sick kiddos and their families!
For those of you keeping track....
122 books + 300 books + 150 books = 572 books
That’s almost HALF of the TOTAL number of books that we collected last year!
Thank you so much to the very special heart families that helped make these 572 books possible. I know that Charlotte is constantly watching over her little heart friends and I’m pretty sure that she’s got one of those classic Charlotte grins on her face as a result of the love that you have shown her!
This week is about to get super crazy as Matt and I both finish up our SD jobs and do the final preparations for our big move on Saturday. (FYI – I hate packing.) I’ve tried to put together a few posts ahead of time, but don’t be surprised if things are a little quiet here at Little Miss Ritchie for the next few weeks. I’m pretty sure that all of you understand that moving, unpacking and a newborn baby to love on take a front seat to blogging!
Much love ~ Kristen
Oh wow!! That is wonderful, good job!!!! <3
ReplyDeleteYes, but we do expect to know when that baby boy is born!!!!! :)
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