For 6 weeks, someone watched Blakeley during the day so I could go to the hospital. For those six weeks, someone also came to our house from 8-10:30pm after Blakeley was in bed so that both Tyson & I could go to the hospital. For those six weeks, we had meals at least twice a week. I think the first week and a half we had meals almost every night. Gifts, cards, flowers, treats, visits, surprises on our doorstep...How grateful I am for the tremendous support that we received and the willingness to help our family. Babysitting, meals, a quick comment, a prayer...these may seem like small things to the people who did them but they are huge to me. To comfort those in need of comfort...our friends and family did just that. I truly felt strength from their efforts.
I've never been on the receiving end like this before. It's humbling. I've learned that if you're not sure what to say to someone who is going through something hard, anything helps. The comments on Facebook were so comforting & encouraging. Never again will I feel awkward saying or writing words of comfort to someone because I've gone through this hard experience. Even just saying, "I'm sorry you're going through that..." is comforting. So when in doubt, say that.
Thank you to the following people. You truly are amazing & I'm so grateful for you. You made a difference in my life & I will be forever grateful.
Whomever heart attacked us & left us all the goodies- You rock.
Mom- Visited me & helped with Blakeley the entire first week. Such a blessing that she came out.
Dad & Linda- sent money for a rocking chair & sent flowers
Grandma Shirley- sent money & outfits for Skylar & Blakeley
Chelsea Haas- sent cute posters that she made, adorable headbands for Skylar
Marilyn Worden- Build a Bear lamb for Skylar
Ty & Crystal Rankin- visited us in hospital, brought flowers & balloons, took Blakeley to Sea World for the day, allowed Josh to work for Tyson
Bay & Allison Willingham- brought us dinner, brought gifts & flowers
Carrie Coplen- visited me in hospital & brought me candy
Christy & John Cox- visited us in hospital, brought gift & balloon, brought us a meal & had us over for dinner on Mother's Day
Heather Scott- visited me in hospital, gave me hair clip gift, stored my milk in her deep freezer, watched Blakeley at night
Amy Salisbury- dropped off homemade bread & gift (super cute dress), babysat Blakeley at night
Arianne Pearce, Molly Hansen, Julie Bezzant- dropped off flowers & cheesecake the first night we got home from the hospital. They were actually at our door when we got home. So nice.
Arianne Pearce- watched Blakeley during the day for two weeks, gave us a slide for Blakeley. The first day she watched Blakeley, when I dropped her off, she handed me a sack lunch that she had packed me. I started to cry because it was so thoughtful. I can't believe she even thought to do that. Such a great example & someone I will try to emulate.
Molly Hansen- watched Blakeley during the day
Emily Benedict- watched Blakeley during the day
Dana Jorgensen- watched Blakeley during the day, outfit for Skylar
Shane Bezzant- watched Blakeley during the day
Rachael Munson- dropped off flowers, watched Blakeley at night twice
Melissa Burr & Chris Woodcock- sent us card
Jenie Haddock- dropped off flowers, dropped off gifts (outfits & stuffed animal for Skylar, stuffed animal for Blakeley), let me come over to her house & vent about NICU experiences (her baby had been in the same NICU for 5 weeks & had gone home like a month before Skylar was born), watched Blakeley during the day
Greta Hurley (the best visiting teacher ever!) - brought 3 meals, gifts (outfit for Skylar & doll for B), watched Blakeley on Saturdays & took her to the zoo, gave us teddy bear with soothing sounds for Skylar
Deanna Mercado- brought meal & Blakeley a doll
Nancy Fleming- brought 2 meals
Joscelyn Iverson- brought us a meal, watched Blakeley
Michelle Sepulveda- brought us a meal. This lady is so special. I had only met her once at a friend's baby shower & then she befriended me on FB. When she found out about Skylar being in the NICU she wanted to do a meal for me. Says a lot about her since she didn't even really know me. Special lady!
Jenin Compton- watched Blakeley at night
Anna & Libby Koelling- watched Blakeley at night
Christine Bartkowski- helped watch Blakeley at night
Bishop Gary Long- visited us at hospital the day we got released right before we went home & gave me blessing. Also kept calling to check on us over the weeks.
Josh Self- Worked for Ty. Such a financial blessing & is unprecedented. Shows what people think of Tyson. Such a nice thing to do.
Margie Hayden- Worked for Ty. Such a blessing.
Aaron Ward & Jenna McDaniel- visited us, brought gifts (Champina onesie, bubble gun for B)
Ricki & Bob Ward- outfit for Skylar, Monkey puppet book for B
Sue McDaniel (Jenna’s Mom)- sent us strawberry beanies. This is a special lady too! We've never even met her before. She's a NICU nurse in California. So sweet of her. She actually sent us 4 in different sizes.
Amy Beltran- watched B while we were in hospital when Skylar was born, bought Blakeley clothes & toys (electronic laptop toy, sunglasses, purse, coloring books with special markers), brought us a cake, brought more gifts for Skylar (clothes & diaper changing pad)
Cydni Gardner- watched Blakeley at night
Bree Mercado- watched Blakeley at night
Jane Doyle- dropped off little cheesecake desserts, gift (clothes, blanket, bib that says "Little Sister" for Skylar, shirt that says "Big Sister" for Blakeley
Crystal Isenhour- gift (clothes & blanket for Skylar)
Kathy Hagerman- brought us a meal, watched Blakeley at night
Tara Lundmark- brought us a meal
Mindy Baron- brought us a meal
Kim Thomas- brought us a meal
Terri LeBleu- brought us a meal
Sara Embelton- brought us a meal
Natalie Scott- watched Blakeley at night
Billie Wareman- watched Blakeley at night
Liliana Gonzalez- watched Blakeley at night four times, folded laundry
Beth Batey- watched Blakeley at night, did dishes & cleaned my microwave!
Carmen Dawson- watched Blakeley at night, gift (cute clothes for Skylar)
Debbie Farnsworth- watched Blakeley at night
Jacque- brought gift (clothes for Skylar & Blakeley, bath washes/lotions for Skylar)
Countless people prayed & fasted
(Can you believe that list?! I'm in awe...)
Thank you for acting as Heavenly Father's hands here on earth. We are so blessed. I'm overwhelmed by the support we received & just looking at this list is amazing. I told Tyson that if we didn't know if we were loved before, we sure know now!
So again...Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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