Lasting Hearts Card Drive + Giveaway

Hello! I am here today to ask you for your help. There is an amazing cause that could use some loving, handmade cards and I hope you will consider participating. A great way to “share handmade kindness” with people who need it most.

To explain what we need, I want to introduce you to my friend, Kimberly. Kimberly is a funny, bubbly, happy, kind soul who works with many of my other favorite people at Hero Arts. I am going to share her words here… and then will share what we can do to help:

Lasting Hearts is here to help comfort mothers who have lost a piece of their heart. Losing a child, whether in pregnancy or older, can be one of the hardest pains a parent can endure. We would like to raise awareness and show other mothers that they are not alone, that they are stronger than they realize, and that there are people out there who care dearly. Hopefully, our story will move others to do just that.

Just 9 months after giving birth to our first child, we were surprised and overjoyed to be welcoming another one on the way. We did what all parents with a growing family would do: told our close friends and family, looked into buying a larger home, and started planning for another life-changing event. We were elated to be bringing our sweet daughter another brother or sister.

Our joy soon to turned to heartache. We found out at our first ultrasound that we were set to have twins, however one of our precious babies had passed early on in the pregnancy. With heavy hearts, we tried to stay positive and prayed for the surviving twin to be a healthy baby. In our second ultrasound we were relieved and comforted by our baby’s precious heartbeat and left the doctor’s office feeling hopeful. Sadly, our fears became reality in our third ultrasound. After examining the ultrasound, our tech turns to us and asks, “Did you say you heard your baby’s heartbeat”? Instantly, we lost a piece of our hearts. Our lives were forever changed after losing not one but two of our babies in the same pregnancy.

We sat in the examination room, completely devastated and broken, waiting for our doctor. She comes in and does her best to console us but nothing she says could ease the pain. Her clinical response of “25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage” or “there was nothing you could’ve done to prevent this” just fell on deaf ears. None of it satisfied the two questions that kept running through our heads – “How could this happen?” and “why did this happen?” As amazing of an OBGYN as she is, she just wasn’t equipped to comfort 2 people whose world had been turned upside down. The conversation continues to how best to proceed in removing the fetuses, a conversation that’s cold in stark contrast to how we imagined delivering our precious children. We were absolutely heartbroken.

We kept our loss private for some time, not knowing how to express our grief and slightly afraid of the stigma that comes with miscarriages. It was too painful to speak of and too agonizing to share. One of the first people I reached out to was my dear friend, Amy, who had lost her son towards the end of her pregnancy and who knew the heartache all too well. I looked to her for her strength and for guidance on how she’s been able to continue to be a great mom to her young daughter after losing her infant son. A couple of days later I received a book from Amy, “You are the Mother of all Mothers” by Angela Miller. After only reading a few pages, I finally let myself accept for the first time that what happened to us was not my fault and that I did have the strength to continue to be a better mom and wife. The book’s encouraging message is conveyed in a way that is thoughtful, uplifting, compassionate and relatable.

With a newfound strength, I brought this book to our OBGYN and asked her if she’d be open to distributing these to patients who had miscarried if we provided them. She agreed without any hesitation. The author, Angela Miller, has graciously agreed to offer 40% off the list price so that we may help those who are in the disheartening situation we were once in. I can’t help but think of the mothers who don’t have support, don’t know where to turn, or just need to know that “No one else could carry this unrelenting burden as courageously. It is the heaviest, most torturous burden there is”.

In summary, Kimberly is hoping to have copies of this helpful book along with handmade cards available for doctors to give to parents who lose their babies. What an amazing idea! And we can help.

So there are TWO ways you can help. You can do one or both – whatever you are comfortable with. You can donate money and/or cards.

DONATION

If you are interested in donating money, you can head HERE. This money will 100% be used to purchase “You are the Mother of all Mothers” books by Angela Miller to give to parents who have just experienced the loss of a child via miscarriage. The price of each book is $12 but any amount helps.

CARD DRIVE

Kimberly also plans to include a handmade card from a caring stranger with each book. And I thought we could help!

If you are interesting in creating a card to be given to these parents when they get a book, here is the info. It is simple:

• You can send as many cards as you would like.
• Please use a sentiment such as: thinking of you, in my prayers, in my thoughts, sending hugs, sorry for your loss.
• For the inside of the card, you can either leave it blank or hand-write a simple message. Not much – just simple and kind. The message can be something listed above, along with your first name and hometown. (Such as: “Sending lots of prayers from Jennifer in Cincinnati.”)
• Please send cards in unsealed envelopes to:
        Lasting Hearts Card Drive
        2892 N Bellflower Blvd Ste 216
        Long Beach Ca 90815
• Include a post-it note on the card(s) with your name and email address so you can be eligible for a prize!
• If you would like to include a donation via mail, you are welcome to but not required to.

Creating cards is something we can do easily and a great way to share kindness. And you may win a prize!

GIVEAWAY

Anyone who sends in cards before 2/29/16 for the Lasting Hearts Card Drive will be eligible to win a prize of $100 of Hero Arts products! Just be sure to put your email address and name on a post-it when you send in your card(s). (International folks are welcome. One winner will be picked.)

PRAYERS SET

There is one more way you can help! 25% of the profits of this Prayers stamp and die set will be donated to the Lasting Hearts efforts:

This prayers set was a collaboration between Simon Says Stamp and Hero Arts in September, but was for a limited time only. Due to high demand, they are bringing it back and giving 25% to the cause. I LOVE this. (And thanks to Kimberly, Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp for going along with my crazy idea! You are remarkable.)

You can see this set in action HERE.

THANK YOU!

Kimberly and I would like to thank to Simon Says Stamp, Hero Arts, Amy Jacobson, Angela Miller, Hernan Sierra, and all of the OBGYNs who have agreed to participate… and especially to all of you for caring enough to help!