Saturday, April 16, 2011

Joyful Life Library Project Update

Art and I have been lucky.  We've never had to sit with a sick child in the hospital, wondering, praying, hoping, looking for ways to comfort and pass time.  The hardest thing we've had to do is send each of them off when they were babies for minor outpatient surgeries.  I remember thinking each time how hard it was to do, but knowing how much harder it could be.

I wish no mother or family had to know what "harder" feels like, but it happens every day in every children's hospital across the country and world.  Heather started the Joyful Life Library Project because she knows just how it feels to have your world turned upside down:


 In Heather's words:

We feel strongly that reading a favorite story to a child is an act of love that's comforting to the child and the caregiver alike, and is especially important when your life has been turned upside down because of a little one's critical illness.  As a parent of a hospitalized child, you often feel helpless because there is so little comfort and care you can offer.  Being able to sit and read a book, just like you would do at home, helps to makes the whole family feel a little bit better.  Because of this we have set out to put books in as many PICU's as we possible can.
We're officially half way through the month of April and so far I've collected a ton of books for the Miller's Children's Hospital, and Shanna informed me that books have been coming in directly to the hospital!  Thank you Shanna for being our Child Life Specialist contact at Miller's!  Can we collect more though?  I think so, I pray we can.

Please, will you help?  We are accepting super gently used books (please no religious connotations) and you can also search through the Amazon Wishlist for new books now through the end of April.  You can email me for my address if you'd like to send books to me or if you're local I can arrange for a pick up or drop off.

Thank you to everyone who has helped so far.  I'm so happy and humbled by God's continued Grace and how He shows himself in even the smallest of ways.

Happy Saturday friends!  And please visit Heather's site if you would like even more information and how she is helping in her own state of Arizona.

3 comments:

  1. hey friend~ i need to check with jordan first, but i think this is something we'd like to do this month. i'll probably be emailing you this week for your address! thanks for inspiring new ways to give...

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  2. this is so fantastic!! so many families will be able to feel the comfort those books can provide.

    we've just added a new hospital in indiana so now we're up to three hospitals across the country!! woo hoo!!

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  3. yes yes! we want to send books! please send me your address-or i guess if i buy from amazon they can be sent to the hospital! xo

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