Sunday, July 17, 2011

Quick Trip Recap & Giveaway Winner

i know i'm a little behind, so i will start off by announcing the winner of Juju's July giveaway. and the winner {using random.org's random number generator} of the Willow Tree angel of hope is comment #2. NATASHA!!!! congrats girl! i'm so glad that this angel gets to go to such a great home and such a deserving momma. thank you so much to everyone who entered! it really makes me so happy that i can do something small for someone else in honor of my baby boy. it means so much. ♥

this past week i was in MN for my much needed "escape" from my daily life. it was such an amazing trip. i finally met some women who i had initially "met" through my blog, and who have been such a wonderful support system to me. i got to do quite a few things to honor my baby boy. i got to help honor/remember other precious little ones. and i got to take a break. it was like a little mini-retreat. and i'm so glad that i got a chance to do it.

i had the pleasure of meeting jenna {Noah's momma}, natasha {Aiden's momma}, deanna {River's momma}, kristin {Stevie's momma}, and tiffany {Ellie's momma}. they are even more amazing in person. and even though we had never met in person, i felt completely comfortable with each one of them. there was absolutely no awkwardness between us.

sunday we met and attended a lovely brunch hosted by a football player {chad greenway} for mothers of critically ill children, and those that had lost their children. though a bit emotional, it was so nice to be able to be recognized for being a mother. he was also generous enough to provide everyone there with gifts. one being a beautiful vera bradley bag. i have always eyed those bags, but never bought one, so it was a real treat.


us with our vera bradley bags
 after lunch we went out to this adorable place and painted pottery. it was such a great experience to be able to sit around and talk, and feel a bit normal. i painted a couple of things that reminded me of Julius - a froggy, and a heart.

me posing with my Juju pieces


and then we went out to eat and spent some more time talking about our babies. it was just a wonderful time!

me enjoying my delicious dinner
some of Faces of Loss team with Kristin {the founder}
the rest of my time there was just as great as that day. i was able to help tiffany with her event in honor of her daughter Ellie. i helped jenna with a couple of things for her event that is coming up for her baby boy, Noah. i was also able to visit both Noah and Ellie at their special spots. it was such an honor. on top of that, i did A LOT of gushing about my pride and joy, Juju. so overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip. i'm so so glad that i decided to take the time out to do this. and i'm so blessed that i got to meet just a few of the wonderful people that have been there for me these past 9 months of sheer hell, and give them a big hug in person. i don't think they will ever fully understand how much their friendship means to me!!

10 comments:

Tiffany said...

Tiffany, I am so, so glad that you came up here! It was so nice to have you at Ellie's event and so just hang out and do some relaxing things!

S said...

I'm so happy you got to meet your support group in person. It was really an amazing experience when I did it as well!

Tiffany said...

What lovely photos. Im glad you all got to meet up. I wish I could have been there with all you amazing ladies.

rebecca said...

So glad you had such an amazing time & were able to bond with those lovely women who understand so well the loss of Julius in your life. That's awesome you guys were able to attend the luncheon and be recognized as the incredible mothers that you are. Love you lots ((hugs))

Deanna said...

I am soooo glad we got to spend this lovely day together!! I loved sharing River and hearing all about Julius. It was one of very few "mommy days" I have had since River's death and I am so glad we got to meet. I am happy that the rest of your trip was beautiful, I hope we can see each other again, someday! ((hugs))

Natasha said...

Awwww so excited to win! Thank you and thank Juju!

It really was such a fabulous trip! So excited to finally meet you in person and share Juju and Aiden :) It was so great to meet all the girls and be with an awesome group of mamas who understand and allow me to grieve however I need to.

Thanks for being such a great friend!!!!

Ashley said...

Looks like it was SO much fun!! Glad that you had a great time and met some great friends :)

Jenny said...

That looks like a lot of fun! So glad you had time to get together and relax and that there was no awkwardness lol

noah's mommy + daddy said...

So so glad you came to MN and thank you for visiting Noah with me (even if he did pop all my balloons!) and helping me with things for the tournament. You are an amazing support for me as well! Xoxo

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that you were able to get away. Sending you peace and hugs. Take care.

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