Welcome, everyone, to Blissdom and thank you for flying me & my LOVE here, all expenses paid, so we can enjoy a well-deserved getaway from our MSC. We have 5, don't you know??
I wanted to speak a bit on the topic of community and how it came about that I now have such a supportive online community that is my blog readership.
You see, when I learned of Stellan's illness, I wanted everyone else to know about it...even the President. So I started visiting other popular blogs, especially blogs dealing with the loss of a baby. I developed a fabulous button and encouraged everyone to "grab" it. I asked for people to write my son's name in the sand, in cheerios, you name it, all over the world. I asked for a picture of his name at the Eiffel Tower and BAM! It appeared in my Inbox. So wonderful was this community, that they all demanded a "Worldwide Hug Stellan Day," the first of which occurred just a month ago. We will be repeating this celebration next winter, only Stellan probably won't be attending that one, either.
Some of my more rabid fans, even though they were strangers, showed up at the hospital with food, tons of cute burpies and blankies, gift certificates for massages, etc. I found that when I tweeted about these gifts from my devoted community, then I was BLESSED with EVEN MORE gifts.
I mean, when I mentioned how uncomfortable I was in the hospital room, I was then blessed with a freaking suite at a nice hotel! So nice that I had sleepovers with one child at a time, and then enjoyed a night out on the town with my LOVE, followed by a sleepover, of course!
If I dropped my phone, lost Stellan's baby legs, or any other setback, BAM! Those things would reappear.
This community of mine even extended all the way to the east coast. When we flew to Boston, not only did I have more hotel rooms donated than I even needed, but I also had a personal assistant coordinating meal deliveries. Back home, another assistant collected the many packages that made Stellan hit "pay dirt." My testimony about my community was particularly well-received by the cashier at Target, who had never seen someone redeem so many gift cards. Thank you to my community for sticking to the list of preferred gift card locations!
But you know, the dedication of my community was so impressive that they convinced me to put a paypal button on my blog for the "Stellan Fund," (even though we give away most of our earnings), because you know, the meals, hotel rooms, gifts, just weren't cutting it. My community wanted to show just how generous they can be!
So I wanted to share my testimony about the importance of a community. I just don't know how other parents of sick children even do it! I know I couldn't have done it without you, my beloved community. God is so, so good.*
*(to me.)
**Not mine, a very funny commenter left this gem.
