inspiring

A friend of mine has a granddaughter who, at the age of 13 months, was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer. I have followed the remarkable journey of this child since first hearing the news of her cancer. She went into remission after a series of tough surgery and treatment. In August of 2007, they faced the news that her cancer had come back. This precious little girl turned four in August and after a rough serious of tests in New York last week, she is showing no evidence of disease!!! I have never met this little girl, and I've also never met her mother. Her mother and I are around the same age, and I find myself constantly amazed by her faith, her grace, her strength and the ability to keep everything going when most people would feel like everything is falling apart. Needless to say, I hold my children closer to me everyday because of the story of this family. While the boys have sent the child a little care package last Christmas, I felt inspired to send a piece of my work to her mother. She also ran the New York City marathon a week and a half ago to raise money for pediatric cancer research. She raised over $13,000!!! This necklace shown in the picture above is heading her way. Gold is the color of the remembrance ribbon for pediatric cancer, and the piece simply reads "hope." They will never know how much I am "hoping" for them! I "hope" each of you will hold your children close to you this day and everyday we are blessed to have them.