Another bittersweet birthday was celebrated for Abby!!
We started off our days of celebration with receiving another beautiful gift from our friend and neighbor. She makes these amazing grave decorations and she never forgets Abby! Abby's grave is all 'blinged' out, which I absolutely love! We brought the box to Abby's resting place at night. When I told the kids we would bring it at night, they were so excited, screaming "YAYYYY". I know, it sounds strange, but there is solace in visiting the cemetery at night. It is peaceful and serene. I love that they love going and that they are not afraid of adventuring it at night either.
To spread Abby's name as we commenced our acts of kindness, I made these cards to give out so that her name would be shared with those that we helped. It made things just a touch brighter having her name spoken. Our whole purpose is to remember Abby and knowing that she was the reason we were helping others brought smiles to me.
On February 28th, our first 'act' was for the kids' school. The kids joined me in purchasing children's socks and underwear for a clothing drive to be donated to kids in Haiti. They stocked up the shopping cart at Target and within minutes we hit our budget!
We continued after school with luminara lights. The kids decorated the white bags with messages for Abby and we lined them up in front of the house to light up at night. It was quite a view.
We then ate dinner and drove to this amazing Italian bakery. The kids picked out their very own dessert and we enjoyed the deliciousness at home. But before going home, we went to the cemetery to sing Abby 'Happy Birthday'. While we were eating our treats, we made it a point to speak about Abby and say anything that was on our minds.
On March 1st, we continued our quest to honor our little one. We invited our niece to come along to join in on the fun. We started out by having breakfast at the kids' favorite restaurant, IHOP. We selected a family and anonymously paid for their breakfast in her memory. I must admit, that experience gave me a little bit of anxiety. I was choking up when I was sneakingly planning the details with our waitress. I was able to however compose myself enough to spread some lovin to her and the other family's waitress with a very generous tip! :)
We then set out to Walmart to donate groceries for some local agencies in town.
The kids then joined our niece handing out some Boxes of Joe from Dunkin Donuts to the shivering Girl Scouts selling their cookies outside of Walmart. One mom was so touched that she was going to do the same and 'pay it forward' in Abby's memory! :)
We then headed back to the cemetery again. Lucas was adamant that he dig Abby's grave marker out of the snow. LOL.
As we started to get ready to head out to Roberto's sister's for dinner, we were surprised with a special delivery. Chinese Food! Our favorite take-out! Our niece who joined us for our activities earlier in the day was so thoughtful to take care of us for dinner! It came in handy because by the time we got to his sister's, the kids were hungry and dinner wasn't quite ready! So the kids were thrilled to have Chinese. (They love it so much, they prefer it over McDonald's). Go figure! :)
Spending time with Roberto's sister and her family was a wonderful way to end the day. Roberto and I were able to open up and speak about Abby all night long. We don't get that chance very often but we were grateful to feel comfortable enough to reminisce our Sweet Little Abby.
We heard from many of you and how you were able to honor Abby. We feel so very loved. We are touched that you celebrated her life with us and in doing so, made a difference in someone else's life. We are grateful to have you in our lives and we thank you!
