Grab A Tissue - Please Watch This Video

Awhile back I wrote about how I made a bench for a fundraiser at the Space Needle. This was for a friend's little girl named Tessa.

Some of you know them and their journey very well! For those of you who do not, Tessa's dad Justin and mom Julie have shared the video documentary that was shown the night of the fundraiser.  This video is very touching and shows in a brief 10 minutes, Tessa's JDM story, and how it has changed their family. I hope you will take a moment to watch it and donate to help find a cure for JM. I will give you fair warning - grab a tissue! They are such an amazing family and Tessa is truly a gift from God.


Click here to watch Tessa's JDM video.


Thank you for watching and please donate if you can. Tessa's Cure JM fund raising website is open until September 25th for donations:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/tessa-shevlin/tessacurejm

If anything, please take the time to share this video with your friends and family to help spread the word about this disease in the hopes of finding a cure some day very soon!



Loves to you all,


~Anneke :-)

Life Is More Than "Things"

I am so excited, like many of you, about the relationships I make along the way in this journey called life.  One of those relationships for our family is with a family through my husband's work at the Fire Department.

This past Tuesday evening, June 21st, I got to attend a fundraising dinner here:

for their beautiful 6 year old daughter Tessa

who has a disease called Juvenile Myositis or JM.

And I was beyond excited to donate a couple spa benches to support their goal of raising money to find a cure for Tessa and others who have JM!

Here is one of the benches that was up for auction (I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the other one - just think distressed creamy shabby color) :

 

This was a great opportunity to try some new distressing techniques! For a little technical info., we've got major distressing (think hammer, screws, nail punches, even lettering - which is unfortunately hard to see in the picture - it says CURE JM on the lower left bottom shelf), wood conditioner, onyx stain, dark walnut stain, onyx stain, and high gloss clear coat. It looks pretty substantial in person, and I was happy that it brought in a terrific amount for the fundraiser!

 

So, being with great friends and people to support Tessa, her family, and other families with JM is yet another reminder to me that the wonderful and beautiful things we create, purchase, and invest in, are really nothing without the ones we love.  And while the "things" in life "speak to us" in different ways, our family and friends infuse the specialness of these things into our life.

If you would like to learn more about JM or make a donation, please take the time to visit one of the following websites!

http://summersolsticecurejm.eventbrite.com/

www.firstgiving.com/tessacurejm

www.curejm.org

Thanks and have a GREAT weekend! I'm off to run on Saturday for my first half-marathon ever on TeamTessa - yeah!  What are you up too? (fyi- if it's relaxing, I'm jealous!) :-)

~Anneke