Strength.
the above photo is my sister in law Debbie and her daughter Claire. I used to say "Debbie is one of the strongest people I know" then I met Claire. Claire is one years old and a year ago this week was diagnosed with Diamond Blackfan aneima. She has spent more time in the hospital than most adults.
the above photo was taken by Lynette Johnson a professional photographer who has started a foundation called Soulumination. Lynette has done a couple of photo shoots of Claire and her family and they are some of the most wonderful photos that everyone in the family has enjoyed.

Soulumination celebrates the lives of children facing life threatening illnesses by providing professional photographs—free of charge—of these children and their families.The life-affirming photographs of Soulumination are the enduring, positive record of the child’s brief life.

Here is the Soulumination Website. Here is Lynette's blog
Scroll down to the bottom of my blog and you can see a new video that was made to educate families about her organization. You can click here to make a donation.

I have few friends who are photographers and thought they might find this interesting and an organization to become a part of as well.

What made me think of postings this was that today Annie Kate and her two girl friends had a lemonade stand from 8:30 to 4:30 to help raise money for Claire to buy some new special shoes. The were so excited at the end of the day with their earnings. Thank you Issabele and Gabrielle for spending your day thinking of Claire.

Take a Stand

"Sunkist is calling all kids, 7 to 12 years of age, across America to "Take a Stand" for their favorite charity. It's a rewarding way to squeeze some fun into summer and give back to the community. " They are giving away 12,000 lemonade stands!

Click here!

If you are ever wondering how I find out about all this stuff well..... Thanks to my friend Stacy who suggest last summer I sign up for my weekly GoCityKids email, I get the low down of all the happenings in the city.
Even if you don't have kids - sign up! Every week it will email events going on in your city. On Thursday nights we get an email and then plan our weekend.

GoCityKids -click hereand how could I forget to mention all the wonderful Trader Joe's advice! really it is amazing. I am putting this on my sidebar so anyone can reference the cheat sheet shopping list any day.
Laurie & Lisa P. will be the lucky winners of the 11.5 yards for taking the time to type that list. I do have three Pink Trader Joe's chocolate bars going to 3 different honorable mentions (one being my father in law who took the time to comment!) see it pays to comment.