We are SOOOOO Close!!!

We have almost raised $10,000 for March of Dimes this year!! We are $128 away!!!
If you haven't donated yet, you still can!! Just go here

Remember every dollar counts and can make the difference in the life of a baby!

**EDIT** WE DID IT!!!! WE RAISED $10,000 FOR MARCH OF DIMES!!!!!

There is also a Pink Zebra Fundraiser going on to help our team reach our goal!!
Please go here to check it out!!

Interview Link

Good morning everyone! Hope you had a wonderful holiday, the weather here was beautiful :)

CBS posted the interview link online this morning! In case you missed it or live out of town, just click here


We have 6 days left before the March of Dimes walk!You still have time to join our team and walk with us, for Dylan and Noah, as well as some preemie friends of ours (Jonah, Nathan, and Charlotte) or for a preemie or a loss in your life.  Come help support the March of Dimes and all that they do!

You can still donate to our team, just click here to go to the donation page :)

CBS interview!!!

Patrick and I were asked to do an interview for CBS 58 (Milwaukee) about our involvement with the March of Dimes and the upcoming March for Babies!!

It airs Saturday night (4/19) at 10pm and again bright and early on Monday morning (4/21) 5-6am

Please check it out!! Once the story has aired, we will have a link for the out-of-towners!!! :)

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

"How can you still believe in God?"

I am not affiliated with any church or domination, and I am a scientist in the sense that I have a BS in Biology and currently work in diabetes research.  I have struggled many times with creation vs evolution, but I have always believed in Him.

I can't quote scripture word of word, and I can't tell you which Apostle told which story.  I went to Sunday school as a little girl, and continued going through high school.  I remember the easter egg hunts in the pews, and the chocolate bunnies and the baked ham dinner.  As I got older, I remember getting the palm leaf the week before Sunday.  But I never really understood.

When we found out that Dylan was sick, we were angry.  I can speak for myself and fully admit, I was angry with God.  How could he do this? What did we do wrong to deserve this? Our sweet innocent baby taken away from us...WHY?!? On bad/weak days, we can fall back on the anger.  That's easy.

But the hard part?  Focusing on the good.  We cherished the 37 1/2 weeks that I was able to carry Dylan, to feel him kick and move around.  We took maternity pictures and succumbed to marinara sauce carvings.  I painted pictures for his nursery, washed all his baby clothes.  (If you can recall, the doctors didn't know the extent of what Dylan had or what it meant, so we tried to prepare as best we could for the complete unknown) And we were given two full months of baby smiles, wiggles, kisses and baths, all be it not in the ideal situation, but those two months were a blessing and a gift.

And then when we realized we would be reliving that nightmare with our Noah, the same emotions flooded on through.  Anger first, and then we had to be strong and focus on the blessings.  This time we knew the outcome, a gift from his big brother Dylan, so we knew not to put Noah through the same battles as Dylan.  We again took maternity pictures and succumbed again to different cravings of Kraft Mac & Cheese and buffalo chicken tenders.  Noah was incredibly active during his pregnancy. I felt him very early on in the pregnancy and once he started, it was a full day of summersaults and fist bumps.  We were given a 50% chance of Noah surviving the pregnancy, and getting the chance to meet our boy alive.  We prayed and prayed, and those prayers were answered (yet another gift) and beyond, as we were given two full hours with our little boy.  Pray to Him, and He will listen. Noah never struggled or felt pain.  All he ever knew was the world form inside my belly and then the love that surrounded him during his two hours here on earth.

More miracles have been confirmed as time as gone on.  We learned that the genetic disorder that our boys had is in fact lethal to males.  The boys never make it through the pregnancy.  But BOTH of my boys did.

Women that I have never physically met have banded together walking and raising money with their children in loving honor and memory of our boys, all benefitting the March of Dimes.  I believe this also to be a gift.  It's a gift in the sense that we know that our boys live on in the hearts of many, their lives were not lost in vain, and that they will never be forgotten.  Talk about gifts! :)

People sometimes ask me, after hearing about our story, how I can still believe in God after the experiences we have been through.  I tell them what I know or of what I believe very deep inside of me.  I don't believe God took my children from me. I don't believe He is punishing my husband or I, or our children.  We live in an imperfect world, where good people die; where good people are killed, taken advantage of, robbed, starved...the list goes on. I don't believe God to be a punishing God, but a loving God.  Those of you that are familiar with the Bible and scripture know this week to be a very Holy one.  Today is Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper.  Jesus tells the apostles that this will be their last meal together, and he knows that He will soon be sacrificed.

And those familiar with the story, know of the crucifixion and then the resurrection (Easter Sunday). And then Jesus comes to John, and from that, the Book of Revelation.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."


"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[a] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

And the promise that I will get to see my children again, is what gets me through each passing day and gives me the hope that I cling onto.

I am not trying to say one religion is better than others, or make you a believer if you aren't one.  I'm sharing with you my thoughts and beliefs, especially since I do get asked this question and I'm sure others have.  I can proudly say that I am a mother of angels <3

It is also not accidental the timing of this post, as Easter Sunday is approaching. To me, it means a lot more than marshmallow peeps and chocolate bunnies nowadays. 

it's another Fundraising Friday!!

So what does this mean exactly??

You come to the VFW Post in New Berlin and shop at all of you favorite vendors. Say you want some beer bread from Tastefully Simple and a mini muffin pan from Pampered Chef! The reps will sell you these items and donate a % of the total sales to the March of Dimes.

Here are the links from some of the vendors I was less familiar with so you can also see what items they have available!

Tastefully Simple

Avon

It Works

Pikle

Younique

Scentsy (Click on March of Dimes Shop to buy online!)

Close to my Heart (click on Join Devoted to Dylan to buy online!)

Magic Cupcakes will be there selling treats!

Fundraising Friday!

HI all!

Here's the 2014 logo

First and foremost, our Devoted To Dylan tshirt order is going in next week.  These are slightly different than last years as they have Noah and Taylor's name on them.  You don't have to walk with us to have a tshirt! If you want one, please order one.

Here's the tshirt order link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1n0aEA10Qcim_8nPFwA5rDP-mXgEFbKziCLbfCUr_0QY/viewform

And on to the fundraisers...

Of you are near Froedtert, Children's Hospital, or the Medical College of WI we are having a Krispy Kreme Donut Fundraiser on Wednesday March 12th 8-9am

The Tastefully Simple fundraiser is still up and running and they've launched their new Spring/Summer Catalog! Go here to check it out!

If you are on facebook, go to our group page here

If not, go here

Underneath Nichole's avatar, you will see "Upcoming Parties"

Click on "Jen M" and then in the orange rectangle, click on "shop now"

and you're all set!

I think this looks pretty tasty!

Fundraising Friday and a shopping tip :)

Sorry for the lack of posts since last friday!

We still have the two fundraisers going on right now. To read more about those go here

I know that money is tight right now,  for everyone. It's hard to donate money.  I break it up and donate something every month instead of a big lump sum and that helps me from feeling the hit of the donation.

I also am a crazy coupon lady as a lot of you already know, not crazy enough for a show...I won't be buying pallets of toilet paper anytime soon...but I still coupon and am able to save a lot of money.

I learned about this new shopping app on Hip2Save, and used a fellow hipper's referral code.  I was rewarded with a free lindt bar.  So I decided to make a trip to Walgreens.  They were running some other good deals that I wanted to grab.  The Scrub Bubbles are on sale for 2 for $6 and you earn a $2 RR, there are $1/1 coupons on coupons.com, so I used 2.  The Snickers are on sale for $0.49 and I had a $0.75/2 coupon. The glade starter kit is on sale for $4.99, and you earn a $2 RR.  I also had a $3/1 coupon from the glade site.  And then my lindt bar :) Full price, no sale.

I had a $4 RR from last week that I rolled into this and I used some of my balance points (another loyalty program that Wags does) and ended up paying $1.28 out of pocket (OOP) and earned my $2, and $2 RR.  Then I went to my smart phone apps :)

Shopmium is the new one.  To get the app you go to their site located here and to get a free lindt Chocolate bar you need to enter in a referral code. Mine is GMAKHAPC.  Thanks for using mine and if you sign up, feel free to add your referral code in the comments and hopefully someone else will pay it forward and so on.  All you do is scan the barcode of the item you bought and take a picture with your camera (all done on your smart phone) and you're done! BOOM! I got money back for the lindt chocolate bar and the glade starter kit.

So using my apps, and getting my RR's from walgreens I spent $1.28 OOP and earned $2 and $2 RR, earned $4 from shopmium and $2 from Checkout51 basically making money on my trip last night.

So I can donate even more to the march of dimes this month :)

and PS I tried that mega shower foamer last night, IT IS AWESOME! GREAT product! And no they are not paying me for saying that.