Ryan's Closet

We collected and donated almost 40 outfits this year for Ryan's Closet! Thank you so very much to the family and friends who participated this year, we appreciate it so much! We also received many blankets, burp cloths, onesies, hats, socks and even shoes! They arrived in Seattle to the ISIS Foundation safely.
The ISIS Foundation is a nonprofit group that provides health and education programs in developing countries.
Uganda has the world’s third highest birth rate, yet the country ranks around 23rd in terms of infant mortality.
The ISIS Foundation has been working with Kiwoko to improve health care in Uganda for 10 years. The group helped establish a neonatal intensive care (NICU) unit at the hospital in 2000 that now assists around 500 babies a year.
Our donations will be packed at their Packathon this fall with many other donated items there in Seattle and then sent to Uganda. This is our second year donating to Africa and we find so much joy in it and in our dreams for the future for Ryan's Closet, expanding into even more parts of the world where there is desperate need for these little tiny ones! To see a slideshow of wonderful pictures and descriptions of where these donations are going, click here!

In honor and loving memory of our sweet Ryan's 3rd birthday xoxo!

Heaven Day

In honor of the third anniversary of Ryan's passing day, we thought of our angel by having a little picnic in the backyard with donuts (halo's) while writing messages on white star balloons to send up to heaven. The boys love this tradition. Yesterday morning, the 24th, was really hard, Jonathon was at school and Caleb was asleep and I watched Ryan's video of when he was in the NICU and I cried a lot. But after I got it all out for the day, wishing I could do anything just to hold and kiss him again, I got myself back on track, picked up Jonathon and we went about our day running errands for our evening events. Jonathon made my entire day by pulling out a little flower from his pocket wen we got home, he said he picked it for me at school! He melts my heart. I'm grateful for my family who was able to spend heaven day with us for the first time and share our traditions.

Caleb enjoying his halo :)

Writing a message to send to his big brother

Jonathon had his Jack Sparrow pirate costume on of course, so he wrote his name and Ryan's name with hearts and then a picture of a pirate so Ryan could see how cool he looked :)

Little brother Alex writing his message to his nephew

Big brother Chris and his wife Talynn writing their messages

Caleb finishing up his donut

Getting ready to send them off to heaven

Watching them float away

Up and up they go! We love you Ryan and loved honoring you all week, every August and each day in our hearts. It's amazing the wonderful things that have happened and will continue to happen because of Ryan. We're so lucky to have him always... forever ours. Until we meet again!

Ryan's 3rd Birthday!

We celebrated Ryan's 3rd Birthday today. I can't believe it's been three years already! You would think it would feel like an eternity, but it really has felt like just a year ago he was born. With Caleb added to our family it really sped up the time. This morning all four of us were in bed talking about Ryan and when we blew kisses up to heaven, Caleb blew his first kiss and it was the cutest thing ever. We celebrated with family over for a wonderful birthday dinner and with singing happy birthday and had an amazing cake with three little candles. When Jonathon saw the table set up he was so excited and yelled, "Yay! It's Ryan's Birthday!" It was so sweet to see how excited he was and it gave me flashbacks of when he was two yrs. old and he ran into the room at the hospital to hold his baby brother Ryan for the first time, it was the same excited face yelling, "Baby!"

We're going to collect donations again this year for Ryan's Closet, we'll be shipping the preemie outfits, blankets and preemie hats from Fresno, CA to Seattle in three weeks where they will then be shipped to Uganda, Africa. Last year was our first year and it turned out so well, so we're excited to do it again. I put all the information on facebook so if any of you out there want to donate that don't have facebook, leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

We miss Ryan very much, everyday he is in our hearts and thoughts and today was a peaceful and beautiful day remembering his birth. The day of his birth was so scary, but such a miraculous day as well. I'm so thankful he was born alive, that was a miracle in itself, it was a very close call. For the next four days we will be thinking of the four special days we shared with him. We'll watch his videos and I'll miss kissing his cute little nose and head, I'll be missing his tiny hands squeezing my finger, I'll miss watching his legs kick all around, and I'll miss the way his little eyes would open when he heard our voices talking or singing to him. He, along with our other two boys, is the best thing that's ever happened to us. He changed our hearts and our lives for the better. We hope to live a life to where he will be proud of us. Thank you sweet Ryan for your example of strength, courage, hope and love. Happy 3rd Birthday baby boy!

Proud big brother :)

I have the sweetest friends and family! My amazing friend Summer and her family did this today in our behalf, so extremely sweet!!! We were truly touched. Thank you guys again and again!