It's Ours!

The property next door to us has been vacant for awhile due to the house burning up.  We thought that it would be wonderful to be able to purchase it in preparation for our home addition - and a few weeks ago, thanks to donations (especially a large donation from The Lexx Howell Foundation for SMA, which made up close to half of the purchase price!), we were able to do just that!  It is officially ours!

On the edge of where the property starts :)

If you look closely, you'll see that what Lucy and I are holding is a set of blueprints.  Blueprints for our amazing new addition!  Bedrooms for Lucy and us, a bathroom for her, and laundry on the first floor so I don't have to leave Lucy alone to get her washing done throughout the week.

We contacted some friends of the family to talk to them about the addition, and they recommended CLA Design Service, LLC for the blueprints, which was the first step we were going to need to build.  We are nowhere near our fundraising goal, but we will need the blueprints eventually, so we contacted Jim Emmer at CLA Design to help us draw up our vision.  

Jim came out to the house with Dan and Marcia Valle of Valle Construction, who we wanted to talk to about getting an estimate.  Being the control freak that I am, I may or may not have handed Jim and Dan copies of a crudely-drawn-in-the-paint-program "blueprint" of what I was looking for. ;)

They checked out our existing house, checked out the property, took all the measurements needed, dealt with Bert tailing them annoyingly, and talked with me about my little drawing.  As they left, Jim said he would have a preliminary blueprint for me to check out by the end of the week.  Since that was in three days, I was surprised to see the blueprint arrive in the mail two days later!  So exciting!

There was only a slight modification to what he originally sent me, so after I called him and we discussed it, he got the official prints right out.  That's what you see in the picture!  And in a heartwarming and humbling display of generosity and kindness, Jim has donated the blueprints to us!  Now we need to figure out a general idea of what this is going to cost... I have a feeling my $90,000 guess isn't going to be too far off.

We will get there!  We have ways for you to help, if you feel so called - there are Thirty-One bags to buy, an auction for baby gift items, a Pink Zebra party, Lucy magnets to buy (email bzahn84@charter.com for more info), you can place an order with Couture to Cure SMA for hair clips, or you can donate directly.  We are planning a local fundraiser at the Culvers locations in Fond du Lac on October 8th, and are mulling over ideas for a pool tournament.  We will keep charging along, until we can make this a reality for Lucy.  Please pray that we can meet our goal of breaking ground on this no later than the beginning of next summer.  Lucy's safety is foremost in our mind, and shuffling her up and down the stairs multiple times a day isn't cutting it anymore.  Thank you all so much, for your continued support and prayers!

Ways You Can Help!

Hello all!  We've had a few new fundraisers pop up, so I thought I'd put them all in one place for easy access :)  This way, if you feel so inclined, you can choose which one best suits your needs!

First we have a Thirty-One bags party going for Lucy.  This runs until August 27, so if you're in the market, get your order in!  They have totes, thermal bags, storage bags, organizing bags... if you need a bag, they have it!  And you can personalize, too :)  Plus, it's a mystery hostess party, so everyone who purchases has the chance to win the hostess spot, and be eligible for all the deals that brings your way!

Then there is an auction for baby items from Mommie to Be, and that closes August 25.  Lots of cute gift ideas for whoever is expecting in your life!

We also have a party that just started for Pink Zebra scented gifts!  I was reading through all of the scents and started drooling :)  That party runs through September 2.

You can mark your calendars for October 8 - put away your dishes and let Culver's get you dinner!  There will be a fundraiser for Lucy at all three Culver's locations that night, from 5pm-7pm.  I will let you know more of the details the closer it gets.

We have a date set for the next Links for Lucy event, at The Golf Club at Camelot in Lomira, so put down June 7, and we'll see you there!  We are hoping that this event will be the last one, after fundraising over the winter and spring, and that we will then have enough to either start the building outright, or enough to be able to take out a loan for the rest.

I also still have magnets available for $5 each, free shipping.  You can email me at bzahn84@charter.net to place your order!

I think that's everything we have going right now.  We are contemplating a pool tournament in February, and thinking about something for around the holidays - maybe if I have enough time, I will get to work on some of the fabulous craft ideas I've been pinning, and offer some of them for sale!

Thank you all so, so much for caring about Lucy.  For reading the blog.  For spreading the word about her, and for helping us change her little world.  We took her to the last Monday music in the park last night, and the Whiskey River Band was playing.  She LOVES their style of music!  And one of the guitar players was kind enough to give a little shout-out to her and Mateo, dedicating a song to them!  Of course when we left, she got to say goodbye to the front row; the people there always smile and wave and say goodbye to her, and she just beams at them.  Thank you for helping to make her the happy little girl that she is :)

SMA Awareness Spreading!

Hi everyone!  I totally spaced and forgot to announce the beginning of SMA Awareness Month - it's this month, in case you hadn't already deduced that :)

I borrowed a fantastic idea from the smart-as-whips parents over at Jadon's Hope Foundation.  What is more appealing to the mass population than sports?  It's incredible, really, when you sit down and figure out how many SMA carriers are in the stadium at any given sporting event.  Shocking, really.  Jadon's Hope posted a great one about their local team, so I thought I would make some up for our teams.  Please feel free to share, pin - do whatever you can to get the word out there and really make people think!

Brewers at the bottom, because... well, you know.

We've been doing some fun things with Lucy, too - last weekend we took her to the park, to visit the petting zoo and take her first ride on a carousel!

A flemish giant!  So fluffeh!

The carousel horses were chasing her :)

We also just got to meet up with another SMA family in Madison!  The Tolsons had to come see Dr. Schroth with their daughter Holly, who is the same age as Lucy.  Lucy was SO excited, and in a bubbly mood the whole way there, chatted at Holly for our visit, and then grinned all the way home!

And a little side by side comparison from the last time they got together:

Otherwise, we've just been hanging out; playing with toys, going on walks, running errands - the usual summer stuff.  I think we're going to try to fit in a zoo trip yet this year, or maybe the museum, but otherwise we're taking it easy!  Isn't that what summer is all about?