Here is the card I'm going to use for the Ronald McDonald House activity in a couple of weeks. (See, it matches my fingernail polish!). This is the set that Stampin' Up! created especially for the benefit of the Ronald McDonald houses. They do a new one every year and for every set sold $2 is donated to the houses. UPS, our shipping supplier was kind enough to purchase this set for every demonstrator who attended Convention - all 6,000 of us!

I promised you a post on RMHC. As you probably know, I am part of a team of Demonstrators who go to the house every month to do projects with the residents. I don't go every month, but I go every couple of times. It's an interesting experience. Usually we are making cards with the parents and sometimes the siblings who are staying at the house, but occasionally some of the patients are there too.

A couple of months ago, I was working with a group and there was a pretty little girl of about 6 there with her mother. She looked perfectly healthy, so I just assumed she was one of the siblings. There's a fine line between respecting their privacy and letting them talk about their experiences so I don't usually ask too many questions unless they seem to feel like talking. But this Mom started talking about her daughter and the problems she was having up at the Children's Hospital.

She said that they were going to be going home soon because the doctors had said there was nothing else they could do for her. Apparently her daughter had a problem with her esophagus. She couldn't swallow anything solid. Anything. Ever. And there was no therapy, no transplant, no anything they could do about it. So, naturally I asked her how she managed to feed her. She reached over to the pretty little girl and flipped up her shirt. There was a feeding tube going straight into her stomach. I was shocked.

After the little girl went off to play, the Mom told me the rest of the story. Can you imagine living in a house with a child who can't eat? Sitting down to meals every day with the rest of your family and not being able to have her come to the table? Having her smell the food and see you enjoy it and never be able to share it with her? Did she ever get hungry on that liquid diet? I would imagine so. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when she is a teenager? Not being able to enjoy pizza or soda, or birthday cake at someone's birthday? Oh sorry, it's lunchtime, I have to hook myself up to this can of goo and pour it into my stomach. I'm sure the other kids are going to have a field day with that. How heartbreaking for a sweet little girl and her family.

I can't even imagine being in those shoes - I think I would just curl up in a little ball and suck my thumb all day. I guess we just have to be grateful for our healthy children and the choices they have and do little what we can to help people in a situation like that. If you'd like to buy the stamp set, it is $17.95 and the matching punch is $15.95. You'll be able to order it on-line through my SU Website starting on Sept 9th. Or just E-mail me.