My Mom, Makin' Lemonade, The Green Mum and Finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis (*Updated*)

(This title may seem a bit random, but please read and find out how they are all related, and how you can help!!!) 


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 MY MOM

"My mom didn't teach me how to love, she lived and let me watch her do it."

My mom is the most amazing woman I have ever met. Her heart is about the size of the entire world!  Everyone who knows my mom feels loved by her. She raised 5 children of her own, and for over 25 years has continued to run an at-home daycare. She is surrounded by kids everyday and rarely, if ever, loses her temper. (Why didn't her patience transfer to me?!) She is slow to anger and she is gentle and kind. Kids love her and parents trust her. I trust her with everything!

The strength of my mom is the quality she possess that is most inspiring to me. Shortly after the birth of her 4th child, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I was 8 at the time and knew nothing about MS, but I knew it must be a serious condition because I had never before seen my mom scared. She explained to me that MS was a disease that would attack the nerves in her body. She used an electrical cord as an example to show me and my younger siblings the similarities between our nerves and that cord- "Just like the cord has the plastic coating covering the wires inside," she said, "our nerves also have a protective coating over them. MS attacks that coating until it hardens and falls apart, leaving the nerves exposed."

As gentle as she tried to make her words sound, I too became very nervous about how our life would be changing because of this diagnosis. I remember praying so hard for the first time that I could remember asking God to take away this disease.

Over the years I have seen my mom turn into a fighter, and though discouraged and bruised at times, she never gives up and is determined not to let this disease win the battle of her lifetime. We have been lucky, as her case is slow-progressing, so even after struggling for 20 years, she is still functioning almost as normal as she was before the diagnosis. She has episodes of unbalance, times of blurred vision, permanent numbness in her fingers and toes and pain and discomfort here and there, but seeing what MS could be like reassures me everyday that God did hear the prayers of that 8 year old little girl.



About 10 years after my mom started fighting MS, her younger sister who was only in her early 20's was also diagnosed with this disease. Her condition is not as slow progressing as my mom's and it has effected her physically as well as mentally, making her completely incapable of living on her own. Seeing my young aunt struggle with this disease has me more and more determined to fight with and for all those who are suffering from it.

MAKIN' LEMONADE

When my oldest son came up to me a few weeks ago begging to do a lemonade stand,  I knew he wanted to earn money for a trip to the toy store, but I only agreed to help him if he raised money for a greater purpose. I took the time to explain to him about charity work and how his lemonade stand could be used for good. We talked a bit about grandma's condition and he was soon on board and excited to raise money for the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis, a charity focused not only on treatments for MS, but mostly on finding a cure for this disease.


One Saturday morning, we baked some cookies, made a sign and headed out the door with 2 pitchers full of lemonade.

The whole family came along for the experience, and in just 30 minutes, we had sold all the cookies and lemonade and had made over $30! (*Note to everyone who stopped by, THANK YOU! I will never, ever, EVER pass a lemonade stand and not buy some lemonade! It makes a kid's day, I tell ya!) Our first contribution to this charity wasn't anything spectacular-it was something and it was a start, but Ethan and I want to do more!

THE GREEN MUM

For 2 weeks I was thinking about different fundraisers I could do to play a bigger role in this fight, and then one day I got a call from my friend Lindsay at OpenSky. As we talked and I expressed my feelings about the need to do more, we came up with a fantastic fund raising idea! Take a look at these:

The Green Mum is my favorite new company that sells darling accessories made from Cabochon. (pronounced Cabo-Sh-On). Click HERE to read my personal product review.

FINDING A CURE FOR MS

OpenSky, The Green Mum and I are partnering together for a special fundraiser to help the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. 

TOGETHER, WE CAN DO THIS!!!

A set of earrings+bobby pin or ring for YOU

and $230 for The Accelerated Cure Project!!!

Purchase these items for only $15!!

I have said before that I feel so lucky to have this blog as an awesome platform to do good and bring attention to issues and matters that are close to my heart. 

The details: 

If we sell 30 Earring/Bobby Pin sets,  I will DONATE $150 to The Accelerated Cure Project

In addition to my $150 donation, OpenSky will donate $50 and The Green Mum will donate $1 for every set sold!

Click HERE to go directly to my OpenSkyShop

Buy a pair for all the women in your life that you cannot live without- your mom, your daughter, your friends. This is more than a gift of love, this is a gift of life!

I will be updating the sales at the  top of my sidebar so you can all see how much further we have to reach our goal! 




Here is a little VLOG (2 minutes) to show you the great Green Mum accessories I personally own , plus explain this fundraiser in a little more in detail. (Please note: This was recorded by my 7 year old who complained afterward that his arm was getting tired of holding the camera, so it is a bit shaky. Plus, my 2 and 3 year old decided to not be quite like I had asked, so there is a bit of background noise!)





After my video was done, Ethan wanted to record something for all of you. And whatever big brother Ethan does, so does Leah. So as not to flood this post with videos, here are Ethan and Leah together with a sweet 7 second message: 

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My mom is the best! She is my teacher, my example, and she is my best friend. Proceeds from the sales of The Green Mum Accessories will be donated in her honor. Thanks for reading!

•••Update 6/17•••

First off, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for helping me sell The Green Mum earring sets!
I received so many great comments and words of encouragement and appreciation, it has made me feel so good!


Ethan is super excited too! He would ask me every so often yesterday, "Mom, how many have sold? Did we reach our goal yet?" Reaching our goal is like winning a championship for a 7 year old and I just have to say thanks to all of you for helping us with this. Sending our donation to The Accelerated Cure Project for MS is going to feel so good!

I am just so excited and blown away by the generosity of everyone who has jumped in and helped us with this! It literally makes me want to hug all of you! :) (and I'm not big into hugging, so that should mean something!)

And for those of you who want to help but can't jump in and buy the earrings: email, tweet, blog and facebook about this fundraiser- help me get the word out! Your friends and family have probably never heard of somewhat simple before! Let them in on the good news and tell them what good things we are up to over here! They might have a soft spot for finding a cure for MS and maybe they can help us reach our goal.

And please email me or leave me a comment telling me what you have all done so I know who to personally thank! Again, I would hug you if I could, but at least let me thank you! Tell me if you bought a set, tell me if you tweeted or blogged about it- just tell me what you did and I will be sure to thank you because from the bottom of my heart, I mean it. Thank you!!!