Life is Precious

Life is precious.  And amazing. And fleeting.  No matter how long our loved ones get to stay with us, it is never long enough.  I have been thinking about that a lot this past week.  I happened upon a blog through a friend's facebook feed that has had a profound effect on me.  The story of a courageous little boy with an inoperable brain tumor and his amazing mom.  I read mom Kerri's blog, Keiki Kai, from start to finish.  Kai, this sweet little 2 year old, and his mom Kerri both showed such incredible love and strength and captured my heart!  Sadly, Kai lost his battle on November 27, 2012.  I am heart-broken for them.  It is every parents' worst fear to lose a child and it really made me think about how uncertain life is.  I know that I've held Kayne a little closer, played a little more, snuggled a little harder this past week.  I have never met Kerri or Kai, but Kerri's candid, heartfelt, insightful, and poignant writing made me feel as though I had.  And I am certain I am a changed parent because of it.  I know there are responsibilities that I must attend to.  The mundane details of life.  I have to go to work.  I have to cook dinner.  And do the dishes.  And the laundry.  But sometimes when it's a choice between catching up on emails or making a card versus playing "fort" under the afghan with Kayne, well, that should be one easy decision!   

So needless to say, I've been a bit neglectful of my crafting, but I do have three orders I completed to share.  The first is a card to celebrate life!  That is the wonder and mystery of it all.  Where there is an end there are also new beginnings.  And new miracles.   I was asked to make a card for a very special baby by a friend.  I chose Baby Jake from Saturated Canary as my image.  I also used the fabulous sketch from the current Saturated Canary challenge (#31).  Papers are My Mind's Eye - Fine and Dandy Boy/True Blue.  I used the Floral Ovals Nestabilities dies from Spellbinders as well as the Fancy Tags dies.  The star border is a Martha Stewart punch.  I added lace and seam binding.  The baby bracelet is made from heart shaped beads and strung on wax thread to spell out the baby's first and middle name.

The next card was another special order and the recipient is going to the Miss America pageant.  I thought the Katniss Girl on Fire Sassy image from Sassy Studio Designs was perfect for this!

I colored Katniss with Copics and fussy cut her.  I also cut one of the crowns from the papers, which are My Mind's Eye - Lost & Found Market Street.  The only tool I used was my corner rounder punch and I also kept embellishments to a minimum, adding only a few rhinestones and some black organdy ribbon.  The sentiment is computer generated.  The sketch is last week's Sketch Saturday (#235).

The final card is an order from a co-worker for a get well card.  There were two stipulations: it had to have a pig on it and it had to be pink.  The image is a free coloring page found doing a google search and the sentiment is computer generated.  Papers are DCWV - Nana's Nursery.  I added black rhinestones, a flower, and metal corners from Tim Holtz.  Sketch is a Mojo Monday one from a couple of weeks ago (#268).

I do have crafting to attend to this week.  It is something I love.  But enjoying this holiday season with my precious little boy seems more important than ever to me.  I will continue to follow Keiki Kai, and I hope to see more of the outpouring of love and support that his life and his death inspired.  I know that he is watching over his mom now and will take care of her as she grieves.  

If you would like to donate to Kai's Village, here is some info and links.

   
Memorial contributions to honor Kai may be made to Kai’s Village c/o Grafton Suburban Credit Union 86 Worcester St. N.Grafton MA 01536 or The Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center 112 Main St. Hopkinton MA 01748. 

To learn more about Kai’s story visit www.kaisfightclub.org

"Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they're already asleep." ~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

{hugs}
Regan