The Wave Of Love Flows In TWO Directions

Yesterday 58 people read The Wave Of Love.

THANKS.....

Today I want to share a few things with you.  How many will read today's page ?

Let me introduce you to two very special people. David and Susan Hopkins, Mayor and Mayoress of Milton Keynes. They will be coming to our FROG CHALLENGE at the end of the month.

The Mayoress said something to me a while back, she said it does not matter what charity or good cause you support providing you do support one. Think about that for a moment -   it does not matter what charity or good cause you support providing you do support one. 

This diary reports on the support for OurRebekah. Hopefully it goes a bit further than that.  

OurRebakah works with Ronald McDonald House charities but that is ONLY the DESTINATION.   T he JOURNEY, which could be argued to be more important, is to smile, have fun, be a bit silly and to make others smile. If the journey is fun then the destination will be a success and a success full of love.

Perhaps you like what OurRebekah is doing but you can not be involved because you have your own special charity you support and can not divide your loyalties. That is fine. I would never, ever attempt to get you to do that but PLEASE read my daily blog - THE WAVE OF LOVE and take inspiration from it which you can use in your own personal support for the charity of your choice.  Use my wave of love to help your own wave of love.

QUESTION: Can a wave go both forwards and backwards ?  

Probably not but love does not move in a single direction does it ?  I mean, if you love someone then that love is only effective if that love is returned. Love most certainly is not a one way thing.

Here are some people who have shown us a lot of love.

On the left players from MK Dons Football Club who have signed a football and donated a team shirt for our e-bay auction in support of Ronald McDonald House in Oxford.

Below are players from Sheffield Wednesday Football Club who have signed a ball and donated two match-day tickets to be auctioned in support of Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham.

Not shown in the photographs are MK Dons FC's Director of Operations, Sue and Sheffield Wednesday FC's Director of Communications Trevor who made everything happen at their ends.

To thank these wonderful people and to give them a token our our love I have had two rather special cakes made.

Tomorrow I will be taking one to MK Dons and the other to Sheffield Wednesday later in the week.

They are small thank you gifts and expressions of love from OurRebekah.

Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham has a little sign on its website - The House That Love Built.

  

Everything we do here in OurRebekah is about sending love to families in Ronald McDonald Houses.  Please take a moment to read a mother's story.

In February I was airlifted to Southampton from the Isle of Wight when I went into labour at just 25 weeks and 6 days.

My twin boys were born at the Princess Anne Hospital that very same night; Jake weighing just 790g and George weighing a slightly heavier 870g, but still both lighter than a bag of sugar. Because they were so small it meant my beautiful baby boys needed to stay in Hospital giving them the chance to get bigger and stronger. For me, this meant I also needed to stay in Southampton, away from my home and everything familiar. I was worried and scared.

For the last six months I have been staying at the Ronald McDonald House Southampton and I truly do not know what I would have done without it. Having a room at the House has meant that my husband Alan and our little girl Millie (age 20 months) have been able to stay too, keeping our family together and close to Jake and George.

Staying at the House has also helped me build important support networks and even some

great friendships with other mums. At the start of our stay, I was lucky enough to meet Ashleigh, like me she also had a George in hospital and another child Freddie that’s the same age as Millie. We were both staying on the second floor and Millie and Freddie became the best of friends; we all had mealtimes together and they played for hours. It was great to see them both just being toddlers and for me, it was amazing to have someone that totally understood what I was going through. Having someone to chat to about our children or even just the day to day ‘stuff’ helped to keep our minds occupied and made our situation just that little bit easier. Thanks to donations from supporters of the Charity we have also had Easter eggs (which Millie and Freddie loved), a pamper party with face masks and relaxing massages, a PJ and pizza party and Ashleigh and I even got to go and see Grease at the Mayflower Theatre with another mum, Kerrie. The generosity of other people has been amazing.

Jake and George are now six months old. Jake came out of hospital a few weeks ago, in fact it was six days before his due date. He still needs oxygen but is able to live with us at the Southampton House too which is great. George still needs a little more time in hospital as he has floppy airways and so needed a tracheostomy. As a family we are learning to manage our new situation, a situation that I cannot even begin to imagine coping with had we not had the Southampton House and its staff to support us. We are potentially still a long way off of going home but thanks to Ronald McDonald House we know we have somewhere to stay for as long as we have a child in hospital and we know that they (along with their supporters) will look after us.

They are all our superheroes!

SUPPORT DOES NOT MEAN JUST MONEY.  If you wanted to give the loved on in your life a special gift you are not going to hand over some cash are you ? Very often it is the simple things that show the most love.

When I am sitting in the stand at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday I plan to pass round the fans seated by me cards I have made up and ask peole to simply sign them.

I have already sent cards to all of the Sheffield based newspapers, radio and television startions who will be reporting on the match. I have asked journalists to sign them and send them back to me.

I need SIXTY-SIX cards, one for each family staying in Ronald McDonald House Birmingham.

When we hold our FROG CHALLENGE at the end of the month we will be asking everyone who comes along to sign cards to send to families in Ronald McDonald House Oxford.

When I am at Sheffield on Saturday I will receive the football signed by the players. There will be a photoshoot and I will be writing a short atricle to appear in a future match-day programme.  I want to write that article while I am sitting in the stand watching the game.

The plan is then to send copies of that match-day programme to families in Ronald McDonald Houses in Birmingham, Oxford and San Francisco.

Well that has been a longer than usual blog hasn't it ?

Go and grab your surfboard, climb up on to The Wave Of Love.

Speak again tomorrow.