Two special sisters

I am fortunate enough to work for an organization that I love - Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. Sometimes, the universe connects my work with my friends.

Now, no one ever wants to stay at a Ronald McDonald House because it means your child is sick. However, we have these beautiful houses around the world waiting for the time that you might need us so that you don't have to worry about where you're going to stay or what you're going to eat while your child is in the hospital. You get to stay together as a family and let us try to take away a little bit of the stress.

Well, this past month brought an interesting twist of fate to my life. I have previously written about the loss of my friend Deyla in April to breast cancer. It was a devastating experience that has left many of us sad, and I still miss her to this day. Her photo is my office, and I often turn and see her beautifully smiling at me.

So you can imagine my complete shock to find out that Deyla's cousin had a daughter that would need to undergo a Stem Cell Transplant, and they would be staying at my Ronald McDonald House. It sent chills through my whole body, but it was a wonderful way for me to continue showing her family that I was there to support them.

Without going in to too much detail, Emily received a transplant donation from her younger sister, Olivia, and she has successfully completed the inpatient portion of her treatment. I'm now lucky to host her and her mama in my world. 

I heard from their mom that these beautiful little girls love mail, so of course I had to crack open the supplies to create something special.  I can't wait to put these in their mail box tomorrow.

Every time I see Emily, I get so excited that she's done with the inpatient portion of her treatment, and I celebrate her arrival to RMH. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm crazy.

I have a thing for layers and loved adding more and more.

I think this little fighter is a star, and I wanted her to know that.

Olivia was amazing lucky to be an exact match for her sister and SUPER brave to undergo the procedure to harvest stem cells for her sister. Most kids her age would be terrified (and I'm sure she was), but she toughed it out for her sister!

I absolutely love this superhero stamp set from Stampin Up! I'm pretty sure I'll use it a lot for our RMH kiddos. They are all superheroes in disguise.

I had a little trouble with ink stains as I was stamping my message inside the card, so I had to embellish with comic book like symbols. I think it added just the right amount of pizzazz.