Peter's Book Drive: Part I

I mentioned in my last post that we reached one big anniversary in our world-- The anniversary of Peter's fetal diagnosis. Let's be honest. That diagnosis day was terrible...and I think it is possibly the worst day of my whole life, tied with the day after. So many questions, so many unknowns, feeling lonely, betrayed, heartbroken. So much grief and so painful that I remember wondering how it was possible I was still alive. I felt like I had been run over by three semi-trucks. Pleasant.

Our lives went on, we received so much help and support, and we learned tons about Peter and his needs. We have worked hard and made big sacrifices so he could be guaranteed a strong future. I had terse words with nurses and I fired a few doctors. And to my greatest surprise we've made it. While our healing hasn't happened the way I wanted it to, we have seen miracles in Peter's progress and in our own hearts. Part of that miracle is you.

In October, as the December 18th anniversary approached, I began praying that we might find a way to give back to the hospital. I had thought of a few things but nothing that really resonated with me! I wanted something that perfectly paired our love for Peter and gratitude for the doctors that have cared for him, with our desire to uplift other families who are going through a rough time. I had put all this on the back burner when the answer suddenly came. At Peter's six month wellness check, his doctor gave us a small little ABC's board book. She told us that the books are donated to the clinic to give to all their patients to help brighten their day and encourage them to read with their families. YES! YES! My heart was just leaping out of my chest. I began asking millions of questions, how were the books donated, what program was used, how do people contribute, what books are needed, etc. She probably thought I was crazy, but inside me was just this instantaneous knowledge that this is how we needed to give back. 

I put Peter to bed that night and started piecing together the Facebook event page. When would we do it? What were the rules? How would people send them? What would be a good goal? I pondered all of these things while Derek occasionally asked "What are you doing?" or "Are you working on something?"     [... I am always up to something and most the time it seems pretty trivial (like pondering what furniture I am going to paint next). Derek usually has to check on me or everything will be painted white. White is my jam. True story. ]      ANYWAYS. I finally came clean. I told him about the book drive. Taught him how Reach Out and Read works. Showed him the proposed event page. Let him know that I would pretty much handle everything. And then told him that he now needed to take a whole bunch of pictures of Peter reading books to help us publicize. Good times. Derek was seriously so supportive. With that, we got to work!

We officially launched Peter's Book Drive on October 23, 2016. Our goal was 100 books!

Receiving our first books on October 25, 2016. This is happening!

By October 26, 2016, we already had 25 books and were 25% of the way to our 100 book goal.

By October 31, 2016 we had SURPASSED our original goal (in one week!) and had 101 books! At this point we decided to increase our goal to 200 books AND we contacted Derek's work and set up a donation center there.

88 books in ONE WEEK on November 21st. I am pretty sure this is the most books we received in one week (aside from our book drive blitz the last week), thanks to my aunt Ramona and her fabulous book club. This brought our total to 210. At this point, we decided not to set any more book goals. We thought things were tapering off, but we had no idea what was coming....

November 28, 2016- 50 more books, total of 260.

December 5, 2016. One week left of the book drive! Total of 301 books!

December 12, 2016, the end of the book drive! Pictured here was 414 books. We had a few other books trail in and we ended up with 450 books!

Here is a graph of our donations. Pretty amazing, especially when we thought that we might not even get 100!!!

Sorting, organizing, and totaling the value of all of the books. You donated over $1500 worth of new books, and several hundreds worth of used books to Reach Out and Read: Oklahoma!

This was such a big project and it is finally coming to a close. After having hundreds of books piled high in my hallway, TODAY we get to do our official drop off at OU Children's hospital. This project has really healed my heart and offered a joyful celebration of Peter's triumph over that diagnosis we received a year+ ago. Pretty soon these books will be held in little tiny hands, read by other mommies and daddies who love and care for them. We work hard to help Peter achieve physical goals, but it is so important to remember that this is not everything, and that nourishing Peter's mind is just as important, if not moreso, than any of those little things. Reach Out and Read has inspired us to read daily, to inspire good naptime and bedtime routines, and to encourage other friends and family to do the same. We are excited to give you an update with pics from our donation drop off later this week!