Happy First Birthday/Heavenday Karalyn

We celebrated Karalyn's first birthday/heavenday on July 21, 2014. In celebration of our sweet girl, we donated 20 memory bags to our local children's hospital for bereaved heart families as well as 30 care bags for current inpatient heart kids and their families. We also were able to donate a couple items to help fill 100 grief packages through Hayden's Heart. All of this was done through the organization we started in Karalyn's memory called Little Light and was made possible through the generosity and support of so many people. A huge thank you to all who donated to our cause financially and materially over the past 6 months. What we have done through Little Light has been so healing and rewarding for our family as we have had the opportunity to reach out and help other heart families. Beauty from the ashes.

A special thank you to Kristen Andersen with Kristen's Cake Creations and Icing Smiles for Karalyn's First Birthday/Heavenday cake. It was beautiful and tasted every bit as good as it looked!

Here is a video of Karalyn's first birthday/heavenday celebration.

A peak inside one of the 20 memory bags we donated to bereaved heart families at our local children's hospital.

A peak inside one of the 30 care bags we donated to current inpatient heart kids/families at our local children's hospital.

All 50 bags ready to go! 20 memory bags and 30 care bags!

Our family loaded up and headed to the children's hospital with our 50 bags.

Karalyn's first birthday/heavenday cake donated to us through Icing Smiles and Kristen's Cake Creations. Thank you!

A lot of bags = a lot of comfort and smiles <3

Donation Drive for Little Light

To celebrate Karalyn's first birthday/heavenday on July 21, Little Light will be having a donation drive from now until Tuesday, July 15, for items to be added to our care packages for the inpatient heart families at our local children's hospital. We are preparing to take around 25-30 care packages to the hospital on Karalyn's birthday along with 20 comfort packages for bereaved families. If you would like to donate, please see the list below of items we are currently collecting:

-Kleenex-brand facial tissue (or coupons)
-Travel-sized facial tissue
-Hand lotion
-Travel-sized toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, body soap, deodorant, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, loofa, body lotion)
-Chapstick/lip balm
-Spiral-bound notebooks
-Sticky notes
-Gift cards to Dollar Tree, Walmart, Amazon or Marshalls
-Cash/check donations to go towards $10 hospital cafeteria voucher
-Coloring books
-Crayons
-Small toys
-Construction paper
-Stickers
-Glow sticks
-Anything a child would enjoy playing with or creating with
-reusable water bottles
-boxed snacks
-bagged hard candies or suckers
-packs of gum
-Calming/Stress Relief bags of tea

All donations can be sent to Little Light at PO Box 4313, Olathe, KS 66063. IMPORTANT-please make any checks payable to Leslie Smith. Thank you in advance for all who help us celebrate Karalyn's birthday by donating towards these care packages

Little Light - T-Shirt Fundraiser!!!

In February 2014, I started a little page on Facebook called Little Light in memory of Karalyn and as a way to raise CHD awareness and support families battling CHD as well as those families who lose their CHD babies. Please "like" it at facebook.com/beautyfromtheashes.

I have also started a t-shirt fundraising campaign at booster.com/LittleLight to raise money to provide care packages to our local children's hospital for CHD families as they are inpatient. If you have it in your budget to buy a t-shirt and help support this cause in Karalyn's memory, please click into the link and buy a t-shirt. Your support is so appreciated! My heart overflows at the thought of being able to give back and bring awareness to CHD in memory of Karalyn.

"There is no footprint too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world"

Karalyn's 6-Month Anniversary

January 21, 2014

I can hardly believe that today marks 6 months since our sweet Karalyn was born and then passed away. It seems forever ago, yet, at the same time, it seems just like yesterday. This sweet girl changed me in the deepest of ways, ways I am still learning and trying to understand. She left an unforgettable mark on our family. I would give just about anything to go back to that day, regardless of how hard it was, and hold her one more time. The picture is the sunset from my backyard tonight. A sweet reminder of my precious little girl on her 6-month anniversary.

Our Rainbow Baby Announcement

January 12, 2014

One year ago today, we found out we were pregnant with our third child. We never envisioned that precious child would become our angel baby, leaving us with what we now call our two sunshine babies (earth babies conceived before a family is struck by loss- babies conceived before devastation, holding a place in a family’s heart and their symbol of love, before they knew anything about shattered dreams) and now our rainbow baby (an earth baby born following the loss of an angel baby-the theory being that the beauty of the rainbow does not mean the storm and the devastation never happened but that something beautiful and full of light has emerged from the darkness).

We are humbled to announce that we are nearly 7 weeks pregnant with our rainbow baby, due September 2, 2014. We decided to let everyone know pretty early on as we learned through Karalyn’s pregnancy that there is never a “safe” time to tell people you are expecting. We would appreciate any and all prayers as we walk this path of a rainbow pregnancy as the death of Karalyn and all we went through still is so fresh and weighs heavy on our hearts and as we try to rest in the peace that only comes through trusting in our Savior with this new life He has created.