Thank You for the Thank Yous!!

Belle Announcements

I have a dear friend, Olivia Wilson, owner of Belle Announcements, who donated thank you cards for us to send to sponsors.   Now, for the record, I am the WORLD'S WORST thank you card sender.  I hate to admit it, but it's true.  It took me about six months to send her a thank you card for the birthday gift she gave me!  I thought about it every time I saw her, but writing out a card and sending it just seemed to allude me.

This act of letter writing is the very reason Liv (as she is called by friends) founded the company in the first place.  I won't go into the full story here, although it's a very interesting story it's semi-personal so you should ask her yourself.  She crafts not only thank you cards, but custom announcements, "save-the-dates", stationary, invitations, cards for any occasion, along with some unbelievably cute items offered through her Etsy site (cupcake toppers, water bottle lables and cutout photo figurines to name a few).  In the month of April, 5% of each sale goes to the Brock Rocks Fund.  (From the site:)

Brock was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on October 7, 2009, just days before his first birthday. He started intensive chemotherapy immediately and during his first round he contracted a life threatening fungal infection - Invasive Aspergillosis. The fungal infection spread to his lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, stomach, eyes, brain, and bones, leaving permanent damage including vision loss. Brock spent 19 consecutive weeks in the hospital and has spent a combined 9 months there enduring countless surgeries, procedures, and blood transfusions. He has several developmental delays as a result of these 2 diseases. He fights every day to re-learn how to walk, talk, and eat.
Brock's family has health insurance but they are are still left with medical bills totaling over $1,000 a month, including one anti-fungal drug that costs over $500 each month. This drug has literally kept Brock alive for the past 1.5 years. Brock's mother is unable to work because of the demands of caring for a chronically ill child. Brock is in the battle of his life and the mounting medical bills are a worry we would like to take away from the family. We can't change this disease but we can change how they fight it! Thank you for all your support, donations, and most importantly, prayers. Brock is a living testimony of God's faithfulness and we believe that God will provide in this area as well.

Because I'm such a bad letter writer, I wanted to publicly thank Belle Announcements here while at the same time letting you know about Liv's exceptional talent!  You can follow Belle on Twitter, or on FaceBook.  You can also check out her blog.  But...just don't let all this time on the computer keep you from picking up a pen and paper and sending out a hand written note to that special someone!!  And, if that someone is truly special, why not just go ahead and order some custom cards to show how much you care!