Above all, remember that family comes first.

Happy 2012!

Urban Dictionary: Florida bath

My husband and I are true Floridians. If they have had a “Florida bath,” our boys are good to go! Gross, I know, to those who didn’t grow up with a swimming pool in their backyard. But for me, I’m proud of this term we coined!

Now, we allow about two or three Florida baths in a row before we insist on a proper shower, but it sure is a great time-saver! And next time you arrive home after a day at the pool and your kid is overtired and you’re ready for him to go night-night, a “Florida bath” is the ticket

You’re welcome!

9-1-2009 press release (Wolfman Pizza Goodies for Good)

Blogs | MomsCharlotte.com

Blogs | MomsCharlotte.com

  Well, Birthday Blessings coordinates with A Child’s Place (who compiled those stats, by the way!) to help make birthday dreams come true.  For more information about our partner, A Child’s Place, click here.

For details about how you can help starting today from 12-4 p.m., click here.  

Thanks, Charlotte MomsLikeMe, for the free press!  And, while you’re checking out the cold, hard facts (get it?  “Cold” Stone Creamery) , check out the site while you’re there!

As of yesterday, Ian is off the ventilator and is doing remarkably well!  Folks, please keep that positive energy flowing.  Hopefully soon we’ll hear that Ian is getting ready to join his friends at school

If you appreciate PLCMC and want to help them make room for the new Job Center, read the details here.  Or, if you can’t help out Aug. 24-29, I’m sure there will be more opportunities coming up in the future.  Way to go, PLCMC, for doing your part!

PLCMC: About Us: Press Release – Library launches new initiative to help jobless in Mecklenburg County

{Read email below}

Good afternoon friends & family,

I have an immediate prayer request on behalf of our friends, the Shaver
Family. Young Ian is fighting for his life right now in the Levine
Children’s Hospital Pediatric ICU. Our families are friends and Dan and I
also are involved with the Youth Sports as coaches in our community.
Yesterday at 10:45 am EST his oldest son Ian was playing a game with friends
in their neighborhood pool located in the Park Crossing Subdivision in
Charlotte, NC. It’s just like when we were kids, they were trying to see who
could hold their breath the longest underwater. Ian won the game but lost
much in the end. Ian was found unconscious in the Park Crossing Neighborhood
Pool in 3 ½ feet of water.          

His Father Dan has asked me send this to everyone I know and requested that
everyone forward it to their prayer lines immediately. Again, your prayers
are requested by the Shaver Family. It has been determined that Ian’s heart
did stop, and there could be brain damage. But right now there are bigger
issues. He is currently on a breathing machine and they are keeping his body
temp at 94 degrees to keep the brain from swelling. It is estimated that he
was under water for approximately 1 minute and he took in some pool water
that went right into his lungs. The chlorine and other chemicals have
dissolved the lungs interior lining which protects the lungs. His levels of
carbon dioxide increased in his blood yesterday afternoon and they had to
have an emergency procedure done at 7:00 pm EST last night. This was a very
hard decision as he only had a 50/50 chance that he would survive the
procedure. But without it, he wouldn’t have lived through the night due to
carbon dioxide poisoning. At 10:00 pm EST last night we were informed that
Ian survived the procedure and it was slated as a success!

Ian currently is in a medically induced coma and will remain there during
his recovery. He is on a type of bypass machine where his blood is going out
of the body, being cleansed, and then placed back in the body. He is also on
a ventilator as his lungs are not working at all. This is where they need
your immediate prayers!

Ian’s lungs must start working again in order to take him off the breathing
machine. His parents, Dan and Lisa, along with their other two sons, Zach
(10) and William (6), need your prayers. Please be specific and pray that
Ian’s lungs are going to recover and begin to work again. Please join me and
the many others that are seeing this e-mail request and pray for Ian Shaver
to have a complete recovery! This is very serious and I an is in a very
critical point in his recovery process. Both Ian and his family need your
prayers as his life is 100% in God’s hands. The Shaver’s know this and have
handed Ian over to God and wish that He would allow them more time with
their son if it is His plan.  

Thanks in advance from the Shaver Family and mine……..

Eddie Blanton

> Read Cooper’s story, as I told it at KinderMourn’s Memorial service in December 2007.

KinderMourn literally saved my life.  If it weren’t for their Empty Arms support group and my grief counselor, Christine Crawford…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty.  So when I opened the paper to see KinderMourn featured in the Observer today as a focus of Charlotte Mission Possible, I jumped for joy.

> Read a snippet of the Observer article.

The United Way debacle has really hurt this organization, and that directly hurts local families who really need KinderMourn’s guidance through grieving.

> Want to help? 

Charlotte non-profits are all tightening their belt straps, and some are even closing.  There’s no easy answer, but I think there’s hope.  If only each of us would vow to do one charitable activity or make one charitable donation per month (don’t focus on size or amount, now — just do whatever you can), can you imagine how Charlotte would look in 2015?