A Christmas Wish for Tara and Michael Pakosta!

As many of you know our son was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago next month. From December 2005 through April 2006, we spent months in and out of the hospital making every effort to heal his little body, but in April of 2007 Joey returned home to live with his Heavenly Father. You can read more of Joey's story HERE. It was an excruciating, exhausting time for our family; and there is a part of me that never really healed from it.

When you lose a loved one or watch a friend or family member go through a health issue, you are more aware of others going through similar trials. And although I've been through losing a son, it hasn't helped me to know how exactly to help another person going through something similar.

But this year I CAN help someone, and I'd like to invite you to do the same.

Tara and Michael Pakosta

Meet Tara Pakosta. She is an online friend of mine whose work and photography I have admired in the scrapbooking industry for years now. Recently her husband was diagnosed with a GBM Grade 4 terminal brain tumor. Her story caught my attention because it reminded me too much of my own story with Joey. You can read about her story HERE.

Even having been through a terrible loss of my own, I cannot imagine what Tara and their family are going through.

Because of my own experience with loss and a long-term illness, I often wonder:

* If Michael can't work, how do they pay their bills?
* Can Tara leave his side for even a minute to take the girls to school, to do laundry, to run to the grocery store?
* What will their future hold for them?
* How are the girls holding up?
* Does Tara ever get any sleep?
* What goes through Michael's mind as he watches his family worry over him?

These are the things I cannot fix.

But there is one thing I CAN do to help. I can help them out financially. Having been blessed by the thoughtfulness of strangers myself, I KNOW how much this can help a family going through this. You cannot imagine the financial strain that comes with having a loved one this sick. It is beyond imagining and at a time when you want to spend every minute with your loved one, you do not want to worry about finances.

In order to help, Becky Novacek, Christine Traversa, and I are working with the "Give Forward" organization to help send the Pakostas some much needed financial help.

We have a goal to raise $10,000 or more for this amazing family. Your donation will go a long way to helping support this beautiful family. And even $5 or $10 can make a big difference in the lives of a family in need. As of today, here is where we currently stand on our donations:

Please consider donating to this family HERE!

If you cannot donate to the family at this time, will you please share their story via your social media outlets? Let's spread the word about this family who deserve a bit of a Christmas miracle. Simply visit the donation page HERE and share via Facebook or use the link HERE to share on your blog, or through Twitter.

You can make a difference for this family! 

Please consider doing so.

As a thank you for donating, I'm offering two special gifts to two people who take the time to donate. If you are an international giver, simply send me a message via email (js_gallacher@hotmail.com) with your name, your 2Peas Peaname, state that you are INTERNATIONAL, and the name under which you donated. I receive confirmation for each donation given and can confirm that you have donated. I will enter you into a drawing for the following:

$50 2Peas Gift Certificate

For the US givers, I will send ONE person a mystery box FILLED with scrapbooking goodies. This will be worth well over $50 retail and all items will be unopened and new. Again, simply send me a message via email (js_gallacher@hotmail.com) with your name, address, and the name under which you donated. Again, I will confirm all donations. I will enter each US giver into a drawing for the mystery box according to the deadline below.

To be entered into either drawing, please make your donations by Sunday, December 22nd at midnight MDT (Mountain Daylight Time). Emails should be sent to me by this date to qualify for the drawing. Winners of the Gift Certificate and Mystery Box will be posted here on my blog on Monday, December 23rd. The Gift Certificate will be awarded the week of December 23rd and the mystery box shipped out during the same week.

Thank you so much for considering donating to this beautiful family!