Thursday, August 23, 2012

Family Feedback

Crops of Luv receives many letters of appreciation and thanks from recipient families.  Their letters and emails are so touching, we would like to share a few:
 
I just wanted to let you know that our album arrived yesterday. It is beautiful! Brookelyn was so excited to look through it and has shown anyone and everyone that will look at it :) Thank you so much for the time and effort it took to put that together. We greatly appreciate it!   Brooke
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Hello, Tommy's mom here:  I just wanted to let you know that we received our incredible memory book this week. I was actually away with the kids when my husband told me that it had arrived. He was choking up on the phone describing it to me and I was crying on the other end without even having seen it! What an amazing job you did! It is something that I never would have had the time or talent to do myself.  Talk about using the talents God has given you for the good of others.... your group has accomplished such a wonderful and meaningful task. I was smiling from ear to ear while looking through it.  Photo's that were in an envelope with all the best intentions can now be beautifully and readily viewed thanks to your efforts. We are just blown away. We are heading back to Give Kids The World this September for a follow up visit. Seeing these pictures has our son Tommy even more excited at the prospect of going back to enjoy the day at such a magical place and to see where his "star" has been placed in the castle. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for your hard work and for pulling together the memories of such an amazing experience, albeit bittersweet. Our family is very blessed to have received such love and support and kindness from complete strangers. We are forever grateful. Tommy's most recent MRI has shown that his tumors are stable and that we can now go for biannual scans as opposed to quarterly! This is a big step in his recovery, yet another reason to be thankful. God bless you all!  Sincerely, Kim
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I just wanted to let you know we received the scrapbook on Friday and it is truly amazing. What a wonderful job capturing all our treasured memories from that week.  Jack's 4th birthday was on Saturday so the timing could not have been better. We passed it around during the family get-together for his birthday and everyone was amazed. I can't thank you and your team enough. We are all fortunate to have such a giving organization like Crops of Luv. We appreciate the time and resources dedicated to make our scrapbook. We will cherish it for a long, long time.  Regards, Greg
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We received our scrapbook and send a HUGE heartfelt Thank You to you and all of your staff that helped make our amazing Memories something we will cherish!!! It is so much more than I could have done myself! You have very talented people working for you on this project!!
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Mary is now 4 and very busy (as well we have another one on the way coming in September) so there is no way I would have had the time or money to attempt a project like this myself!! We are extremely grateful, and appreciate the amount of time, money, and thought that goes into such a wonderful book!!  We feel so blessed that such a wonderful organization was referred to us!!! Thank you again!!!  Take care,  Pete, Tanya and Mary
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Dear Crops of Luv,
I just wanted to say thank you soooo much for the beautiful scrapbook of Jenson’s Disney vacation! It was gorgeous and he looks at it all the time. He loves going through it over and over and remembering all of the fun times. It was such a blessing to receive this gift. I know a lot of time and love went into making his book special. God’s blessings upon all of you!!!  Love, Darla, Chad, and Jenson
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On Friday, we received our album and it was just wonderful. I was really touched at the fantastic job you did! I know we didn't provide much in the way of photos, and even so, you made such an awesome collection of memories of our trip to Disney and GKTW! Many thanks to you and your volunteers! We truly treasure your work! Regards, Nancy, Tom and Nicholas
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I just wanted to send a huge THANK YOU to all of you that put together the album for my son Alex. It is absolutely beautiful and my family can't thank you enough.   Alex can't stop looking at it! We have had it for several days now, and I am still ripping it out of his hands to get him to go to school in the morning. It is something we will all cherish, but especially Alex. The book is something he can hold onto forever, and relive the wonderful trip we had. I hope that someday he will be able to share it with his children. I couldn't have even imagined such a wonderful memory book, much less put it together. Your creativity is amazing and so very much appreciated!! What a truly wonderful thing you are doing for families like ours.  
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Thank you so much Roberta, Jody, and your team.   The scrapbook is absolutely fantastic. It is such a joy looking through the book; it is so fabulous.  I had to look through it three times before I could share it with anyone else. What a wonderful keepsake!  Thank you again, Rachel, Keith and Kristofer
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We received Elly's book from you guys.  You did a GREAT job putting it all together.  Thank you so much!!  We sat down as a family yesterday and looked at it for the first time together, and got many smiles and laughs out of reliving the wonderful memories from her trip.  The Crops of Luv group is such a wonderful thing...I can't thank you enough!!!  God Bless!  And, have a fantastic day!  Amber
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Dear Roberta and Crops of Luv Team, 
I have received my scrapbook. I have tears of joy streaming down my face, so it is very hard to see the pages. I wipe my eyes and start again. The love and service you have shown our family is tremendous. I am a scrabbooker myself, so I know the time it takes to do this. The amount of service provided is not lost on me. This scrapbook is very important to me, but would have been nearly impossible to do with all the emotion involved. It would have hung over my head and stressed me out. Thank you for doing this for our family. This is such a treasured gift. We look at it almost every day. Thank you for all you do and for what you have given my family in such a difficult phase of our lives.  Love.
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Sunday, August 19, 2012

Welcome One and All to Our Crops of Luv Happenings Blogspot!

I am so happy that our Crops of Luv (COL) blogspot is gaining new followers!  When Jody asked me to start doing the blog for COL, we had 12 followers.  Now we are up to 23!  I hope that number keeps growing and growing because it means that more and more people are aware of the Crops of Luv organization, its incredibly selfless co-founders Jody and Roberta, and the wonderful mission they created and fulfill by making memory scrapbooks for families with critically-ill children because "a life documented is a life remembered." 
Thank you so much to all the caring, AWESOME volunteers who have become a part of COL by volunteering untold hours creating these memory books.  Thank you to all our wonderful, giving SPONSORS too!  Their help and support is truly amazing and invaluable.
Tell everyone you know about COL and what we do....the more the news gets out that COL exists, the more support, volunteers, and donations COL gains!  That's definitely a win-win situation!  Every time I mail a book I've completed I tell the postal clerk what Crops of Luv is all about (they always ask what it is when they see the addressee) .  The postal clerks always think it's amazing (which it is) and say they will tell their friends.  So, don't be afraid to spread the good word about Crops of Luv!  Also, remember to regularly check this blogspot and the Crops of Luv Facebook page for all the latest news about Crops of Luv, upcoming COL, events, contests, etc.

IGive Contest for Charities -- Crops of Luv!

The iGive organization is sponsoring a contest that could effectively earn Crops of Luv MUCHO DINERO (Lotsa Bucks! $50 Grand!)....Here's the details and links you need to help your favorite charities -- hopefully Crops of Luv is at the top of your list!!  You can also let your friends know by posting this info on your Facebook or Twitter page.  It's free, it's easy, and I've been an IGive member for awhile now and it's "painless" giving!  Head over to the iGive site and enter today!  Crops of Luv (or any charity you choose) will thank you! 

Monday, August 13, 2012

Layout Challenge Update

Jody and Roberta have not yet announced a winner...they're still photographing the entries to upload to the Facebook site.  However...having said that, they did just finish counting all of the layouts entered in our Celebration Challenge and this is a "drum roll" moment:  The goal was to collect 200 pages total and our COL followers SHATTERED that goal by 75 pages! The total number of layouts entered were 138 layouts and a total of 275 pages. WOW!!!!   YOU ALL ROCK!!!!  There is some of the most amazing work in the entries.   THANK YOU ALL so very much for caring about what we do! Love, caring, and heart are what our volunteers are made of that's for certain!  Please continue to keep those layouts coming even though the contest is over--they will find a home in one of our families' albums and be treasured forever by these families.  More news to come on who the big winner is.....

Thursday, August 9, 2012

July Layout Challenge Has Ended

The July Layout Challenge has ended.  All entries must have been submitted by 5 pm today.  Thank you so much for helping the COL mission with your entries and Good Luck---hope you win!