Today, maybe while you are reading this, Pierce should be getting his port removed. We’ve been waiting for this, anxiously. Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts!

I want to share a few things about pediatric cancer that you may not know. It cannot be prevented. Often times it takes many, many appointments to get a diagnosis. In fact, children often have a more advanced stage of cancer when they are first diagnosed than adults In fact, only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that is has spread; but almost 80% of children show that the cancer has spread at diagnosis. Did you know that not a single new drug has been created for pediatric cancers in 20 years? 20 years.

The chemo these little children have to take to cure their cancer? Well, one of the side effects is possible secondary cancer. In addition to hair loss, fevers, infection risks, mouth sores, vomiting (oh, the vomiting!), pain, weight gain, weight loss, inability to eat, constipation, diarrhea…these kids get to have the possibility of relapse. And other cancers.

And, at the very core, all they really care about is being a kid. Your response to this call to action has been nothing short of incredible. Awe-inspiring. I have read each and every comment you left. Here and on Facebook. And I have been humbled and honored by your willingness to give your time and talents to these babies, children and young adults. Some of you have fought cancer personally, some of you have lost brothers, sisters, grandchildren, friends. Some of you may not have really been aware of pediatric cancer other than commercials. However you have been inspired and moved by these, the littlest of warriors…I thank you. We thank you. And I’ve already received the very first package filled with an assortment of yummy hats!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll introduce you to some of the fighters I know personally, and I’ll tell you a little about their journeys. Today, I would like you to meet Tyler. Tyler was diagnosed with Infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2009, when he was just 4 months old. A baby. He relapsed in April, 2011, and earned his heavenly wings on November 2, 2011. He was a fighter, through and through. And, you can see – he was just a kid, the whole time, just wanting to play and be with his brothers.

You are helping to provide hope. And, in the thick of things, in the middle of the long days and nights, hope is what makes everything a little bit easier. Seeing one of these warriors smile is priceless!

Please join us by making bags and beanies for sweet little warriors just like Tyler. For more information, visit Project 16 :: The Littlest Warriors.

My friend, Melanie Bimson, has spent the last three years of her life raising a warrior. She, herself, is a warrior mom. Pierce was diagnosed with Leukemia and you can read all about their story on her Caring Bridge page. Three years of literally fighting for his life. Three very long years filled with more chemo than most adult regimes. This has been Pierce’s reality. He takes nightly and weekly chemo at home, monthly steroids, monthly IV chemo, as well as regular spinal taps so they can check his spinal fluid for cancer – and they replace the spinal fluid removed with chemo.

Through Pierce, they have witnessed some remarkable children fight for their young lives. Warriors. 46/7 is a very real figure, and we want to do whatever we can to help make the journey of these small warriors just a little bit happier. 46/7 is a common figure used in the pediatric cancer community. It refers to the number of children diagnosed with cancer each weekday (46), and the number of children who will die each weekday (7).

Time and again at Craft Hope we have learned that little things make a big difference. For the past few years we have collected handmade goods from around the world for people who need a little HOPE.

So are you ready?!? For Project 16 :: The Littlest Warriors, we will be collecting handmade beanies and bags for kids just like Pierce who are fighting cancer. Pierce’s mom, Melanie, has graciously volunteered to collect and distribute the items to the kids who need them most.

Here are the details:

We need BEANIES (hats) for babies through teenagers. All noggin sizes. They can be knit, crochet, fabric. You name it. They can be embellished with flowers and bows. But don’t forget about the boys. They need hats too. It’s very difficult to find adorable hats and we think this community is the best place to get them. There are a hundred and one patterns online for beanies/hats. If you have one you’d like to share post it in the comments and I’ll put up a post to share with everyone.

And…

We need BAGS for the kids to take with them to the hospital. They can be simple tote bag style or whatever suits your fancy. And if you are so inclined fill them up with goodies for the kids. Some ideas are books, puzzles, crayons, coloring books. The opportunities are endless. I’ll post ideas and suggestions shortly.

As with any Craft Hope project, don’t get lost in the details. Make a bag or a beanie. Make twenty. Get a group together and make bags and/or beanies. It’s totally up to you! There aren’t measurement requirements. If you find a pattern you like, go for it. I loved receiving the sock monkeys and seeing that each one had his own little personality. That’s exactly what we are hoping for with this project.

Melanie lives up in Minnesota and will be distributing the beanies and bags to the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, the Miracles of Mitch Foundation, and the Ronald McDonald House. Melanie will also be a guest blogger here at Craft Hope giving you loads of information about these little warriors.

The deadline for Project 16 :: The Littlest Warriors is Monday, March 12, 2012. Please mail the beanies and bags to:

One friend made in a new town. One sweet boy’s Leukemia diagnosis. Craft Hope. Thousands of lives touched and changed. It’s that simple.

And for Pierce today… He’s 4 1/2 and gets his port out on January 31st. He takes his final round of chemo on February 11th. He has this paper chain that hangs from his bedpost to countdown to the big day. He is WINNING.

Leave a comment on this post if you’d like to participate and start crafting. Spread the word on your blog. Share this on Facebook. Tweet about this project. Join us. Spread hope. Make a difference. Simply because you CAN.

Mail from one day last week. Amazing.

About 300 sock monkeys cooperated for this picture.

Sometimes, just sometimes favorites are picked by the Craft Hope receiving department.

Some of the most adorable monkeys have shown up. Each little detail, hand stitched with love. It’s a beautiful thing.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday 35 boxes arrived on our doorstep. The mailman was honestly worried that I’d be able to make it through the front door. Everyday he greets me with a smile and more boxes. I’ll get more pictures of the large group of monkeys in the daylight. Many monkeys have made their way under the Christmas tree and are hanging out. It’s like a little vacation for them before they head off to their new homes.

Project 15 has ended and we are currently sorting monkeys for delivery. If you still have monkeys to mail, please email me at jade@crafthope.com and I can get you the mailing address for our location in California that needs them so much. We need about 50 monkeys for the children who are burn victims in the hospital over the holidays.

From my house to yours, thank you for all you do. I’m surrounded by monkeys and I wouldn’t have my life any other way.

Yesterday alone five packages arrived on our doorstep. Five packages that contained 89 sock monkeys. Amazing.

The most unique sock monkeys have showed up at our house. There are bunnies, monkeys with tutu’s, mustaches, a baby monkey with a pacifier, a monster, super hero monkeys with capes, monkeys in their fancy dresses, monkeys with hearts hand stitched, monkeys with scarves for the cool temps, a unicorn, and a pirate monkey. Here is where I found my youngest this morning. Snug as a bug having her snack.

Each and every monkey gets a snuggle and placed into the monkey party. I’ve found a few that have snuck their way into bed with my littles. Only to be returned to the monkey party in the morning. The monkeys are getting loads of love. Filling their buckets with love to send on to kids who need them most.

Packages have arrived from Girl Scout troops and craft groups. The bulk of yesterday’s delivery came from Westwood H.S. and Cedar Ridge H.S. here in the Austin area. The Awesome Austin Mom’s and the Cedar Ridge National Art Honor Society donated 56 monkeys. Do you have any idea what getting kids involved in Craft Hope does for them or for their future? You are empowering a generation of thoughtful, giving souls. One kid at a time.

This is EXACTLY what Craft Hope is about. It’s about making a difference one person at a time. The crafter, the giver, the receiver. So many lives touched by one handmade sock monkey.

I could go on and on for days on this subject, but I will say that my dreams for Craft Hope are coming true. We are changing lives. Thank you.

So, Craft Hope I am truly THANKFUL for you. You selflessly give every single time. I’m so excited for our projects in 2012 and to continue working with you all. And a HUGE thanks to those of you who donated money to help Craft Hope get a laptop. We raised enough for a shiny new apple. She’s one heck of a multi-tasker. Her name is Daphne and she is managing Craft Hope like a pro. THANK YOU!

As I was wrapping up this post I heard lots of laughter and monkeying around in the front room. I peeked around the corner to see this…

Monkey business! I tell you, they are up to no good!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving friends. I am so thankful for all of you.

{Project 15 has now ended. Thank you to those of you who made sock monkeys for the children in Texas who lost their homes to wildfire in the summer of 2011. Please check the Craft Hope website for the most current project.}

When we dive into a project we have a purpose and a goal. And sometimes, just sometimes the blessings spill over into avenues we didn’t expect. Lives are touched, changed, and blessings are abundant.

My kids have come home from school lately full of compliments for myself and each other. They tell me that in school they learned that we all have a bucket over our heads and we need to keep filling each other’s buckets. The way we do this is to compliment one another, make them feel good. My bucket overflows.

Konbit Sante’s bucket overflows too. We LOVE Konbit Sante. We have caps from the Craft Hope book going to the newborns and we collected delivery kits for Project 11. Konbit Sante is a wonderful organization in Haiti that works in collaboration with the Haitian Ministry of Health and other partners to build local capacity in all aspects of the health system – from door-to-door community outreach programs, to strengthening community health centers, to improving care at the regional referral hospital.

They reached out and asked us if we could collect delivery kits for the mama’s giving birth. We collected 2,510 delivery kits. One kit saves two lives, the mama and the baby.

Well I got an email from my friend Skeek at Konbit Sante and wanted to share a portion of it with you…

Just a little update on the birthing kit project.  The kits have been extraordinarily well received by the birth attendants, and our (delightful and wonderful) unintended consequence is that the bags and blankets are an enticement for women to come for prenatal care and attended births!  I just love thinking that the kindness of a stranger to create a warm blanket gets translated to more women taking advantage of better delivery services!

For those of you who made delivery kits, thank you. There is a very good chance we will continue our partnership with Konbit Sante in 2012. They need our help and that’s what we are here for.

Thanks for spreading hope and filling buckets!

“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.” — Mother Teresa

We need a laptop. In a serious way. I’ve been running Craft Hope with a very, very old laptop that got the stinkin’ trojan virus that swept through the Craft Hope site a while back. The laptop I was using was old, but it worked. Slowly. Now it doesn’t work at all. I called a computer place today to have it looked at and it’s a couple hundred dollars to get it backed up and re-imaged. I’ve been shopping around and see that I can get a new computer for not too much more than that.

{My kids, the Craft Hope elves, with boxes of sock monkeys}

Also, I’ve been wanting to file non-profit status for us since we started, but haven’t had a couple hundred extra dollars to do this. Everything I have done with Craft Hope up until this point I’ve paid for out of my pocket. But if I’m being honest with you I’m a single mom on a teacher’s salary. I just don’t have extra money to put towards Craft Hope. I wish I did.

So, I’m humbly asking for help. I asked our facebook community and many of them said to put our PayPal button on the site. Have I mentioned I hate asking for things? Sigh. So it’s now in the sidebar to the right.

Right now our wish list is a new computer and the fees to pay to file the non-profit status. If you can help with any type of donation, it would be greatly appreciated. As most of you know I run Craft Hope from my laptop at home. When I started Craft Hope I was a stay-at-home mama, now I’m back in the classroom with 150 high school kids that I love dearly. Craft Hope needs a computer to keep going. And I believe we need to get the ball rolling on the non-profit status.

Thanks for listening. As always thanks for your support and encouragement. This community spreads hope like none I’ve ever seen. By the way, there are almost 100 sock monkeys having a party in my house right now. Thank you.

If you’d like to make a donation to Craft Hope to help us with our wish list, please click on the PayPal donate button in our sidebar. Thanks so much for all you do.

If you are following us on Facebook you are pretty caught up on our recent happenings. Over the weekend six boxes of sock monkeys arrived on our front porch. If you read my previous post you pretty much know what that looks like.

I wanted to get you all caught up on our monkey happenings.

We have sock monkeys from Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregon, Connecticut, Montana, Arizona, Illinois, and New Mexico. Plus, a gaggle of monkey delegates from Operation Sock Monkey in Toronto, Canada.

As of today, we have 52 handmade sock monkeys for the children who lost their homes this past summer to wildfire in Texas. Each and every sock monkey with his/her own sweet little disposition and personality. In one day, the sock monkeys outgrew their bin and there is now two overflowing bins in the living room with sock monkeys.

I’m curious how many monkeys you think we will get? Remember, the deadline is November 24th {Thanksgiving} so there is still time to rally folks and make monkeys.

Craft Hope, y’all!

{Project 15 has now ended. Thank you to those of you who made sock monkeys for the children in Texas who lost their homes to wildfire in the summer of 2011. Please check the Craft Hope website for the most current project.}

A sock monkey collection goes a little like this. We pull up in the driveway from school. Squealing ensues. One kid calls checking the mailbox. The other calls the front porch. And the last one pretty much runs back and forth from the mailbox to the porch trying to get in on the action.

We run inside. I open the boxes as quickly as possible, taking note of the country or state and monkey count.

The monkeys are quickly assembled for a photo shoot.

That goes a little something like this.

There are oohs and aahs over the cute monkeys. “Look at the cute dress on that monkey, mama.” “Mama, this monkey is wearing a scarf!”

“Take my picture with the monkeys, mama.”

“No, don’t set them up like that, do it like this.”

There is lots of bickering discussion and ordering around. The monkeys are shuffled and set up.

It truly is chaos and not of the organized variety. Yet, not one of the kids has asked to keep one. They know the monkeys have homes waiting for them and they are happy to be a part of the process.

Then comes the command for all of the monkeys in the box so we can start dinner. Then homework, playtime, baths, and bedtime. The next day the kids go to school, I go to work, and we repeat the process every day after school. I love it.

Thank you to those of you making sock monkeys. To those of you who have already mailed your sock monkeys. My kids greet each and every one as they come in the door, assuring they get the proper reception and welcome to the Lone Star State.

You help me teach my kids many, many valuable lessons and for that I am eternally grateful. Spread hope, y’all.

Sock monkey count as of Halloween: 34!!

For information on how to help us make sock monkeys, click here!

{Project 15 has now ended. Thank you to those of you who made sock monkeys for the children in Texas who lost their homes to wildfire in the summer of 2011. Please check the Craft Hope website for the most current project.}

Well this little website grew and grew. It spread around the world, bringing people together through craft and charity. It had one purpose in mind, to spread hope. And hope we have spread.

Then, about two weeks ago, came the punch in the gut called the trojan virus. It reaked havoc across the site. We were shut down completely. The site was destroyed. The blog posts would stop, but crafting would not. Monkeys started arriving on my doorstep.

We ran our scans, did our repairs, rebuilt the site. Google ran their checks and gave us a clean bill of health today. Thank you, Jesus. I’m sorry to those of you who ran into problems visiting the Craft Hope site. I truly am sorry.

Now who is the girl that let her anti-virus run out and now has the trojan virus causing havoc on her laptop? This girl. Santa, Craft Hope needs a new laptop.

So the kids ran inside with the package and low and behold there were two sweet-non-mischief-making sock monkeys from Pennsylvania. They are the sweetest little duo. I’m not sure they are aware that there is a monkey party in the making and they are just the first to arrive.

They are now hanging out with me in the Craft Hope World Headquarters. I joke about such a locale because it’s only my desk in the corner of my bedroom. I think people think we are bigger. This is it folks. Welcome to the Craft Hope World Headquarters! This global crafting for charity organization is run right here. This little spot along with dining room tables, craft rooms, classrooms, and playrooms around the world. We are global. Spread out in your living areas.

I love making sock monkeys. I started making them with our last sock monkey project and found out how incredibly easy they are to make. They are great for Christmas presents and birthdays and I’ve given away my fair share of monkeys the past couple of years. So last weekend I purchased four pair of socks at good old Target, gathered my four favorite kids – ages 8, 6, 5, and 2 – and set to making sock monkeys. The kids were all on board for a while. They were great little helpers. Then it was time to give their Barbies a spa day and then onto karaoke. How do I compete with that? They had moved on from the sock monkey fever we all shared thirty minutes prior and there I was left with sock monkey parts.

Exhibit A. Sock monkey parts.

Now all of the parts are gathered in a bag awaiting assembly by yours truly. It’s only hand stitching that’s left so I’ll get it all done as soon as I can get ‘em all stitched up. Then add my four little monkeys to the growing collection to be delivered the first part of December!

Just a friendly reminder that it’s not too late to join us in making sock monkeys. Leave a comment on this post if you’d like to join in on the fun. It’s for a great cause.

Spread hope, y’all.

{Project 15 has now ended. Thank you to those of you who made sock monkeys for the children in Texas who lost their homes to wildfire in the summer of 2011. Please check the Craft Hope website for the most current project.}