I have tried not to think about it, actually keeping myself quite busy, but thoughts keep coming back. The complete devastation in Haiti is overwhelming. The pictures on the news of the blood flowing down the street made my heart hurt and my stomach ache.  I feel so powerless and have tried to ignore those nagging feelings to do something. So today I am frivolously baking again but today trying to make it worthy.

Soule Mama I think said it best -

“The most important thing, I think, is to do something – in whatever way is right for you! Don’t be overwhelmed by the choices, or misled by your seeming ‘smallness’ – light a candle, sew a blanket, send a dollar…whatever it may be. It matters.” –Amanda Soule

Please consider doing something –anything!

To say thank you for your generosity, Steph at the DailyDigi and I have a special gift for you. Send me an email and tell me that you have made a contribution to a charity of your choice (no amount too small) and we will e-mail you a special download for printable heart cupcake toppers, printable cupcake wrappers, printable valentine papers and also digital files that you can manipulate.

Individually we might seem small and powerless, but together we are big! Together we can make a difference! So for every mommy without their baby today, for the babies without mommies, for everyone that lost all that was important to them, for everyone that lived through the terror…. — lets just try to do something. Together in our little gestures we can show love, share kindness, provide comfort and give hope!

Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Cream Filling and Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Make your favorite chocolate cupcakes or prepare purchased cake mix. Let cupcakes cool.

Creme Filling

1 – 7 oz container marshmallow cream

1/2 cup softened butter

1/3 cup powder sugar

1 tablespoon water

1/4 teaspoon salt

With electric mixer beat ingredients together until fluffy. Add in a few drops of red food coloring if you like pink filling like we do!

Attach a large tip to pastry bag and fill with cream. Insert tip into cupcake and fill until cupcake slightly expands.

Ganache Frosting

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy cream (must be heavy cream — half and half will not work)

Place chocolate chips into a bowl and pour cream over the top. Heat in microwave until chips are soft.  Allow mixture to sit a minute to continue melting the chips. Stir well. Let mixture come to room temperature.  With electric mixer beat until fluffy. Fill pastry bag with large star tip and pipe onto cupcakes.

Enough frosting and filling for 12-15 cupcakes depending on your frosting and filling style.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere! Four out of five people live in poverty.

If you feel you can’t contribute financially, consider donating something you have made to Craft Hope to help raise money.

If you are one of the sweet families selling Hot Chocolate for Haiti, maybe whip up some cupcakes with the toppers and wrappers to sell along with your hot chocolate!

It all matters!

I feel that the more we share about the amazing work teachers are doing, we will all have a greater level of understanding and appreciation of their job.

If I could enter this is what I would say:

A letter to our teacher,

For the moment my first finger hit the keyboard to write this I am brought to tears. The shear thanks and gratitude for all you do overwhelms me.  How would we get through our days with you? How would our child succeed and grow without your dedication?  We are thankful for your support, encouragement and care. We appreciate the unpaid hours you spend overseeing our son’s IEP, attending meetings and learning.  We are  grateful for you continually going above and beyond — For coming to our home on those mornings we are all overwhelmed and going to school doesn’t seem possible.  We appreciate the time you spend perfecting your craft, your desire to be innovative and your continued willingness to try again when things don’t work. There is no amount of money that could possibly reimburse you for all the extra things you do. In fact, not only are you not fully compensated for your time, knowledge and expertise,  you contribute your own money buying incentives and extra supplies.

So for all you have done for my family my sincerest thanks. Your hard work is not lost on us and your extreme dedication does not go unnoticed. We appreciate your care and concern. We believe your work is the most valuable and influential job. Thank you for not seeing it as just a “job”and for seeing my child as special and important!

To make it easier we changed the entry requirements. You only need to leave a comment HERE (please click through to the original post) and tweet or facebook about the give away. So please consider nominating a deserving teacher to win $100 OfficeMax Gift Card.

Truly all teachers are working to make all of our days better,  because a well educated child benefits ALL of us! Lets make their Day Better! Tell us about the special teacher in your life!

Did you know teachers spend an average of $1200 of their own money on classroom supplies each year? That is $4 billion annually! That’s why OfficeMax joined with Adopt-A-Classroom to create “A Day Made Better” a national cause event founded to erase teacher-funded classrooms. This year, “A Day Made Better” will take place on October 6 where 1,000 teachers will be surprised in their classrooms each with $1,000 worth of essential supplies from OfficeMax. That is more than one million dollars donated to help teachers! Principals at needy schools nominated the teachers for demonstrating dedication, innovation, and passion.

To pay-it-forward, OfficeMax and Mom It Forward have teamed up to create awareness about the issue of teacher-funded classrooms and to give you the opportunity to get involved and help a teacher in your community on behalf of the “A Day Made Better.” Here’s how…

Simply nominate a teacher of your choice to win this giveaway by following the entry requirements. Be sure to check out the prize and criteria!

Prize

One exceptional teacher will receive a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR gift card to OfficeMax. This can go a long way when it comes to classroom supplies!

Criteria

This is a giveaway that is meant to be given away. What does that mean? You get to nominate a teacher by sharing why this person is exceptional and deserving of this giveaway. The best part, every story told helps raise awareness in an effort to erase teacher-funded classrooms. The winning teacher will be chosen based on the following criteria, so be sure to tell us why your teacher is most deserving:

• Dedication: does everything in his/her power to deliver the best possible education for his/her students.
• Innovation: thinks outside the box and engages his/her students through creative learning activities & programs.
• Passion: expresses a genuine passion for education and shares this enthusiasm in the classroom.
• Need: demonstrates a need for essential classroom supplies.

Entry Requirements

To enter your teacher, you are required to do two things.

1. Nominate your teacher with a comment on this post. (If you want you can nominate your teacher with a blog post on your personal blog or on Whrrl – just let me know in the comments so I can read about your wonderful teacher.)

2. Post these messages on Facebook and/or Twitter.

• Teachers spend avg $1200 of own $$ on school supplies annually! Help erase teacher-funded classrooms. http://bit.ly/3VUNvC PLS RT #omx
• Nominate a teacher 2 win $100 in OfficeMax classroom supplies. Enter here: http://tiny.cc/4Lk5k PLS RT #omx
• Join the “A Day Made Better” movement to end teacher-funded classrooms at http://bit.ly/UJ3LF #omx

More than 30 sites are participating in this campaign between now and Sunday, October 4. Visit http://momitforward.com for a list of all the giveaways! You may enter a different teacher on every site, but you may only win once!

Thanks so much for helping pay-it-forward to teachers in your community! Please join us on Tuesdays, September 22 and 29 from 9 to 11 pm ET for Girls Night Out (#gno) on Twitter if you’d like to meet the team behind the cause: @officemax, @adaymadebetter and @Adopt_Classroom. Hope to see you there!

Fine Print

I received the following letter from Hope’s Heart —

Dear Cindy and all ‘sewers’,

What an incredible blessing the ‘silkies’ were to all the orphans! They responded in so many delightful ways. One little guy placed his like a hat on his head; one sensitive toddler covered his teddy bear with the ‘silkie’ and ‘tucked in’ the bear for a nap: one baby looked intently at the ‘silkie’ while touching it’s softness; one little one made a ‘bed’ out of it for her bear; and many just carried their silkies around enjoying the brightness and softness of them. For many, this may have been the first gift they have ever received!

Thank you so very much for blessing hundreds of babies and children. Your efforts and the love and prayers that went into making them will be cherished by the children. All the children received one, and we left the extras at the orphanages for new children or to replace any that might get lost or torn.

Enclosed are some photos I know you will enjoy. I will email any others I receive from team members. You can see a couple photos as well on the Hope’s Heart web site. Follow the link from the homepage about the trip.

Gratefully,

Judy
Hope’s heart Orphan Foundation

Thank you all again for making this possible. You helped to bring comfort and joy to so many orphans!

Saturday my local newspaper ran an article on the Linus Blankets. The above is something I wish the newspaper article would have said. I also begged for them to take a picture of my nephew whom is stepping out in faith and his comfort zone to deliver the blankets. I begged for them to take a group photo of my nephew, with his grandmother who sewed, my sister-in-law who sewed and my gorgeous nieces who were adopted from China and who would have loved a silky while at their orphanage! I also begged for them to lay all the blankets out to make one large “quilt” so everyone could see the details and loveliness of each blanket.

I first saw the article online, which displayed a color photo. When I finally saw a print copy I realized to my disappointment the photo in the newspaper was black and white. It makes it very difficult to see what is stacked around me. My community will regretfully not see the beautiful colors and unique details of the blankets. So in the end I didn’t even care that they spelled my name wrong.

While the newspaper article was not what I had expected, YOUR GENEROSITY WAS MORE THAN I COULD HAVE EVER HOPED FOR OR EXPECTED! I am extremely sorry that in the chaos of the afternoon with 15 people in my living room I did not get the blankets spread out to take a photo for you! Please believe me that each one was special. You chose cute soft and silky fabrics. Some blankets had ribbons , ruffles or satin binding. Each one displayed beautifully the love it was made with.

Last Thursday after meeting with the newspaper reporter my nephew took the blankets and distributed them to the people traveling in his group. You will be happy to know each and every single blanket was fit into a suitcase and will be traveling to China next week!

My sister-in-law took some pictures.  Here is my nephew, Arthur.

Maybe you can see your blanket in this stack.

If the following two pictures are any indication——-the orphans will truly love these blankets!

Here is Grace gently caressing one.

Faith has found one with green “minky.”

Thank you again for making this all possible!

I have collected almost 100 with more on the way, WOW!  If you haven’t mailed yours and were planning on participating, please try to get them in the mail on Monday.  I am hoping to deliver all the blankets by the end of the week.  Once they are all collected I will share  photos of these beautiful blankets with you—-they are fabulous.  This has been a truly amazing experience.  I have been touched by your generosity.  The blankets have been creative and crafted so wonderfully!  Thank you to all of you that took the time to share your talents to bless one (or more) of the babies.  Thank you doesn’t seem enough!