Little Helpers & Lemonade - June 27

Before I give you the final total for Haley and Kaitlyn’s Lemonade Stand Fundraiser, I want to tell you about 3 other kids who made their lemonade stand during a garage sale in Montgomery, IL. Logan Slou (4) along with Jordan & Marin Munos (10) decided that they wanted to sell lemonade and give the money to Brianna, because, “all they want is for her to get better.” Logan even had a choice to take the money and go to Target to get a toy, but he said he would rather the money go to Brianna so she can get better. What 4 year old passes on a toy at Target?? The twins lost their dad to cancer when they were only one year old and now their mother is taking a daily chemo pill to fight skin cancer. These little helpers raised $20 and wanted it all to go to Brianna. When Bob and I received the money with their notes, it really touched us. Please pray for the twins and their mother so they may be cured and freed from cancer in their family!
Wednesday was a hot, humid day here so Haley and Kaitlyn decided to set up a lemonade stand to raise money for Brianna’s Brigade. They had a very successful first day making $178. It motivated them to set up the stand on Thursday and after I saw how hard they were working I put out a not to my emails friends, who must have also passed along word. I think after day 2 the girls were up to over $700. They decided they would open their stand on Friday from 11-3 PM hoping to reach a $1000. I mentioned this on the carepage update and not only did they reach their goal, they went way beyond…the GRAND TOTAL for the LEMONADE STAND was $1,850.00!!***If you paid online it is not included in this total as I do not have access to that account. Please email me at jensiemann@sbcglobal.net so I can add your name and amount and verify that Haley & Kaitlyn receive the monies, then we will add it to the grand total. They would be SHOCKED if we could tell them they raised over $2,000, which they are close to doing!! We are so proud of Kaitlyn and Haley for all of their hard work. At the end of the day, Brianna gave each of them a hug and thanked them for everything they did!
I would like to ask for some extra prayers for all of Brianna’s siblings, who are now witnessing Brianna’s decline in health and abilities. Kaitlyn is especially struggling as she is Brianna’s only true sibling and they are best friends. They have a love/hate relationship, but it leads to feelings of guilt as one child falls ill they both wonder if they have been nice enough to the other. Kaitlyn finally had a breakdown last night and came crying to me saying she doesn’t want to lose Brianna, she doesn’t want her to leave us, and Brianna is the best sister ever. I comforted her best I could by letting her know that we will take one day at a time and she can spend as much time with her expressing love for Brianna and letting Brianna know she is the best big sister. I had the baby monitor on in my room and I was able to listen to Kaitlyn climbing in bed with Brianna and she really began expressing her feelings of love and admiration for her big sister. It did not take too long for her to regain composure because she is a very strong girl who doesn’t show emotion like Brianna. We hope Brianna is able to feel the love and admiration from all of her siblings, and that they may feel it too….hopefully, no one will be left wishing they would have said more or done more to show their feelings for each other.
We will try to get back to focusing on each day and making it the best day possible, but it is not easy as we battle deeper, scarier emotions than ever before. Until we get there we need to thank everyone for coming over each day to keep Brianna entertained, occupied, or just to keep an eye on her since she can disappear in a second….she is so quiet when she moves about and sometimes gets frustrated if you fuss over her too much. Aunt Pat, Grandma Siemann, Aunt Georgia, Aunt Jackie, Grandma Close, and many other friends and family have helped clean, organize, cook, shop, helping out in any way to make it easier on me and Bob as we struggle with our emotions on top of huge sleep deprivation. We are tag-teaming the night shift to make sure Brianna stays safe. However, setting up high tech baby monitors, using child door handle covers, etc. she is still able to manage and maneuver in order to get what she wants…mainly food!! I sleep with her and she can slip out of bed and the next thing I know I am covered with clothes as she decides to clean out her closet. I heard her calling my name late last night and the baby monitors and sleeping in the same room, she still managed to give herself a bath but fell when she got back into the bedroom. We are doing everything we can to keep her from getting hurt, or hurting others….Bob and I are looking at finding someone to watch her at night as he needs to be able to function for work and I need to be able to care for her during the day without being in a zombie state.
Thank you for all your extra prayers and kind words over the past two weeks! We also thank you for your kindness and generosity in helping provide meals, gift cards, and offers to come help provide relief so we may get a brief reprieve and reenergize in order to better care for Brianna.