Hi Friends,
It is with much anticipation and excitement that we officially invite you to participate in the Light the Night with Love 2013 Lantern Release event. It will be held on Saturday, September 14, 2013, at Mary Jo Peckham Park in Katy, TX (about 30 miles NW of Houston). The event time will be determined as we get closer to the date.
Last year we started at 6:30 pm.
Last September, a group of 100 of us, grieving the loss of our children, joined together and released over 200 sky lanterns in memory of over 350 angels from all over the world.
We SO wish that all loss families could join us in real life, but since it was impossible, we took tons of pictures and video.
We will be using the same photographer and videographer this year. Both Beth McFadden (of 3 Twenty 3 Photography) and Magee Miller (of RedBoots Talent and Promotions) are excited to be involved in this event and we are so blessed that they have made themselves available to us again.
Our goal is to honor children's memories. This year we wanted to add a more personal touch to the event by having four members of the loss community speak a bit about their losses. We reached out across the community locally to find moms of all different types of loss.
We will be blessed to hear from the following loss moms:
- Angela Bickford and her husband Craig lost their first-born triplet son to complications of prematurity after 49 days of life in 2011. He and his surviving siblings, Braden and Tenley, were born at 27 1/2 weeks. Today, Angela and Craig choose to celebrate Carter's life by helping others going through similar situations and have even created a yearly fundraiser in his honor. They are also currently writing about their journey.
- Stormy Mitchell and her husband Todd have survived infertility, lost a baby through early miscarriage that they named Avery in 2008, and their first born son, Gideon, was stillborn at 33 weeks in 2011. They are trusting Jesus through it all and leaning on Him. They also have a 1 year old living son. Stormy and her husband run a ministry called Gideon's Warriors and Stormy is the new Houston chapter leader of MEND (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death).
- Kenzie Stanfield and her husband Dusty lost their second son, Maddox, who was diagnosed prenatally at 18 weeks gestation with Trisomy 18 and spina bifida. Maddox was born alive but never took a breath in 2008. They have been blessed with three kids on earth and one in Heaven.
- Amanda Hoyt lost her only son, Noah Joel, to an early miscarriage in 2008 and refuses to lose her faith. She dedicates her free time to loving on other loss families and encouraging them in their darkest hours. She also has two living children who are her world.
We have a need that we are hoping someone can help with. If you know of a lead or can contribute in the following way, please email us at lightthenightwithlove@gmail.com. Thank you in advance.
Last year, Fran read an incredibly heart-tugging poem that she’d written herself. We weren’t set up for such a large group to attend and we were already spread out to release the lanterns while she was reading, so we aren’t sure who actually heard the lovely poem. Looking back, we wish we’d had some sort of sound system so that everyone could be touched by her words. With that said, we are currently working on getting a sound system for the day so that the words of our speakers will be well heard and can touch more hearts. Do you know someone who could donate a sound system?
It has been suggested that we call local media to bring more attention to this event and child loss. We have decided that it is a sacred and private event for most families and we’d not want them to feel uneasy if the media were there. If you’d like to submit your own photos or videos after the event to any media outlets, please feel free as we would definitely all agree that we want to remove the taboo that unfortunately exists regarding child loss - all around the world.
In regards to the actual lanterns that we will use to write baby names on and release on September 14th, we have set up a PayPal account to accommodate those who may feel led to donate. Last year we had so many lanterns donated that we feel sure that more donations could come in this year and we could include even more than 350 angels’ names. Last year we allowed donations of lanterns to be shipped directly to Fran, but this year it may become overwhelming to do this. That is why we are requesting that you donate at least $1 (which would purchase one lantern) for the release. If we could get 250 lanterns donated, then we could honor at least 400 babies in September (and that’s not counting those babies that will be honored because their families gather with us in real life and bring their own lanterns).
If you or someone you know would like to donate directly to this event, so that the proceeds can be used to purchase lanterns, please go to donate page.
We are also teaming up with Heather Norwood of Pampered Chef, who has lovingly extended an offer to us to do a fundraiser for our event (in memory of her little boy Parker who went to Heaven in 2011). Thank you so much, sweet Heather! Your offer which came OUT OF THE BLUE is such a blessing!
If you would like to order any Pampered Chef products from Heather, she will be donating 25% of each sale to the Event’s PayPal account so that we can order more lanterns. What a sweetheart! Thank you, Heather! Please click below to purchase Pampered Chef products from Heather through a FB event.
Pampered Chef Fundraiser to benefit Light The Night With Love. This fundraiser will run from April 18 to April 25.
Fran has also graciously offered to donate $7 from the sales of her “I am a Survivor Butterfly” t-shirts and hoodies to the Event’s PayPal account so that we can order more lanterns. What a blessing! Thank you, sweet sister! Please click below to purchase a shirt from Fran’s RedBubble site.
“I Am a Survivor Butterfly shirts” for sale to benefit Light The Night With Love event. This fundraiser will be ongoing until the release date.
Ok – so now onto the sign-up part of this event:
- Please click on this link and fill out the form. It asks for your name, your child’s (or children’s) name(s), your email address and your FB name so that we can identify you and tag you once photos of the lanterns are uploaded in September.
- If you plan on attending the event in real life, please fill in the form and let us know that you will be joining us and IF you will be bringing your own lantern(s). This way we have a headcount. If you do plan on attending in real life, please note that we have a bunch of lighters and Sharpies, but if you’d like to bring your own you are welcome to.
If you have questions or would like more information before making a decision, please contact us at lightthenightwithlove@gmail.com. We would love to know your thoughts and would be eternally grateful if you can make it to the event and/or be involved in some way.
We have big plans and aspirations for this year’s event – that so far, have shown that God is in Control. We pray that you will be a part of it with us.
Thank you and God Bless,
(mommies to Jenna Belle Cox & Noah Joel Hoyt)
Please share this information with others. We want to honor as many children gone too soon as possible.
LTNWL FB page // LTNWL blog
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