Wish Granted: Valerie

On December 23, 2010, Valerie and her brother drove over an hour to get to The Wish Shop to pick up some toys for her 5 children for Christmas.

She walked in carrying her 8-month old in a car seat.

"Thank you so much" was the first thing she said.

Her baby, Navaeh (Heaven spelt backwards) was beautiful, smiling and all bundled up. Her brother sat down with the baby and I explained the wait.

"I'm so sorry but I have to wait for someone else to get to the shop so I can run out for your Gift Card." I told them. I honestly had no idea how long it might be before a volunteer came in.

But Valerie and her brother were gracious. We talked, they waiting patiently as other clients came in and picked up their wishes and they shared stories about their family. Valerie was pregnant with her fifth biological child and had kinship legal guardianship of a family member's 16 year old daughter.

She worked at a local laundry mat and did her best to make ends meet for her family. She called One Simple Wish "a blessing."

She waited over 4 hours that afternoon but we were able to get her coats for the kids, a toy for each and even an artificial tree and some decorations.

Later that evening I got an email from her that simply said, "We thank you very much for all you have done for us this Christmas and thank you for the tree. The kids were so happy. Thanks again for blessing us."

My First Blog...

Here goes...I decided its been long enough. It's time to start blogging. While I do read lots of blogs, I haven't ever felt like I had anything interesting or important enough to share with the world. I tried Facebook for a while and it just seemed silly to think anyone really cared that I was heading to Starbucks or that I was watching Wonder Boys. But, finally, I realized, its not my stories that need to be shared...but the stories of the amazing kids and families One Simple Wish is helping every single day.

So....please join me on this very interesting journey as I share with you stories that I promise will touch you in some way. Every single day I hear about people or circumstances that sometimes make me want to cry and that sometimes make me believe, all over again, in the true goodness in all of us.

Thanks for your interest...I look forward to hearing your thoughts!