HARTJE VOOR STERRE

Y'all have a good Valentine's Day? Mine was strange, to say the least -- we had our first "lookers" for the house (our house has been on the market for over a month) which meant that I had to clean, something I'm not so fond of on V-Day. I had to work this afternoon (3 whole hours!) and Corien came over this morning with Siene, who is already 6 going on 7 months old and so big! So not a little baby anymore... it seems (to me anyway) that she was just yesterday still curled up in Corien's belly :-) Mirthe, Roos and Fee were all at school, so Corien and I were able to actually have a normal conversation :-) and drink coffee, before it got cold!

After work Eric picked me up and we gathered the kids from their various daycare locations and we went out to eat at a Greek restaurant in Oosterhout. It was nice to be out and not have to cook, and Anna and Mirthe behaved well, lived it up on the French bread and reveled in the fact that they were allowed to "order" sodas (Mirthe chose iced tea and Anna just happily drank the apple juice we ordered and told her that it was "frisdrank" so I guess that actually, they both didn't order sodas.) Anna loves olives. How weird is that for a two year old?

When we got home I put the kids to bed (three stories, even though it was late) and came up here to the attic/freezer to check my e-mail.

I had a message from Jenny, a colleague of an internet friend of mine, Marion (Marion and I both have children born in January 2004.) Jenny has a daughter Sterre, who's undergoing an experimental oxygen treatment to regenerate/activate brain cells. Sterre has various physical handicaps, stemming from oxygen deprivation during the delivery. This new treatment causes "sleeping" brain cells to wake up, possibly allowing Sterre to walk and talk and do all the things a normal toddler can do.

Sterre's treatment is experimental and is not covered by her health insurance. Her parents are trying to raise the 25,000 euros they will need to cover her costs.

You can read her story (if you can read Dutch :-) at www.helpsterre.nl -- otherwise do a google on HBOT or Hyperbolic Oxygen Therapy.

On Sterre's website is a bank account number where you can make donations to help Sterre's parents raise the funds they need to provide their daughter with this therapy. I have made a bunch of felted hearts, different styles and colors, for Sterre -- if you make a donation of 5 euros (more, of course, is not a problem :-) to her fundraiser, I'll send you one of her hearts. When you make your donation, please do so onder vermelding van een "Hartje voor Sterre" and then e-mail me so that we can exchange info. You can ask for certain colors, if you like -- or no flowers, or lots of flowers, or just beads, or whatever. I can make (almost) anything :-) to your liking, and you will have helped a little girl get a second chance at doing all the wonderful things in this world.

Happy Valentine's Day, Sterre!