Some updates and some extras

Thank you again to all of you who have been praying for Amanda and her daughter. I want you to know that Amanda shared a lot of what has been done for her already and I want you to know that your prayers are being answered! Please continue- she has a long road of healing ahead.

Thank you also to those who have offered to send donations and to those who have spread the word by tweeting and by blogging. I cannot thank you enough for your support! There is now a Paypal account set up for those of you who would like to donate online. Just click on the button below and it should take you straight to the donation page! :-)

In my last post I mentioned a safety reminder that I want to stress again. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check your smoke detectors and if you do not have any-please get some! Our local paper printed some statistics: From 2003 to 2006 40% of fire fatalities resulted from homes without smoke detectors. On top of that 23% more of fire fatalities were in homes that had smoke detectors that were not working. Smoke detectors do not cost much (I found a 3 pack at Amazon for under $17.00) and they save lives!

I would like to end this post with the following poem that Amanda requested be read at the funeral today:

If Tomorrow Never Comes

If I knew it would be the last time that I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word, so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time, I could spare an extra minute or two
to stop and say "I love you," instead of assuming, you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time I would be there to share your day,
well, I'm sure you'll have so many more, so I can let just this one slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance to make everything right.

There will always be another day to say our "I love you's",
And certainly there's another chance to say our "Anything I can do's?"

But just in case I might be wrong and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you and I hope we never forget,
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance you get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes, you'll surely regret the day,
That you didn't take that extra time for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today, whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them and that you'll always hold them dear,
Take time to say "I'm sorry," "please forgive me," "thank you" or "it's okay".
And if tomorrow never comes, you'll have no regrets about today.

Author Unknown