Merry Service

Each year Grandma and Grandpa Mecham ask for a service project for Christmas. For the past two years we have united with our cousins to make it an extra special project. This year we decided to reach out to cancer patients and try to make their holidays a little brighter. Both of our families have experienced loss do to cancer this past year and it made the experience very personal and special for all of us.

Our family dedicated our service project this year to our good friend and neighbor Shawna Gross. The Gross family moved in when Shawna was seven months pregnant, it was fun to get to know them. Shawna was a working women and dedicated her time to working as a manager at the CPS office. We didn't see her much until baby Carson came into their home. However we did get quite acquainted with her husband John and her two year old Jackson. John is so amazing and happy, every time you see him you are guaranteed a big happy HELLO or a honk of the horn if he is in his truck.
Shawna was diagnosed with cancer shortly before Carson was born and a short five months later she lost the battle and joined her Heavenly Father. She was an amazing example of hope and perseverance, I will never forget the lessons I learned from her. It was a devastating experience for all. The next 9 months of our lives our family grew we now had three more boys (including John, trust me on this one) to love, care for and help mend their hearts. These were some of the saddest and happiest times of our lives. Moving away from them was very difficult and we miss them everyday that we don't see them.

This year our family loomed 30 plus hats for the cancer center and another 10 for family members. We did this all in an amazing three weeks, we know the Lord was supporting us every step of the way. The kids were amazing and learned very quickly. We loomed while we listened to books, drove in the car and watched movies. We dedicated the evenings to watching Christmas stories of hope and service while our little hands loomed away. The movies really helped bring the spirit of giving into our home. Every chance the kids got they wanted to serve, socks for the homeless (YMCA service project), picking Angles from the WalMart tree, and dropping coins into the bell ringers little red buckets. What joy giving brings!

On the week before Christmas the cousins brought the goodie bags and we supplied the hats and we ventured to the Cancer Treatment Center to give our gifts. They were very kind and told us about Team Hope, that is a team of volunteers that would give our gifts to those in the center that they would most benefit. The kids are already asking about how you can become a member of Team Hope. I love this experience and thank Grandma and Grandpa for asking for such a selfless gift and giving us the opportunity to give of our selves in a selfless manner during the best season of all.