Chickens in the Kitchen: From little things come BIG things.

Have you ever been completely overwhelmed with goodness? Have you ever realized that dreams really do come true? Is it possible that there is still LOTS of good left in the world today?

Three and a half years ago our family embarked on a journey that was uncharted territory. We had no idea what the future would hold. We had prayed for a happy and healthy baby. We got one of those - Happy. Parson Blue was far from healthy. A rare genetic condition attacked her lungs and she would struggle for each breath until she was 11 months old when a donor completely changed things.

After 5 long months inpatient at Texas Children's Hospital, at the age of 11 months old, Parson received the best birthday gift ever in the form of new donor lungs. Through our transplant journey, the amazing doctors and nurses at Texas Children's Hospital became family to us. The care we received was not only life saving but heart changing as well. They cared for our child and our whole family in the process.

We didn't take the journey alone. Our family has been carried along many days by a band of supporters we dubbed "The Parson Blue Crew." All along our journey thus far, they have given generously of their love and prayers of support.

Parson has enjoyed an AMAZING two and a half years with her new lungs. She has learned to walk, enjoy books, talk, read books, laugh and enjoy books. The kiddo LOVES books. Because books make our family very happy we wanted to "give back" to Texas Children's Hospital in the form of a children's book drive. We put out a call for new books...and The Parson Blue Crew went to work.

In larger than life fashion, our tribe proved that BIG things come from little things. I expected to receive 20-40 books at the local drop off locations throughout the drive that would last from Thanksgiving through mid December. To allow our out-of-town friends and family to participate, we also set up a wish list through Amazon.com. The Blue Crew completely blew any expectations I had out of the water. Boxes began to arrive daily. One day we received 34 boxes of books. Then one day we received 407 books in one day. The Blue Crew proved to me, book by book that goodness abounds.

We've got board books and we've got complete sets of books. We've got Seuss and we've got trains. We've got Wimpy Kids and Dork Diaries and Hunger Games and Harry Potter. The books came by plane they came by train, folks even brought and dropped them off. They bought for babies and they bought for big kids. They even bought Fox in Socks. They've bought books about sports stars and Minnie Mouse too. They even bought coloring books, crayons and crafts too. Stacks and stacks of books to share.

To date we have received over 2700 books and more books are arriving each day. Even the UPS man and postal carrier are proud to be a part of our drive.

Our little book drive has proven to me that sometimes all you have to do is ASK. Our dream of a book drive to stock the book cart at Texas Children's Hospital has now become a HUGE reality. The Blue Crew reminded me that BIG things can come from little dreams. One little sick baby brought together many people and because of a dream we made a BIG delivery of books to Texas Children's Hospital.

In addition to delivering over 2700 books, we also packed extra special care packages including books for children in the PICU. After a very emotional delivery day, we came home to 39 more books on our doorstep. Safe to say...we will be headed back with another special delivery of books very soon.

Thank YOU Blue Crew! You were insanely generous. From little things come BIG things.

The Happy Family delivering books. Lots of books.
Jennifer, Darby (8), Parson (3) and Rodney.

Parson Blue Crew Book Drive drop off box

Wahooo! More Books!

Parson... Before and after transplant. Blessed.

This kiddo LOVES books.

This is the little book that started it all. We brought this lift-a-flap book to many therapy sessions to entice Parson to reach, roll over, scoot, stand, and even start walking. Many of the flaps are gone, but sweet memories remain.