Monday, April 18, 2011

Cami's Kindness Day - April 19th

Tomorrow is Camille's birthday. She would have been four. Four is the age I first throw a birthday party for my children. I have them invite a handful of their little friends over and we play games including pin the party hat on the princess. (I draw a life size picture of the girl by tracing her on the floor for this and we have kept them so they can see how little they once were.) And they get presents. Presents from family like they did the first 3 years and on this 4th birthday they get presents from friends too.

So if you have read this blog or if you know me or ever met my little angel girl, please consider yourself invited to her 4th birthday anniversary "party." Where ever you live, I hope you will have a piece of cake or a cupcake tomorrow.


But more importantly, I hope you will find it in your heart to give my little angel a present by performing an act of kindness above and beyond what you would normally do tomorrow.

I would LOVE to hear what you did. If you have time to write a comment and let me know that would be such a gift to me as I celebrate her birthday with my family.

We will be headed to the Las Vegas Temple to remind us how grateful we are that families can be sealed together forever. I am so grateful for the promises of the Lord given our family in the Holy Temple that my neither my marriage nor my parental relationships will be dissolved at death for certainly the love is not. It would only truly be heaven to me if those loving relationships could continue there as well.

30 comments:

Ashley Sullenger said...

I'll be thinking of you and your sweet Camille tomorrow. There's nothing better than going to the temple, it always puts everything back in perspective for me.

Anonymous said...

Thinking of you on Camille's birthday, all the way from France. Love is forever.

Ashley said...

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your baby girl. I will be sure to do something especially good today!

Diana Lesjak said...

Happy Birthday to your sweet Camille! Thank you for "inviting" me to the celebration! I have her little braclet and I pray for you and your little family often. Random acts of kindness~ so easy and joyful to do! Cake or cupcake~ yum! Hope your day is filled with loving thoughts and a hopeful heart Stephanie.

m&msmommy said...

Happy Birthday Sweet Camille!

Thinking of you and your family on this day! :)

Anonymous said...

I just returned from mailing an anonymous Easter package to the Nygard children. Thank you, Stephanie, for suggesting an act of kindness today in honor of your sweet Camille.

Denise said...

Happy Birthday sweet angel Camille. Aren't we grateful to know that famililes are forever. Many good thoughts being sent your way today-an act of kindness will be done in honor of your angel today. ((hugs))

shanan said...

happy birthday, sweet camille.

Ronja said...

Happy Birthday, Camille. I have been reading your blog from Germany and will be thinking of you today. I am expecting my first daughter in 6 weeks, and reading about your angel girl makes me feel very thankful for that. I will have a piece of cake later and will give a donation to Plan International (whom I support) in honor of Camille as my good thing today.

Greetings from Germany,
Ronja

The Sharp Family said...

For Camille, I watched my friend's daughter so she could get some much needed packing done. I will do the same tomorrow and think of your sweet angel girl.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Lisa
Tennessee

We are a part of a happy family said...

We've made a donation for the missionary fund in Camille's honor. Happy birthday Cami. There will be other acts of kindness in our home as well. Love you.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday sweet Camille. I love your idea of Cami's Kindness. For Jalayne's first birthday in heaven, we sent out a request via her blog and email for everyone to tell how she had touched their life. The result was staggering. People all over the world were touched by our baby girl. We have taken all of these messages and put them into a book. Here is a link to my own blogposts around the time of her birthday. http://lovinglaynee.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Praying for you all. It's a painful time but remember, she's celebrating with the KING. How awesome!!!!!!!

Cardalls said...

What a wonderful day to celebrate your little angel. It is my baby boy's one year birthday on Thursday. He spent 6 weeks in the NICU so we are going to take up some sweet rolls and thank you pictures drawn by my kids to the nurses who took such loving care of him while he was in the hospital.

The Cricket on the Hearth said...

Thinking of your family and your darling Camille on her birthday...
For Cami's Kindness Day I made a huge pot of chili and lots of corn muffins to take to some people in our ward.
I also sent off an Easter card to someone I love who isn't speaking to me right now... hoping some extra kindness will help.
Thanks for all your words of wisdom.
Have a joyous "Camille's 4th Birthday".

Lesley said...

My eyes are filling with tears as I read this sweet post. I will think of your sweet Camille tomorrow and I will be extra kind to whomever I meet. My angel had her first friend birthday party when she was 4, and she passed away 4 months and 4 days later; I too love the temple and what it means to me and my family. Happy, happy birthday tomorrow.

http://itsjustapleasurebeingnominated.blogspot.com/2008/08/august-15.html

Lesley said...

I just realized that Camille's birthday is today and that you wrote the post yesterday. My thoughts are still the same :-)

Anonymous said...

Thinking of Camille today... Pushed my 4 year old on the swing today, and made some sweet rolls for my 11 year old son (he has been begging for me to make them for a couple of weeks now.) :) Thank you Camille for bringing happiness into our lives. :)

Carrie said...

When I read your post this morning, I really tried to think what act of kindness I could so in honor of your sweet baby girl. My girls are on Spring Break and we had plans to go to a museum with some friends today. I love this friend dearly, but she is also a friend that is somewhat exhausting to spend time with. We went to the museum and the whole time I was thinking of your Camille and what act of kindness I was going to perform. Nothing came to me. As we were leaving the museum I was really trying to think of what excuse I could come up with so I could have the rest of the afternoon to myself (and my 4 girls, of course). After we got back to my house my friend's girls were asking if they could come in and play. I know that my friend values my friendship and really needs friends at this time in her life. I thought of Camille and immediately invited them in to play. Our girls had a blast playing dress up, littlest pet shop, and house! And I had a great time. My friend and I watched Dr. Phil and talked! It was great! Thank you SO much for having this day. It was such an honor to think of your Camille and do something for her today.

Olsens R Us said...

To honor Camille today I babysat for a friend who really needed help with babysitting while she took a son to an allergy testing appointment. I don't say no often, but today I honestly was going to and would have, if it had not been for Camille. I am preparing to be a trek "ma" and had a million things to do today. But guess what? I took care of four little girls under 4 for most of the day, and it all still got done. For lunch, I took two extra minutes to make star shaped peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and my friend's sweet 4 year old said in her prayer "Thank you that Julia's mom has a nice heart." I hope I show that "nice heart" more often. Thank-you for the reminder. I hope that your day was a beautiful remembrance of your precious 4 year old angel.

Jessica said...

I just came across your blog a few days ago and was inspired to keep checking. It's such a great idea to honor your girl in such a way. I felt prompted to think outside of myself, beyond changing diapers and slicing grapes to toddler size, and do something kind for someone. I thought only for a moment, then knew!

I am currently 6 mo. pregnant with my third little girl and have had a few scares and complications. I went to another routine check-up this last week and while there, started to bleed. Quite scary, especially since I was juggling my two littles at the appointment (couldn't find a sitter). I was sent right up to the hospital for an ultrasound. My girls were SO tired, hungry, and running out of patience. I had to somehow sit through this ultrasound, looking for a cause of the blood, while trying to keep my 3 yr. old and 17 mo. old entertained. Impossible, right?

Thankfully, my ultrasound tech was an angel and had so many tricks up her sleeve. By the time we were finished, the girls had glove balloons, had sang every primary song they knew, ate lollipops, helped the tech point out parts of the baby. It was such a tender mercy.

SO..... I decided to make this sweet tech some cookies and deliver them to her at the hospital, thanking her for her kindness. She was very surprised and told me that it was just what she needed today. I thought of Camille the whole time. The bleeding eventually stopped, and was believed to be caused by a low lying placenta. Thankfully nothing more serious.

You have a beautiful family. Congrats on the new baby boy! Camille, as well as the rest of your children, are so lucky to have you as a Mom.

Anonymous said...

I got up extra early and did a session at the temple so that I would still be able to spend the day with my children. On the way home I called a sister in my ward who recently had a baby and invited her daughter over to play so that she could get some rest. Later, when we brought her home, we dropped dinner off as well. We also made banana bread for our neighbor who is a widow. Lastly, we bought sleeping bags as part of an effort in our stake to help the homeless. It was a great day. We should have more days like this as a family!

Happy birthday Camille! And thank you, Stephanie, for sharing your daughter and testimony with us.

Staci Rocha said...

I didn't get a chance to write yesterday, but i just wanted to let you know i am someone you don't know but you and your sweet camille have made a difference in my life! It's neat to feel and think of sweet camille's spirit still influencing people for the better. All day yesterday i did my best to be better, more patient with my kids, more acts of kindness and lots of love shared for the day! I didn't worry about the routine stuff for the day and just made sure to make my kids happy with crafts, cookies, we mailed some happy packages etc.

Thanks for your example!

Anonymous said...

happy 4th birthday to camille. i hope your day is blessed with many fond memories of your angel girl. we as a family will be doing many acts of kindness on camille's behalf. thank you for sharing your beautiful life stephanie it has truly blessed so many people.

Bri Olson said...

Stephanie-
Thank you again for your beautiful posts. They always tug at my heart-strings and help me strive to be better. In honor of Camille's day I watched my neighbors 2 little sons while she packed up her house to move. Normally not a big deal, however, our children are close in age so there were 4 children under 4 here for several hours and my big helpers were at school. Knowing it was for Camille gave me the patience I needed to have my heart in the right place as I served. Tonight we will have homemade strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. As we enjoy it, we will be thinking of you. May you be blessed with peace on a difficult day, and know that even 4 years later; your sweet angel still affects our home. Thank you, and Happy Birthday Camille!

The Lucksters said...

Thanks so much for this post (and all the others). I sat down to do an Easter craft with my boy that I had put off for a few days. He was so happy. Thanks for always inspiring me. I hope your day was GREAT!
Kellie

Holly said...

Happy Belated Birthday Camille! You will never how how you've touched my life! My sweet little boy was born on April 19th, only a year earlier! He turned 5 yesterday. Last night we had cake and and there were 9 candles on our cake. 5 for Caleb and 4 for Miss Camille!

Emi Edgley said...

Today, in honor of Camille, we are traveling to the home of a patient of my husband's who is in need. We will leave them some groceries and hopefully fill their lives with just a little more light during a very dark time.

I hope you have felt a bit of this heavenly light among the walls of your home, as well.

Anonymous said...

Somehow I got my days mixed up so I know this is late but today I wrote a few thinking of you cards that I have been meaning to write for a while and I donated to a fundraiser for the "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation."

chanel said...

i made my neighbor (who I happened to run into at the dr office) some lemon bars to let her know we care. i also brought the extra one to new neighbors to introduce ourselves. my husband is out of town so i wouldn't have done this, except i was thinking of camille and you and NEEDED to honor her.
thanks for your guys' examples!

Innocent boy said...

happy birthday and oma oma