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My Jessie Journal:: Hi, Sweet Pea! It’s daddy….i love and miss you so much! I woke up this morning at 4:30am and the first thing I thought about was you. That time of the day takes me back to January 5, 2012 when mommy woke me up to tell…”something is wrong with Jessie”. That was the moment the category 100 Hurricane called “DIPG” ripped through our hearts, minds, souls and family. It left such a destructive path we are still trying to rebuild in many ways.

I was thinking about all of the people impacted by the recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida…so sad to see the devastation there. On Monday I did a Facebook Live about what to do when a hurricane hits. No matter if it is an actually hurricane or a catastrophic loss…we can all hold on to our faith, hold on to our families and hold on to hope! I hold on to the “hope of heaven” every day. A mom recently sent me a video through our new iNEGU app asking for help as she is struggling to hold on…I totally get it! The key is to have people around you that will help you hold on when you don’t have the strength to. 

Jess, I was also thinking in some ways what you started is kind of like the Red Cross to families that have been hit by the hurricane of childhood cancer….The Red Cross brings in the essentials like…food, water and clothing! When a family contacts us we deliver the essentials too…but the essentials are different because the family has food, water and clothing. What they need and what we get to deliver is…hope, joy and love! Jess, I bet I have received over a thousand notes from parents saying, “Thank you for sending use one of Jessie’s JoyJars…it showed up at the perfect time and helped my child smile.” I still can’t believe how far NEGU and JoyJars have reached in the last six years. If money wasn’t a challenge, we would open up mini Joy Factories in every city so millions of people could help us stuff and spread JOY. We would also open them up in other countries. How great would that be? Amazing!