The kindness of strangers...

I am just overwhelmed, amazed and speechless. That a group of strangers care enough about me and my family and our current difficulties that they have clubbed together and paid for some respite for us for James. But then I shouldn't be shocked, really, as that is the whole ethos of an internet forum - it's there to support people in all sorts of ways. I often find myself giving medical advice on threads about children's health issues (although I always cover myself by saying that I can't diagnose without seeing the child) and I am now considered an expert in baby led weaning and sling wearing, so I hope I have helped people with problems in the past. Now it's my turn to receive some greatly appreciated help and I am stunned. I am also angry as if the social services department was doing their job properly and handling their account appropriately, there would be plenty of funding for us to access respite through them, rather than having to depend on the kindness of strangers. It seems unfair that the government spout political nonsense about "Every Disabled Child Matters" and that families of children with disabilities are entitled to short breaks, yet the funding isn't avaialble to give this desperately needed respite. Or perhaps the money is there, it just isn't used properly. How the people who make their decisions, and suggest that our case isn't strong enough, can look at themselves in the mirror, I don't know...

Talking of kind deeds, on Ravelry, there's a forum called "Random Acts of Kindness" which is a wonderful set up where you make/give someone an item just because. You can make a wish list (I really struggled with that as I'm not particularly good at asking for things!) and then people either surprise you or contact you to offer something. This week I received a set of double pointed needles and have started knitting in the round - a skill I thought I'd never master, but which is deceptively easy! Another kind person sent my husband some gummy sweets - he's now stopped complaining about my knitting forums! I've sent out a couple of books and am making some scarves for people, so I feel I'm doing my bit. I am a strong believer in karma and it seems that the karma fairy is being good to me at the moment....

Branching out

Wow. How things are turning around and in a good way. I am quite stunned at the way this week has panned out.

First of all, I received all my goodies to embellish my items for "Made for you, by Shamu". I am now the proud owner of business cards, sticky labels and post it notes! Just waiting for my labels to arrive and I'll be off. I am in a very productive mode at the moment - Ravelry have been running an Olympic knit-a-long and I've signed up to create 11 projects before the end of the Olympic closing ceremony. My husband is now a crochet widow although he's not complaining too much as I am including items that I've left aside for ages and am determined to finish them. I'll load some photos and prices up on my website later so come and have a look! If things go well I may open an Etsy shop as I've been browsing a lot and am really excited by all the beautiful crafted items there.

Meanwhile, my husband has had three job offers in the last two weeks. This is the man who has been in the same job for over 8 years (this is quite unusual in his line of work, a fact that was celebrated at a lunch in his honour earlier this year!) so it's been quite an upheaval. He accepted one of the offers earlier this week, having considered the terms and pay rise (less holiday, more pay) and finally told his immediate boss yesterday. To our surprise, his current company have matched the offer so he gets all the perks of his current job and the pay rise we need so badly. Plus he doesn't have to write a letter of resignation!

Talking of jobs, I have my meeting with my consultant next week and am quite excited about the prospect of going back to work. I've just got my head around the thought of leaving the children while I swan off to work and childcare is almost sorted. Then a letter arrives on my doorstep asking whether I would be willing to meet some first year medical students and talk about James' condtion and the impact it has had on our lives. This will be their first exposure to "real life" patients and it is an important part of the curriculum so I was happy to agree. While I was on the phone I mentioned my professional interest and that I hold several medical education certificates, and asked whether I could work with the department in any other role. So as long as I can get my consultant to organise an honorary contract, it looks as though I've just got myself another job as a student tutor for the patient contact course! I am really excited about that and really pleased I took the bull by the horns and asked. Sometimes it pays to ask.

Pay it Forward

Whilst trawling my various internet forums over the weekend (yes, I'm addicted and it's not healthy, but I have fun!) I stumbled across a forum on Ravelry called "Pay it Forward". I was intrigued so entered and have found a lovely forum based on a sort of variation of a chain letter. The premise is that you sign up to receive a handmade gift from someone through their blog and in turn you offer to send a gift to the first three people to respond to your invitation on your own blog. So unlike a chain letter, you're not expecting to receive half a million pounds, or be in the Guinness Book of Records - just joining in with a really thoughtful community. So I've signed up and will be making a gift for the first three people to sign up here! The "blurb" on the forum is below:

Let me tell you about it, these are the instructions: "It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.
I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF! You will enjoy it just as much as we do!"
And, remember...you have 6 months to get your gifts done! Come on, you know you would love to be one of my angels. Then, one day, but you don't know when....you will get a gift that I have made especially for YOU!
Please remember, you don't have to knit or crochet to participate, anyone who can make a nice handmade gift is welcome to join :)

Apart from offering to make gifts for other people, it's been a day of giving for me. This morning a friend from another online forum, Damsels, drove over to see me. She has just found out she is expecting twins and I offered her my (virtually unused) double buggy. I had been given the buggy to product test two years ago and had only used it once (James has always been very happy to walk everywhere so I had no need for a double, plus I tended to wear Bea in a sling from an early age so hardly used a buggy at all) so I hope she gets lots of use out of it. Bea enjoyed playing with her 2 year old daughter - it's so nice to see Bea making efforts to interact with other children, as she gets no interaction from her brother.

The air is far from clear between me and my husband - I'm going to turn the computer off now and see if we can talk properly.