The True Meaning of Christmas

As many of my readers know, this last year has been a very challenging year for my little family.  With the birth of our sweet "Little" Cooper, unbeknownst to us, he had a genetic abnormality, which later we found out was Achondroplasia (the most common form of Dwarfism) and a micro-deletion in chromosome 15.  To find out what the genetic abnormalities were, Cooper had to undergo some genetics testing, which were very expensive.  We fought our insurance company, which we have great insurance.  But, because of the cost of the 2 genetics tests, they wouldn't cover the full cost of the tests, leaving Zane and I with the balance.  We decided to do some fundraisers and call it Cooper's Crusade.

We were able to raise about half of what we needed.  However, we were completely out of the "know" on what all Achondroplasia/Dwarfism was all about, all the different specialists Cooper would have to see along the way, all the other tests, studies, surgeries, MRIs, therapy, the list goes on and on.  Through all of this, we have remained positive, and have a positive outlook for our sweet Cooper, and to try to keep a positive atmosphere in our home for Hunter and Paizlei.

On Sunday, December 16, 2012, our doorbell rang.  I looked at the clock and couldn't figure out why someone was coming to my house at 9:15pm.  Hesitantly, I got up and went to the door.  When I opened the door, there was no one there, however, there was this gift bag in front of me.  I yelled, "Thank you!", knowing they couldn't be too far, because it didn't take me all that long to get to the door.  I brought it back in my bedroom and sat it down, and went back to folding laundry. A few minutes passed, and I kept having the nagging feeling that I needed to look in the gift bag.  When I brought it in, I couldn't believe how heavy it was, and figured it was just food, which is why I ignored it.  I finally stopped folding the laundry and looked in the bag, and was brought to tears.  Inside the gift bag was a quart-sized mason jar FILLED with nothing but quarters.  There was 7 rolls of quarters in the jar, the rest was loose quarters.  I pulled some more tissue paper out, and at the bottom of the bag was another 3 rolls of quarters tied together and the book, The Christmas Jars. I looked again, and there was no card, nothing.  I looked inside the book thinking maybe who ever gave us the gift left a card in it.  No card.  Just a message, "Merry Christmas 2012".  Zane was working that night, so I called up to the Sheriff's office to talk to him and tell him.  Like me, he was completely shocked.

We have tried and tried to figure out who would be so kind as to give us THAT much money, we have come up empty.  I know that the whole idea, is for us NOT to know, but we can't help but wonder.

We were surprised again the following Sunday, December 23, 2012.  Again, I was in my bedroom folding laundry when I hear this funny knock on my front door.  Because of the funny sound of it, I thought it was Zane, because he was outside at the time.  But, I decided I better go check just to make sure someone wasn't there.  I was completely surprised when I opened my door and found another gift bag and a brown box sitting there.  Again, I yelled, "Thank you!" (before I yelled it, I heard pounding on the pavement, like someone was running, so I looked up and towards the west and saw the guy running to his wife's car!).  I brought it in to my bedroom and waited for Zane to come in.  Once he was inside, we both opened the bag and couldn't believe it.  One the box, there was a sweet little note from the people.  As I was reading the note, I remembered a childhood friend sent me a PM on Facebook and told me she was driving home from Target in Orem the Friday night after Thanksgiving, and was looking at her surroundings while she was waiting for the light to change to green, and noticed there was Mater from Disney's Cars 2, with a BIG poster and a picture of Cooper with it.  I thought and thought about it.  I couldn't let this one rest, because my baby's picture was there.  I sent a text to a friend up in Orem and asked if she wouldn't mind going to this location and taking some pictures for me.  Sure enough, it was Mater, and there was a BIG poster and picture of my Cooper.  She said the Mater truck had some paint on it, and you could see some of it said "Gunnison" on it.  The Mater that was up there, belongs to my neighbors through the block north of us.

 The box from the Mater fundraiser in Orem.

 The card from the Mater fundraiser in Orem.

 This is what was in the gift bag.

 Cuter little Mater, huh?

The poster is word for word what is on Cooper's Crusade Facebook page.

To say we were shocked by both of these random acts of kindness, is an understatement.  Then, on Christmas Eve, a sweet lady and her husband came to our house with a ham and a gift from her, her husband, her kids and grandkids, as well as a gift put together by the Gunnison Valley Daughter's of Utah Pioneer's or DUP.  After she and her husband left, Zane and I just sat there and stared at each other.  At the same time, we both said, "Ya know, we truly live in an AMAZING community!", and we do.  We are truly blessed to live where we live and to have SO MANY people care about our family.

This is the first year I have felt the spirit so strongly at Christmas time.  I hope to NEVER forget what that feels like.  So many kind, loving, generous, thoughtful people helped out my little family, and brought the true meaning of Christmas into our home.  To you, THANK YOU!!