"Supporting" the homeless and beyond...

This year I was assigned Amy. Growing up, people often told me I reminded them of Amy. Looking back- I wonder if I really did have those similarities or maybe just found myself admiring Amy and wanting to be more like her and thus I came to have similarities. I guess we will never know, but I am always grateful for the compliment of being compared to Amy.

Some of our similarities were out of our hands and came biologically. One of the biological burdens... I mean biological traits... we shared was passed down from our wonderful Grandma Ione-  ... being top heavy.  We both shared years of back pain and having to have special bras made for us. Thanks to wonderful parents, insurance, and extreme back pain- we are both happy to no longer suffer from that pain but I know that I still value the importance of a good bra!

So... you might be wondering why I just shared random... pretty personal...information. Well- to honor Amy this year I decided to help "Support the Homeless". :)

In selling skirts I have made friends with a "Bra Lady" that reminds me so much of our lady we use to get bras from. She was doing a Bra drive in October for Breast Cancer Awareness month to donate bras to women in homeless shelters. I joined the cause and started collecting bras from anyone I could think of. It was kind of funny to have women slipping me brown bags full of "donations" in the chapel and me opening them during the meeting to see what had been slipped up to my pew or to see Houston's face as he kept discovering more and more bras around the house.

 I was grateful to find and be a part of such a unique program (The Bra Recyclers). I felt great helping other women find the "support" they needed :) Here is an article about where the bras went.

As December rolled around- I felt myself not feeling like it was Christmas because I wasn't working on my Christmas service any more. So I kept my eyes open for something else that might be a good fit for Amy. It kept me thinking about service opportunities and Amy all season.

I found out about a family (Operation Santa) trying to make a Christmas miracle happen for a family in Arizona with a dad who is a returned veteran struggling to deal with PTSD and is recently unemployed. They wanted to send an anonymous donation from each state in the US. I might have made this up but I feel like early on in Amy's Alaska Airlines days- they set the goal of visiting every state in the US. With that, mixed with her love and respect for patriotism and our veterans, I thought this would be a fun one to be a part of. I was going to do it in Amy's name but they already had many from Utah. So you will see the "Hocks" in NC representing the Dittbrenners in UT.

I have felt really close to Amy these past 6 months- even though we live so far away this year because I have gone back to work. It has helped me appreciate her even more as a working mother. I try to remember when I come home from work tired and exhausted- that I am not alone and that Amy works even harder and yet still manages to do it.

Amy- I'm grateful for your example in so many things. I'm grateful to be your sister. I'm grateful- each time that someone says I remind them of you! What a wonderful compliment! I love you and Merry Christmas!