A Time to Celebrate

From a very young age, reading has always been one of my favorite hobbies. I always looked forward to the summer reading program at the library and would have read enough books to earn all of the prizes in just a few short weeks. In the 6th grade, I set a record for the highest AR points in our school. {over 700, but who still remembers? :)}

As much as I love to read, I don't know if I can say that it relaxing for me. I can't read for 10 minutes before bed to wind down from the day. Oh no. I get caught up in a book and will definitely choose finishing the book over sleeping, which has definitely resulted in some long days at work!

I can't remember exactly when we discovered Karen Kingsbury. I'm guessing that my mom found her back in 2005, because I vividly remember being at Iberostar in Playa Del Carmen and my mom was amazed that a Swedish lady (we could tell by her language!) was reading one of the same books she was! I think Karen first because pretty big from One Tuesday Morning and Beyond Tuesday Morning, which were both inspired by the families that were effected by September 11. She then wrote the Redemption, Firstborn and Sunrise series with the Baxter family. My mom read them first and was hooked and eventually I read them too. I think it sums up how much I liked them by these two stories: when I told Cody we would have to name one of our sons after a character in the book and when I called my mom crying, saying that I couldn't stop praying for Ashley yet I already knew the book was written and the ending was decided!!

One of the unique things that Karen offers with each of her books is a Forever in Fiction character. She auctions off these characters to help charities raise money and to honor worthy people.

Now, I do love her books, but my mom and I have mostly switched over to buying them on our Kindles or just checking them out from the library. So I was very surprised when I received this in the mail this week:

And because my mom mailed it via media mail {which is cheaper in case you didn't know, but they only allow you to send media items, NO PERSONAL NOTES!!!} I at first didn't notice any messages to know why she would have sent it to me.

Then I noticed this:

And when I saw that, I knew something was up. I quickly skimmed through her dedication but didn't notice anything important. I continued on to the Forever in Fiction but kept thinking "No way, no way!" Many of you might currently be following sweet Kate McRae's journey. She is a 9 year old girl who is and has been struggling in a long, hard battle with cancer for too many years of her childhood life. To help the family with their extensive bills that have come with this long journey they have been on, Karen decided to open up for donations to help the McRae family. As long as she received one donation, Kate would be honored in Forever In Fiction.

As I turned the pages, I saw a 6 page list.

And one that particularly stuck out:

Last year, before we even flew off to Cleveland and knew how my surgery would turn out, my parents made a donation to Kate in honor of my life and believing that the Lord would see me through the journey. I could not stop the tears once I connected the dots and knew everything the book meant. It is handsdown one of the best gifts I have received and I am so thankful that my parents were able to get our story of the Lord's faithfulness to us Forever in Fiction!

Thanks so much Mom and Dad! Snickers!