Blog, Bid, Hope - On Behalf of Anissa Mayhew and The Liz Longelin Foundation...

Bad things happen to good people. We all know that, but it doesn't make it any less horrible or unfair. At the same time, while there are people out there who would do harm, by and large, my opinion that most people are good still holds true, and there's a group of women out there who keep that belief alive for me. They all converge in an effort to help others. I have nothing against large charities, by and large, but what's happening here isn't administrated and promoted by a large charity who skims your monies off the top for their administration fees. All of the money directly goes to helping real people in need -- maybe even some in your neighborhood. Let me just give you a bit of info.

One minute her husband was talking to her about which hotel they could stay in over Thanksgiving and the next moment she was unresponsive in a hospital bed. Everyone is praying for Anissa Mayhew to pull through and little by little it seems they are starting to see bits of progress, but her family has a long way to go. She is still in intensive care...they need help.

Matt Logelin is no stranger to the devastating turns our lives can take. He started blogging like many of us did, as a way to update friends and family across the globe on the progress of his family...in his case, a pregnant wife, Liz. He proudly posted the excitement of the birth of his baby girl Madeline one day and the tragic loss of his beautiful wife due to a pulmonary embolism just 27 hours later.

The Liz Logelin Foundation was established by Matt to assist families suffering similar losses. The goal is to "financially assist these families as they deal with the loss of their loved ones, and struggle to move forward."

Matt also challenges his readers...and everyone...to "skip the latte" and donate 7 dollars on the 7th of every month. It can be such a small number for us, but if EVERYONE donated $7 on the 7th, we could help SO many.

The auctions start Wednesday, December 9. The auctions will remain open until Friday, December 11 at 5:00 PST at all of the various blogs listed.

The auction sponsors are Jen, Jill, Kathy, Heather, Angie, Stephanie, and Kacey & Francesca, but do not forget Laurie Turk, from Tip Junkie, facilitated this gathering and connected a bunch of mom-preneurs who have agreed to donate their goods, including blog designs, toys, art, accessories, baby gear, and SO much more. I simply adore her and think that she is in some ways a superhero. When Laurie emailed me I responded, and am donating the earrings to the left, to the cause. The fabulous Scary Mommy will be auctioning off these earrings. Please stop by and bid on them. But don't just stop there; visit them all. You can click on Scary Mommy's blog to read more about the auction and also those who will benefit. You can get yourself, or someone else, some cool stuff, but most importantly, the money will go towards helping with Anissa Mayhew's care and Matt's The Liz Logelin Foundation. Matt started the foundation in order to financially assist families who deal with the loss of their loved one and provider and struggle to move forward. He needs our help.

As Jill from Scary Mommy says, "Each host site will offer a different selection of items, so be sure to visit all of us. Bidding will begin at $10 and bids will increase at $2 increments. If you see an item you’d like to bid on, just leave a comment on that item’s post stating your price. It’s stuff you would buy anyway, and you’ll be helping two great causes."

'Tis the season, and there's very good reason, so please participate! Here are the links to the various auction blogs:

Mama's Losin' It: http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/
Adventures in Babywearing: http://www.adventuresinbabywearing.com/
Mayhem & Moxie: http://mayhemandmoxie.com/
The Extraordinary Ordinary: http://theextraordinaryordinary.blogspot.com/
Scary Mommy: http://www.scarymommy.com/
7 Clown Circus: http://angiescircus.blogspot.com/
Buried With Children: http://www.buriedwithchildren.com/

Here are all of the Twitter IDs for the hosts, in case you would like to get involved:

Kacey & Francesca: http://twitter.com/mayhemandmoxie
Kathy: http://twitter.com/mamakatslosinit
Angie: http://twitter.com/angiescircus
Jill: http://twitter.com/ScaryMommy
Jen: http://twitter.com/buriedwithkids
Stephanie: http://twitter.com/babysteph
Heather: http://twitter.com/HeatheroftheEO