14/04/2025
Hi Oliver’s Company! We hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather!
It feels so good to see spring!
It also feels good to be writing today checking in and updating you on the things that have been happening over the last few months! December was a hard month as we celebrated Oliver’s second birthday in Heaven and second Christmas, but it was also incredible the way God provided opportunities for us to bless others during that season. On Oliver’s birthday we were able to go shopping for some toys and gift cards as if he were here to shop with us. We took those to MU and were able to visit with some of our MU family. We are so thankful to the child life team and social work team for helping get the gifts in the hands of families that need them. It was such a good day celebrating him and honoring him. Through your generous donations, we know how helpful those things were during our stay and we can only imagine the little smiles that were brought to families as they received those.
The week of Oliver’s birthday, West Elementary School did a school wide fundraiser in honor of him to raise money for the Super Sam Foundation. They raised over $1200 to give back to Super Sam!! Super Sam Foundation is an organization we received care packages from as well as Jett during Oliver’s treatment, so we know how many families are being helped through their work. We are so thankful to the faculty, parents, and students at West School! They worked so hard and the look on the faces of the students when the principal announced the amount is something I won’t forget. Pure joy, knowing how many kids like their friend Oliver, they will help.
Magnify salon hosted a toy drive and fundraiser for Oliver’s Company over the month of December. I am still blown away by the amount of toys brought in by those in the community and even some that were shipped in! You will see in pictures how loaded down my car was. We were able to deliver the toys to Friends of Kids With Cancer. This is an organization that was truly amazing during our time in St. Louis. They have so many different things to offer kids going through treatment, but what I remember most is when Child Life would bring a favorite new toy into Oliver’s room and his face would light up. Ohh his precious smile, little thankful voice, and sounds of laughter. It gave him something to look forward to and something new for us to play or build with together. The team at Friends of Kids with cancer was in awe with how many toys we had and were so thankful for the donations to their toy closet! Magnify Salon also raised over $1,700 for us to continuing blessing others! The salon owner was so generous and matched the donations that had already been given. We are so thankful to the salon, clients, and community that made it all possible.
We were able to bless a local family in need at Christmas time who is going through treatment. Even though the second birthday and Christmas without him was tough on our hearts, God provided so many opportunities the ENTIRE month where we had so much joy. He knew. He knew we would need some extra cheer and being able to help others as a family and remember Oliver was what our hearts needed. YOU all made that happen. Thank you for your generosity and compassion for kids and families in the fight.
In January we had to put our sweet puppy, Sunny, down. She came in to our family in November of 2023 shortly after Oliver had passed. She was the best addition to our family and loved us all so much in a time when our hearts were so fragile. She was the companion for Jett he was missing without having Oliver. She brought new laughter and s***k into our home. It was a blessing to have her and hear Jett laughing and playing. They played endless fetch and a lot of chase in the back yard, even inside too. Unfortunately, she developed cancer and for dogs it isn’t something you can cure, nor did we want to put her through that. We knew it was best for her to celebrate big and let her go while she was still mostly pain free. Even though we were so crushed, I am once again amazed at how God worked through the whole situation. The new animal hospital here in Jefferson City was amazing and suggested we go to MU for more testing. We did and that is where they found the abnormalities in her blood. We couldn’t have asked for a more kind, compassionate, empathetic vet. We took her to Premium Pets to shop on her last day and the girls working were just the people we needed to see. Sunny and Jett had the best time. I can’t express how thankful we are to Premium Pets and the girls working that day. God knew. No surprise he had already gone before us in everything. Even the vet we had the day before was still on when we took Sunny back to be put down. I feel like she is part of our family now too. We had snow that day and the most precious and selfless thing I heard from little Jett, was go build a snowman with Ollie when you see him. Ollie always wanted a golden retriever and now he has Sunny. I thank God for our time with Sunny and the love that filled our home with her in it. The images I have of her and Ollie now running through Heaven together are beautiful and have also given me an extra reason to smile. God is so good all the time!
February came with a 5th birthday celebration for Jett! We love getting to celebrate him and watching him grow. He has grown so much over the last year. He is gearing up for his preschool graduation, TeeBall season, and will start kindergarten in August. He is still our s***ky Jett and brings so much love and laughter to our family. We love watching him grow a love for Jesus and all those around him.
This past weekend we attended Walk With a Friend put on by Friends of Kids with Cancer. It has been a blessing the last two years to honor our Oliver and the kids who have also gone before us. It is also heartwarming to see the families of kids who may still be fighting out and about enjoying a beautiful day. We also get to see those precious kids that have beat cancer this side of Heaven. We thank God for always showing up no matter what the situation is.
We have so much to be thankful for and we are always in awe of God’s goodness no matter what. We can’t wait to see how the Lord continues to work in 2025. We love you Oliver’s company! Thank you for being the amazing people you are!
