An awesome thing happened in our household

No, we are NOT pregnant. Get that thought out of your head.

The last two years, Eric has been unemployed. Things have been tight and we are dealing with what we have. It's not great but somehow, someway, we're making it through. Xander has found out what a Nintendo DS is. And he's been asking for one. Two weeks ago, he made a Christmas Wish List (ignore the fact that it's June LOL) and the first thing on it? Yup, a DS. He really is such a good kid and I would love for him to be able to have one. Granted, we'd have time limitations but I think it would be great for him.

Well, that opportunity came up this week. It actually came up months ago but it finally happened. LOL There is a blog I read all the time. The woman's name is Crystal and her blog is Boob, Injuries & Dr Pepper. She is raw, honest, openly caring and shares her life with us. Read her "Crazy Chronicles" and bring your tissue. She is funny and a great person. Does she have faults? Sure, who doesn't? What I love about Crystal is that she will own up to her faults and tries to fix them. There are so many people who think their shit doesn't stink and will put on a false face to appear better. Crystal is real and I love that about her.

Quite a few months ago, her daughter received a DS for her birthday and ended up leaving it at a restaurant. When they realized what happened, the called and the staff said it would be put away and wait for them. When they got there to pick it up, it was gone. And Crystal was pissed and blogged about it. Just like I would too. The outreach of her blogging community in this situation was flabbergasting. The restaurant manager, corporate, fellow readers, etc all wanted to help replace this for her daughter. In the end, Crystal realized she had a great opportunity to give some joy to kids whose parents couldn't afford a DS. People were donating left and right and Crystal started the "Pay It Forward" campaign.

Once people started donating, she asked for people to write in about kids that were deserving of one. There were so many heartbreaking stories of families with job losses, sickness, etc and their kids just being great people, stepping up and being responsible or giving up their own toys or joys for others. I hesitated to write in about Xander, there were other families who were so much more deserving. Eventually, I wrote to Crystal. At that time, the donations had slowed down and Xander was on the later list. Which, still, was fine. I was hopeful but not counting on anything. Lo and behold, a few months later, Crystal emailed me to say that someone was donating a whole batch of them and would Xander still like one? I started bawling. I could not believe how fortunate we were and all because of Crystal's good-heartedness.

The DS came in the mail today (THANK YOU CRYSTAL AND YOUR DONATION KING!) and he was THRILLED. God forbid he show emotion in a picture lately though. But here are pics of him opening and then posing with it. You can bet that when we can, we will Pay It Forward, somehow, some way. Thank you.







And a close-up of him in his new glasses: