In honor of Rowan's due date, John and I would like to share the project that we have been working on. After we lost Hope, we starting "Hope's Hugs" at the hospital in Manhattan to provide blankets and some other items to bereaved parents. We feel it is only right to also do something at Stormont Vail to honor Rowan. We are starting "Rowan's Wraps" and we will be providing hand made blankets, books and notebooks to parents and babies in the NICU at Stormont Vail.
We received several prayer shawls for Rowan when he was in the hospital and they brought great comfort, especially as we wrapped him in them on his last day. The blankets that will be part of Rowan's Wraps will be prayed over before being taken to the hospital so that the families that use them have a little extra love with them. We also loved reading books to Rowan and we would like to include a children's book with each bag. Reading to babies benefits the babies greatly and John and I found it to be a great benefit for us too. "The Little Engine that Could" will always and forever hold a special place in our hearts. The last thing that will be in the gift bags will be a notebook and a pen for parents to take notes in, record milestones, and write down any other important information. The notebook that we had proved to be such a great resource especially once Rowan was transferred to Children's Mercy.
John and I have gathered enough of the above mentioned items to take about 10 bags to the hospital next week, but we know that they will probably go through them pretty quickly as a lot of babies go through the NICU. That's where you come in! If you would like to donate knitted or crocheted blankets (receiving blanket size) we would gladly take them. They will be prayed over at either our church (Wamego First United Methodist) or the Keats-Riley Methodist Church in Riley. If you're like me and you don't know how to knit or crochet, we would gladly welcome donations of yarn, children's books, or monetary donations for us to purchase such items. If you aren't local and would like to donate something, please email me at ashley.s.pryor@gmail.com and I will get you details on where to send the items.
I know many of you reading this have already done a lot for our family and we are forever grateful for that, but we want Rowan's life to be remembered and we are excited to be able to be helping other families in his memory.
As always, thank you for your generosity and support of our family.
