New website coming!!!

Well pretty soon, this will not be the "home page" for Smiles For Sophie anymore.

Once the new website is up and running, I will continue to post to this blog, but you will now need to access the blog by going to the new site at smilesforsophieforever.org OR smilesforsophie.com (we will redirect you to the new site automatically). The blog will now just be used for my updates. You can read the updates by clicking on the "blog" tab on the new website. All the previous links, magnet purchases, pictures, etc will be on the new site as well.

To me this is a big step, and we are excited, but it is also bittersweet in many ways.

We want to thank those of you who came to the planning meeting for the 1st Annual Smiles for Sophie Forever Run/Walk. We are so humbled by the number of you who are willing to help us, because you believe in our cause of searching for and finding a cure and supporting families who will battle this as we search for that cure.

Below I am posting our mission, so those of you who couldn't attend the meeting will know what our foundation is all about.

The mission of Smiles For Sophie Forever –A Foundation Confronting Pediatric Brain Cancer is threefold:

• to provide financial and emotional support to families burdened by pediatric brain tumors
• to promote a global awareness of not only pediatric brain tumors, but also an awareness of the lack of funding allocated for pediatric brain cancer research; and
• to provide financial support to St. Jude, where Sophie was treated, and to other viable organizations committed to the treatment and cure of pediatric brain cancer.

Our paperwork is submitted and now we wait. Hopefully with the connections we have, we will be able to get this pushed through sooner than later. Regardless of how long it takes, we will continue to plan for the race and pursue our mission.

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 30th at 7:30pm at Swingos Grand Tavern in Avon Lake. Everyone is invited, and we'd love your input and help, even if you were not able to attend the first meeting. We want to thank Swingos for providing us with appetizers and for allowing us to use their meeting space, and for accommodating the greater number of people that we thought were coming without blinking a eye. We cannot say enough good things about Swingos. They are truly committed to the community!

More information on the run/walk will be coming on the new website. We are still working on some last minute details with the registration form and the online registration link, so bear with us while we make the last few changes.

Once you are able to register online, you will see that you have the option of telling your friends and family about the cause for which you are running/walking and asking them to consider sponsoring you and your efforts, in order to raise additional money for our cause. We know this will continue to bring Smiles to Sophie FOREVER. Even though we know that pediatric brain cancer "won't make you smile."

Again, you will soon be able to read all the race details on the website and access the registration form as they become available, but in the meantime, here are a few answers to some questions we have been asked.

The race will start and end at the Walker Road Park in Avon Lake, Ohio.

This event is for families. There will be a shorter walk for those who are planning on pushing or pulling younger ones in strollers or wagons.

We are planning some super fun and exciting activities for children for after the race, as well as birthday cake for everyone!

In addition, we are currently looking into hotels in the area that might be willing to give us a group discount for the event, so that those who are coming from out of town will have a place to stay. (Thanks all you Cincinnatians and Michiganders!) Stay tuned to the new website for that information as well.

Again, I will post Kristin VanEuwen's information, as she is "heading" up this event. Feel free to contact her with questions, or if you would like to help, or if you have any thoughts or ideas to share. Again, thank you to everyone who has helped already. We fully realize that we could not be doing this without all the help from so many generous volunteers.

I hope you know that by helping us you really will make a difference in the life of a family battling pediatric brain cancer; ideally by helping us fund research for a cure, but if that cure has not been found we will find a way to help the families and ease the burden. We know that with all your help and fundraising efforts, we will one day see a cure for some type of brain cancer, which will in turn lead the way to a cure for all types of cancer.

Kristin VanEuwen: pkvaneuwen@oh.rr.com, 440-781-1179

I talked to the mother of Ashley Boross (another pediatric brain cancer warrior) yesterday. This family lives not far from us in Sheffield Lake. I never really thought that there would be any pain that would compare to losing Sophie, but after talking with yet another mother who is watching her child suffer because of a brain tumor, all those horrible feelings of despair came rushing back. It reaffirmed to me the importance of fighting this fight for all those children afflicted with brain cancer. I started this post on Tuesday, and today is Thursday. I took dinner over to Ashley and her family, so I had the privilege of meeting another fighter. What a sweet girl! Even though she was laying in bed, she was abe to speak to me in such a sweet polite voice. I am honored to have met her and her mother. You can read Ashley's story on at caringbridge.org. Her name is Ashley Boross.

Lastly, one more big thanks to Kristin, Mo and Katy for all they have done in coordinating the run/walk and also to Pete for providing the legal counsel and assisting with the non-profit paperwork. We still have lots to do but they have been vital in the progress we have made so far. We know God has placed these people in our lives for a specific reason, and helping us honor Sophie, and do what she would want us to do, is the best reason of all.

And of course, a special thank-you to Omar Trevino of Dios Design...he is the very generous volunteer who offered to take on building Sophie's new site. His sister is Donna Ferchill of the Jennifer Ferchill Foundation, and both of them have been so kind to offer us their help. We are more than grateful!

As you will see when you first visit the new site, there is a lot of information there. Obviously we had a lot of requests and Omar so wonderfully put our thoughts and visions into this great design. We hope you will love it as much as we do...we couldn't have envisioned a better way to honor our Sweet Sophie Girl!

The picture I posted was taken as we neared the end of radiation at St. Jude...one year ago tomorrow.