Spring For A Cure Carnival

I am planning a fundraiser for "Children's Tumor Foundation". CTF is a foundation that supports families dealing with Neurofibromatosis. They currently are making great strides and have drugs in clinicial studies. They hold conferences to help and support families, they have a lot of literature available and help the NF community come together and support each other.

There is currently NO cure for NF. Families are left to deal with the devastation it can leave behind. As many of you know Kyle has a brain tumor on his optical nerve. After 13 months of chemo the tumor is only stable and he is permanently blind in his right eye. This has been a tough year and I cant sit by and not do something to help others and to help improve Kyle's future. I have met many amazing mothers who loving are strong for their children. I met a mom with a 5 yr old girl who had to make the incredibly difficult decision to have her daughters leg amputated. I met another mother that didnt get to make a choice. The choice was made for her and after her sons NF turned malignent he was gone in a year after a brave fight.

There is NO cure for the condition that rules the lifes of our children. What will you do to help find a cure.

Please check out http://www.springforacure.blogspot.com/

for more information. The carnival is tentatively set for March 5, 2011. I am in need for volunteers. The carnival itself will run for about 3 hours and then set-up and cleaning. Even if you can only help for a couple hours. Anything and everything will be so appreciated. We are also looking for concession food machines (popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs), Photographers, businesses or groups to sponsor carnival booths, & printing services.

Chemo4Kyle Fundraiser

Our HUGE fundraiser for Kyle is this next weekend. February 26/27 from 7AM-5PM at 238 S. Olive, Mesa, AZ. Come on out we have a wide variety!! Something for everyone. Also search on Craigslist for larger items we have! Please leave a comment or email chemo4kyle@yahoo.com with any questions.

Our 1 bedroom/bath apartment is for rent. I am attaching pics and the description is below. If you know of anyone that needs a place please forward on the information.

1 bed/bath

full size washer/dryer

Storage area

Small back porch area

Built in shelving in closet

Tenant pays electric/trash

couple blocks from Temple, close to downtown Mesa, couple miles from Light rail

Brittney or Bennett 480-325-9034

br_oden@msn.com

Apartment for Rent

Please see our post here http://odensoasis.blogspot.com/2009/06/apartment-for-rent.html for details and pictures.

Amazing Success!!

Our hearts are overwhelmed by the great success we had a couple weekends ago with the fundraiser. We couldn't have done it without our many wonderful family, loved ones, friends and honestly some very giving perfect strangers.

It was a crazy ride getting it organized, accepting donations, trying to sort and price through everything and then the whirlwind that was the sale. It started out in my mind as just a simple yardsale. I myself was gathering things off of freecycle and craigslist to try and gather a few things. Then my sister helped me with a flyer and it took off from there. The sale and donations we received were beyond any expectations I might have had.

Bennett and I would like to offer our sincerest gratitude to everyone who helped make this a success. I know there are people that we will never be able to personally thank as so many people helped, so many in fact that we will never know.

May the Lord bless you and your families for the generosity and kindness you have shown our family in out time of need.

Fundraiser

We are having a fundraiser for Kyle October 9&10th. I am posting the flyer my sister Starr made for it. If you have any questions please let me know.

Christmas in July!

July has arrived with hotter days and we find ourselves trying to stay indoors and think of cooler months. Our family has a few projects to keep us busy. We are excited to share them with you, our family and friends. First up is a service project for the Oncology clinic where Kyle is receiving his weekly chemo treatments. After discussing several options with our Social Worker Gina we decided to make stockings for the clinic for Christmas. I have already started to plan this with my mom. Our goal is to make 100 string quilted stockings by December 1st. My mom has generously donated several boxes of Christmas fabric scraps. We have been ironing & sorting these scraps into pieces that will be easier to work with. I am excited to organize a few service activity nights where we can all come together and work on this wonderful project. We were trying for a date sometime this July but with Mom trying to get Bennett off on his mission I am thinking this wont happen until August and then we will have another one or two in the Fall. So stay tuned for more details. If you would like to get started or think you cant make it to the big activities please let me know and we can arrange to get you some fabric. You can help by sewing, ironing or sorting fabric. All help will be greatly appreciated as our goal of 100 stockings seems like quite the undertaking.

Now our 2nd project is a fundraiser to help offset some of the rising medical bills and expenses. We will be doing a yard sale/bake sale sometime in October. My sister Marian in Utah was going to host one as well but she is afraid she wont have enough time to organize it and pull it off before it gets to cold up there. She is however going to do something, we have kicked around several ideas. So if you are in Utah and would like to help her organize something or paticipate in her fundraiser please contact Marian in Utah. If you do not have her information please let me know and I will get you in contact with her. Now for the one is AZ if you have any items you would like to donate or would like to help with the bake sale or in any other way please let me know. If you have things you have been meaning to get rid of but haven't found the time to take it to goodwill or DI just let us know. Don't get out in that heat when we will come do it for you!

Our family is grateful for all the Lord has blessed us with. Including many wonderful family and friends. Thank you for all the prayers and words of kindness. Thank you to those individuals who have come over to help my family or have offered other assistance. We pray that Kyle will heal in the Lord's time and that we may continue to be blessed with patience and peace during this time.

Love,

The Oden's

Bennett, Brittney & Kyle