NILMDTS Annual Fund Drive

With the Month of October being recognized as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation holds its Annual Fund Drive for six weeks starting in mid-September and ending in October.

President Ronald Reagan enacted Proclamation 5890 in October of 1988 to recognize that each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States alone end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of a newborn child. Reagan stated, "A national observance offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn or newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members... " To read the full Proclamation signed by Reagan, CLICK HERE.

If you are in a place to make even a small contribution to NILMDTS, please know that doing so will continue to allow the organization to provide improved resources, training, communication, and other tools necessary in support of our amazing contingent of professional photographers who provide the gift of free remembrance portraiture to families in need.

Our next project we are working on is an online, interactive webinar version of our Formal NILMDTS Training taught by Co-Founder Sandy Puc' allowing anyone in any country with access to a computer to complete the course online. Donations help make programs like this a reality!


Your Donations Support the Organization in Many Ways -

* By supporting the continued education of our volunteer photographers

* By allowing us to further our outreach to hospitals and hospices across the world

* By offsetting the costs associated with outreach efforts including Formal NILMDTS Traingin Seminars

* By supporting the Family Forum which creates a productive and supportive haven for healing

* By supporting the Photographers' Forum which provides a helpful environment for our member photographers to express their feelings and receive advice on the various issues that they face in this noble work

* By supporting the day to day operations of our Headquarters Offices

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is recognized as an IRS 501(c)3 charitable organization (Tax ID#77-0656322) and your donations are always entirely tax deductible. When you donate, you will receive a thank you card that serves as your receipt as well as an enclosed card you may to send to the family of whomever you made the donation in memory of.

With an average of 2-million hits per month on our web site, imagine if everyone contributed just $5 to the organization!Your donation truly will make a significant difference in the continued success of NILMDTS.

There are several ways that you can donate to NILMDTS today.

The first and easiest is to donate through our secure website by clicking here. NILMDTS is run 100% on donations and we truly could not provide the support necessary to our photographer volunteers without the kind generosity of donors like you.

You can also pledge your support through iGive.com, an online shopping portal where a portion of all supported purchases you make online are automatically donated to NILMDTS.

Click here for more information and to register!

You may also send a check to our mailing address:NILMDTS Annual Fund Drive7800 S. Elati St. #111Littleton, CO 80120

What a week

I didn't think this week could get any more loaded, but it just did. I'm in the middle of double wedding weekends, so there's lots to be done there. Plus other sessions that I've done in the meantime.
I also have a booth that I'm trying to get prepared for this Saturday at a Kid's Fair that will be held at the Woodlands Mall. Since I'm shooting a wedding that same day, I have lots of things to coordinate for the people that will be helping me (go team!!)
I'm also still dealing with some computer/software issues since I now have a new computer, printer, and software. A few issues have been resolved, but some still haven't been and it's all slowed me down so much. I have 5 people that I'm calling on for different issues so I'm slowly checking them off, and it's now gone from "Huge problem" to "Manageable inconvenience."
All that said, I knew it would be a long, rough week. But I've just now received a call for NILMDTS since I'm on call today and tomorrow, so I'm heading out for that.
I don't like wishing a day or a week was over because it's time that you can't get back. The time should be treasured and cherished and all that mushy stuff. So I have to just move forward and sleep a little less and be more productive this week.

NILMDTS this week

I wasn't sure how much I was going to blog about this or if I even should or not. But I've thought about it more and I'll share a little bit about it.

To answer a question that was posted, NILMDTS stands for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. I've talked about the organization before on my blog so this may sound familiar.

Taken from the NILMDTS website:

"Pregnancy and birth are miraculous journeys. This amazing time of life is full of mystery, anticipation, joy, hope, and wonder. Feeling the powerful energy of birth and new life, watching as a new family is born unto each other. These things humble and amaze. These are the things that we celebrate when a baby is born."
"But there is another aspect of pregnancy and birth. There is an unexpected place in this journey where some families may find themselves. When a baby dies, a world is turned upside down. There is confusion, sadness, fear, and uncertainty that cannot be explained. There is sorrow where there should have been joy. During this time, it might be impossible for families to know what they might need in order to heal in the future."
"This is the place where the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation gently provides a helping hand and a healing heart. For families overcome by grief and pain, the idea of photographing their baby may not immediately occur to them. Offering gentle and beautiful photography services in a compassionate and sensitive manner is the heart of this organization. The soft, gentle heirloom photographs of these beautiful babies are an important part of the healing process. They allow families to honor and cherish their babies, and share the spirits of their lives."


As a member of the organization, I'm available to my area and surrounding areas. But because Houston is home to the medical center, there are more calls coming from that part of town than other areas. So, several Houston photographers now have days that they are on-call for that area.

This week, I was on call two days, which means that I've made myself available to answer the phone if a call comes in and then to respond to the call. I received two calls.

The first call I received was for a baby that didn't make it. I don't know too much of the details about whether the end result was expected or a surprise or what. We headed out as soon as we could and started a small session for the parents. One of the hard parts is looking at the parents and not knowing what to say to them. There is nothing I can say that will fix anything that has happened or make them feel better. But then I don't want to seem heartless if I don't say anything. It's tough. I just can't even imagine what they were going through.

I received another call for the next day and this baby had been on life support for several days and the parents were having a real hard time with the whole situation. It seems like it's a given to say that a parent would have a hard time with this kind of situation, but that's not always the case, I've learned. But these parents were distraught and having a hard time. It was decided that they wanted to baptize him before taking him off life support that day. I was fine during both sessions about staying strong, but this day, when the mother started crying while holding her son, I started crying.

I don't know how the nurses and doctors do this all the time. I respect their job and ability to deal with it all. And my heart goes out to those parents in this time of grieving.

I realize my words and thoughts may seem all over the place but that's because it's hard to really know what to say about it.

Wednesday Chit Chat

Ok, so I didn't have Monday thoughts these week, and then I started wondering - who cares? So, let's have our weekly chit chat session today, Wednesday.

I feel like talking about music, as is often the case. I was driving home tonight after a meeting with Mike and Amanda (hi!) and I heard a new version of "Zombie", originally by the Cranberries. I didn't figure out who sings this new version, but I started thinking about the Cranberries again. I still have two of their CDs and I still really like them. Their songs are on my itunes playlist, too. There was something unique about her voice and the music they made. No matter what anyone says, they rocked.

P.O.D.'s new album is out, yesterday!!! Ya-hoo!! Ok, does anyone else care, or am I alone here? I've always been a fan of theirs and I'm especially excited about this new album because Marcos is back. There's just a magic to the mix when Marcos is in the group, so I really hope this album lives up to the hype. And you can bet I'll be seeing them in concert when they come.

I've been on call today and yesterday for the Houston Medical Center part of an organization called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. To explain what the organization is about, I found this on their website:

Pregnancy and birth are miraculous journeys. This amazing time of life is full of mystery, anticipation, joy, hope, and wonder. Feeling the powerful energy of birth and new life, watching as a new family is born unto each other. These things humble and amaze. These are the things that we celebrate when a baby is born.

But there is another aspect of pregnancy and birth. There is an unexpected place in this journey where some families may find themselves. When a baby dies, a world is turned upside down. There is confusion, sadness, fear, and uncertainty that cannot be explained. There is sorrow where there should have been joy. During this time, it might be impossible for families to know what they might need in order to heal in the future.

This is the place where the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation gently provides a helping hand and a healing heart. For families overcome by grief and pain, the idea of photographing their baby may not immediately occur to them. Offering gentle and beautiful photography services in a compassionate and sensitive manner is the heart of this organization. The soft, gentle heirloom photographs of these beautiful babies are an important part of the healing process. They allow families to honor and cherish their babies, and share the spirits of their lives.

Thankfully, I haven't had a call in these two days, which is always a good thing. I'm happy to be able to use my services to help others and I hope that when I do get a call, I'll be able to do my absolute best for the grieving parents.