A single mother of 4 diagnosed with Cancer, she works 2 or 3 jobs at a time. She has twin 4 year old boys as well as 2 older sons age 8 and 10 She no longer receives financial help from the father. She struggles with her health and her bills and wasn’t going to celebrate Christmas this year. The children are only asking for a pair of shoes, nothing else.
A single father who has 2 sons, the mother left and they have no idea where she is. The boys are 7 and 11. His sons are good kids who work hard in school, one has even worked hard enough to receive a full scholarship to a private school here in town. He works hard at 2 jobs but there is rarely anything left over. He was not planning to celebrate the Holidays this year.
A single guardian of a 3 year old girl. The 3 year old is the daughter of a relative. The woman took her in as her own when no one else wanted her, to keep her from the foster system and out of her drug abusing biological mothers home. She was severely neglected for the first part of her life. Her guardian works hard, but was struggling to find a way to celebrate the holidays. Their christmas “wish list” consists of warm pajamas, fire wood, socks and underwear.
I could keep going, I have several more. These are the families, the stories, that have captured my heart over the past few weeks. They are the families that my Non-Profit, SOS, have “Adopted”. They are the reason I had no time to post my Monday “Gratitude” post this week {SO SORRY}. Its true, I am obsessed. Ask my husband or anyone who sees me regularly. I AM COMPLETELY OBSESSED. When we started this program we committed to taking 5 families. We are at nearly 20 families now. TWENTY. I still cannot believe it. I am amazed by my team {Fabi, Amanda and Vanessa you guys are the best} and how much we have taken on in such a short time. The way each one of you follow your heart makes me just ecstatic. To watch these women sacrificing time they don’t have and loving these families, most that we have never met, is the kind of thing that can catch ones soul. I cannot eat or sleep without these families in my head and in my heart. It might be awhile till I am back writing. But just know that I am working hard and loving even harder.
The support and outreach from our community has been incredible.We have raised over $5000 in just a few short weeks. In addition, numerous gifts for children from our Wishlist on Amazon have been purchased and donated. This is a community that knows how to take care of each other. We are so humbled to be able to be a part of this project and a part of this community.
So I managed to step away from this recent obsession just long enough to let you know that I am ok. I’ll be back soon.
XOXO
Allison
catching souls 
No worries for Monday, I will fill it with my words in this little post to say that my gratitude goes to you and Amanda and the rest of the SOS team. You can take a girl out of Sonoma, but you can’t take Sonoma out of the girl. I was so excited to be a part of your first annual adopt-a-family, even if in a small way. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute. 🙂
Kristin, Thank you for forgiving my lack of posting. SO true about being a “Sonoman”! XOXO A