A New Thirty-One Gifts Giveaway!

Last October, I introduced you to Courtney. If you are new here, she is an amazing mom with three kids: her daughter has epilepsy, another daughter has heart defects, and her son has a whole host of issues that they are trying to diagnose and treat. Oh, and Courtney herself has had cancer three times. Holy cow.

Courtney is a Thirty-One Gifts consultant, and when I originally introduced you to her, she was just starting out. She started selling in an effort to keep up with her son's rising medical bills that insurance was refusing to cover. Several of you stepped up and purchased some items from her to help. Aw, I have the best readers!

That brings us up to today! She contacted me a couple of months ago and asked if I was interested in running another Thirty-One Gifts giveaway and also providing an update on her son, Zach:

Since the last giveaway, Zach's medical issues haven't changed much. He isn't better, but at least hasn't gotten much worse. They have successfully found one diagnosis for him, Graves Disease, and are still trying to find others. He now wears a painful chest brace for 20-23 hours a day to help with his chest deformity, but unfortunately it puts an intense strain on his breathing and asthma issues. And that doesn't help with the heart problems he is also dealing with. 

Over Christmas, Courtney pulled Zach from school and began homeschooling him. With his medical issues, he was missing class and falling behind. Being homeschooled gives him the flexibility of online learning which he needs as they don't know what each day will bring. Although his issues have caused him to fall behind, they have a plan in place to try to get him graduated on time with his class. He will be a Junior in the fall. 

They were thrilled to be able to purchase a riding lawn mower for Zach to use around the neighborhood. They wanted him to be able to have a job, make money, and experience the accomplishments that normal teenagers experience. Although he is unable to walk much and has a weak immune system, this seems like the perfect fit as he can sit the whole time and stay away from other potentially sick people. Courtney and her husband will fill in for him when he is too sick to get out of bed. He's also working on getting his driver's license. It's slow going, but he is determined to get it one day! 

Courtney and Zach are still working with specialists at Kansas University Medical Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, and St. Jude's Children's Hospital. The specialists are trying to figure out how all the puzzle pieces of Zach's medical issues fit together, but since they don't know yet, they are continuing to treat individual symptoms. Sadly, they know that time is running out before Zach gets worse, so it's a race against time to figure out what is going on. For now, the next big things on his plate are surgery on his legs that will leave him casted for 3-6 months, and another series of surgeries to help with his scoliosis.

Courtney wanted to thank you all for continuing to pray for her son as well as the rest of her family. They certainly still need it as there aren't many more answers than what they had last year. I love what she said in her email to me, "Right now, we are just enjoying the blessings we have. As scary as everything is, especially not knowing what is wrong or what the prognosis is, we focus on what God has provided and our faith in God continuing to provide."

She has an amazing faith in a situation where I know I would really struggle to stay strong and trust God. I love the community of readers we have built here, and appreciate each of you so much for the care that you show to other readers without having even met them! Best. Readers. Ever!

So with that update, let's move on to the giveaway!

~Giveaway~

This year, Courtney is giving away an even bigger prize that what she offered last year. This year, one reader will win a set of three products:

1 Large Utility Tote in the Fun Flops Print. The Fun Flops Print is exclusive to June only!

1 Top-a-Tote in Grey. The Top-a-Tote can zip directly into the top of the Large Utility Tote protecting anything inside and providing a little extra space in the top.

1 Thermal Zipper Pouch in Island Damask. Perfect for packing lunch and throwing it in your Large Utility Tote for later. :)

To enter the giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. The first two tasks are not optional and must be completed to qualify for this giveaway. If you choose the "anonymous option" to comment, please at least include your first name and first letter of your last name. It's impossible to verify comment entries without names! The additional entry tasks are optional. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.

As we did last year, I'm including an additional option that will earn your 10 extra entries for purchasing something through Courtney to help with Zach's medical expenses. There is no minimum purchase required to earn the extra entries as anything helps! A purchase is NOT required to enter and win the giveaway, but if you do choose to help them in this way, please make sure that you go through the "A Beautiful Ruckus" party link. That is the only way we have of verifying entries. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, June 25th. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email on Wednesday, June 26th. The winner(s) will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. A Beautiful Ruckus is not responsible for the delivery of the prize and is not responsible if the sponsor does not deliver. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. A Beautiful Ruckus received complimentary item(s) for review in exchange  for hosting this giveaway from Courtney Rice, Independent Senior Consultant, Thirty-One Gifts. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Last October, I introduced you to Courtney. If you are new here, she is an amazing mom with three kids: her daughter has epilepsy, another daughter has heart defects, and her son has a whole host of issues that they are trying to diagnose and treat. Oh, and Courtney herself has had cancer three times. Holy cow.

Courtney is a Thirty-One Gifts consultant, and when I originally introduced you to her, she was just starting out. She started selling in an effort to keep up with her son's rising medical bills that insurance was refusing to cover. Several of you stepped up and purchased some items from her to help. Aw, I have the best readers!

That brings us up to today! She contacted me a couple of months ago and asked if I was interested in running another Thirty-One Gifts giveaway and also providing an update on her son, Zach:

Since the last giveaway, Zach's medical issues haven't changed much. He isn't better, but at least hasn't gotten much worse. They have successfully found one diagnosis for him, Graves Disease, and are still trying to find others. He now wears a painful chest brace for 20-23 hours a day to help with his chest deformity, but unfortunately it puts an intense strain on his breathing and asthma issues. And that doesn't help with the heart problems he is also dealing with. 

Over Christmas, Courtney pulled Zach from school and began homeschooling him. With his medical issues, he was missing class and falling behind. Being homeschooled gives him the flexibility of online learning which he needs as they don't know what each day will bring. Although his issues have caused him to fall behind, they have a plan in place to try to get him graduated on time with his class. He will be a Junior in the fall. 

They were thrilled to be able to purchase a riding lawn mower for Zach to use around the neighborhood. They wanted him to be able to have a job, make money, and experience the accomplishments that normal teenagers experience. Although he is unable to walk much and has a weak immune system, this seems like the perfect fit as he can sit the whole time and stay away from other potentially sick people. Courtney and her husband will fill in for him when he is too sick to get out of bed. He's also working on getting his driver's license. It's slow going, but he is determined to get it one day! 

Courtney and Zach are still working with specialists at Kansas University Medical Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, and St. Jude's Children's Hospital. The specialists are trying to figure out how all the puzzle pieces of Zach's medical issues fit together, but since they don't know yet, they are continuing to treat individual symptoms. Sadly, they know that time is running out before Zach gets worse, so it's a race against time to figure out what is going on. For now, the next big things on his plate are surgery on his legs that will leave him casted for 3-6 months, and another series of surgeries to help with his scoliosis.

Courtney wanted to thank you all for continuing to pray for her son as well as the rest of her family. They certainly still need it as there aren't many more answers than what they had last year. I love what she said in her email to me, "Right now, we are just enjoying the blessings we have. As scary as everything is, especially not knowing what is wrong or what the prognosis is, we focus on what God has provided and our faith in God continuing to provide."

She has an amazing faith in a situation where I know I would really struggle to stay strong and trust God. I love the community of readers we have built here, and appreciate each of you so much for the care that you show to other readers without having even met them! Best. Readers. Ever!

So with that update, let's move on to the giveaway!

~Giveaway~

This year, Courtney is giving away an even bigger prize that what she offered last year. This year, one reader will win a set of three products:

1 Large Utility Tote in the Fun Flops Print. The Fun Flops Print is exclusive to June only!

1 Top-a-Tote in Grey. The Top-a-Tote can zip directly into the top of the Large Utility Tote protecting anything inside and providing a little extra space in the top.

1 Thermal Zipper Pouch in Island Damask. Perfect for packing lunch and throwing it in your Large Utility Tote for later. :)

To enter the giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. The first two tasks are not optional and must be completed to qualify for this giveaway. If you choose the "anonymous option" to comment, please at least include your first name and first letter of your last name. It's impossible to verify comment entries without names! The additional entry tasks are optional. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.

As we did last year, I'm including an additional option that will earn your 10 extra entries for purchasing something through Courtney to help with Zach's medical expenses. There is no minimum purchase required to earn the extra entries as anything helps! A purchase is NOT required to enter and win the giveaway, but if you do choose to help them in this way, please make sure that you go through the "A Beautiful Ruckus" party link. That is the only way we have of verifying entries. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, June 25th. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email on Wednesday, June 26th. The winner(s) will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. A Beautiful Ruckus is not responsible for the delivery of the prize and is not responsible if the sponsor does not deliver. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. A Beautiful Ruckus received complimentary item(s) for review in exchange  for hosting this giveaway from Courtney Rice, Independent Senior Consultant, Thirty-One Gifts. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.