Family in Need

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!

Along the way, Heather and I hear from many people. Some of them become our friends along the way, and people we truly care about. So when they write us and tell us of a tragedy that is affecting their lives, it affects ours as well. Our dear PIOB friend, Tammy wrote recently to tell us that a friend had her home burn completely to the ground. She has four children aged 9-12 years old. There is a set of 9 year old twin boys, a 10 year old boy and a 12 year old girl. They lost everything. Thank God that everyone is safe, but now there are obvious real concerns that they are now facing. The mother stated that her first and foremost concern are clothes for the family, as they simply don't have any. If you are in a position to send along older boys clothes or smaller juniors/womens sizes - please let us know. If you aren't, but may know someone who is, please pass along the message. As Memorial Day is upon us, so many of us are opening our homes for cookouts and parties, celebrating family and friends. Take a moment to reflect what the day might mean without the security of a home....

Happy Memorial Day, friends and thank you to all who have served and the many who have sacrificed their lives defending our home.

In love and kindness,


Email Elizabeth & Heather

A Kinder Moment....

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!

The other morning, I signed on to Facebook to respond to an outstanding email from a friend. One of my neighbor's statuses talked about how that morning she had gone to Starbucks. When she went to pay, the woman told her that the person in the car in front of her had gone ahead and bought her drink. It made her day. So what was she to do? She went ahead and paid for the car in back of her. Paying it forward....The story obviously brightened the day of my neighbor, but I think it did more than that - it brightened the day of everyone who read it. The comments below her status were exclamations of surprise, happiness and excitement. So very cool....

As I was driving my son to school that day, I realized how much others' actions can influence our days. If you've ever been driving and someone cuts you off or yells something or gestures to you - you know that it changes your mood, your outlook. (Or at least it does for me....) For me, it instantly angers me and I have to make a conscience choice to let it go or ignore it...if I don't, I'll be stuck bolstering my actions in my head and convincing myself why I was right....and in doing so, will drag down my mood.

We are social beings, we are not islands. Our actions do influence other people in good ways and in not-so-good ways. I've been influenced by so many people - as I'm sure we all have. I've taken aspects of people's personalities that I really admire and tried to make them my own....some habits, wonderful ways people have made me feel...simple kindnesses that others have shown me. I also spent plenty of time remembering aspects of people's personalities that made me feel badly and using it as a lesson on how to treat others. I may not be able to change those people, but I sure can remember how badly their actions and behaviors made me feel and make sure not to replicate them.

That morning, my neighbor's status reminded me of how easy it is to take a simple action of kindness and influence someone's day in a positive way. I needed it. I get so wrapped up in what I need to do next that I forget that that's really all the insignificant stuff. It will all get done, or it won't. Regardless, next week or next month - it won't matter. Yet the moments that someone gave of themselves to make your day just a little brighter....you'll remember. Those moments are the ones that matter.

When Heather and I started PIOB, we knew that there was great power in each box that someone received. Each box had the power to change someone's perspective or point of view. No one ever knows what moment of kindness is going to impact another person....whether it's now or in retrospect.

Sometimes I write these blogs and feel that I giving a lecture, when the truth is that I'm really talking about something that my own spirit needs to hear. I spend so much time in the theme of my life "rush, rush, rush"...that these moments that I carve out to sit and think about PIOB and what I've learned from it or in life mean so very much to me. They remind me to take the moments as they come and to think through my actions. To reflect, to listen to my spirit, to think about the person I am becoming....and whether or not I'd want her to be my friend. To learn from my mistakes and to truly become wise with age....gentler, not as much in a hurry and less concerned with the inconsequential stuff of life.....

Have a wonderful, beautiful week....

In love and kindness,


Email Elizabeth & Heather

Peace. Love. Swap!

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!


We know that there are many other wonderful organizations helping clothe family and children in need besides Pass It On, Baby! but it's hard to always know who's out there. Until somehow, someone searching to help others miraculously comes across your similar organization. That was the case with a special woman named Meg that contacted us recently about her non-profit called peace. love. swap. She wanted to donate any leftover clothing items from her swaps to our organization to help those in need. 

Peace. Love. Swap. is a large-scale local community swap for maternity, baby, kid, teen and gear! Their mission is to keep gently used baby, kids, and maternity items out of the landfills and to donate to local charities by producing fun, affordable, family-friendly, swaps on a regular basis. Here is a recent blog written by Meg about her organization.

You can barely open up a magazine or read a blog today without finding something about “clothing swaps”, “swap parties” or swap websites.  Although clothing swaps have been around awhile, they are becoming increasingly popular due to the “green” movement and a lagging economy.  The idea is the same in most cases – get together (in person or online) and exchange your unwanted stuff for stuff that is “new” to you.  It’s green, because you are reusing instead of buying new, it’s easy on your pocketbook because nothing is for sale – only trade, and a lot of times it’s helping others out because leftovers go to charities. 

I have 3 kids (15, 5 & 2) and one on the way.  I know how expensive it can be to buy new things for my kids all the time. I also know how much waste it creates – between the shipping, packaging & getting rid of the old stuff.  I had always tried to shop consignment and sometimes at thrift stores, but after awhile, I realized I was taking in a lot of stuff and barely getting any credit to spend other “new” things.  Many times, consignment stores or sales won’t even take certain things, so I ended up taking my stuff to places like Goodwill or Salvation Army to donate.  I have also done the swap, sell, trade thing online.  I just really didn’t have time to take pictures of all my things, post & go through all the emails, and wait for someone to show up.   I had been to a clothing swap before, and felt like it was a concept that needed to be tweaked to accommodate moms and dads that constantly have kid stuff to get rid of.  So, I created peace. love. swap.  It’s the only organization that produces and supports Kid’s Clothing and Gear swaps on a regular basis.  They aren’t small “swap parties” where you invite some of your friends and exchange stuff – these are large scale – 50-100 moms and dads that get together regularly at family friendly venues like gymnastics centers and indoor play places, and bring in all their unwanted baby, kid & maternity items (clothes and gear), and then take whatever they want.  Families can bring in as much or as little as they want – and take what they need.  We only ask that they bring it back for someone else when their kids are done with the stuff. 

Right now we do the swaps in 10 cities in California, and have more starting up all the time.  We have 2 out-of-state ones coming in late spring/early summer.  We are dedicated to helping moms and dads all over the country get one started in their own community.  We truly believe these events are beneficial to everyone involved.  peace. love. swap kid’s clothing & gear swaps are eco-friendly, recession friendly, and since all of our leftovers go to charity- we are very community friendly too.  If you would like more information about peace. love. swap, please go to our website www.peaceloveswap.com or email peaceloveswap@gmail.com .  

What a fabulous in-expensive way to help out your local community and get the items you need for your family as well. What's so great about this swap is that whatever is left gets donated through organizations like PIOB to continue helping as many families as possible.

If you would like to start a PIOB/PLS swap in your area, let us know. Here is some additional information on how the swap works. Here is how to get started. Who knows how this could grow. A joint PIOB/PLS swap could not only help your family and community but the leftovers you have could be sent through Pass It On, Baby! to a wonderful family in need. Maybe there's even a small donation of $1-$2 for each person that attends to help pay for the shipping these boxes of items to the families in need. Let us know if your interested. In the meantime, we LOVE the idea of the "pls" event and hope you too will pass along this to those you know.

Happy swapping, sharing and donating!

In love and kindness,

Email Elizabeth and Heather 

Marathon Moment...

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!

As you can see from our most recent posts, Heather has been awesome about picking up the slack from me while I did the 1/2 marathon and committed to all the running that goes in to the race...and for non-runners - it's a lot! =) My half-marathon happened in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend. I've been training for it since late February and prior to the beginning of the training, thought a 3 mile run was a HUGE run for me. I trained with an amazing group of girls that have become some of my closest friends...and the race day was bittersweet for us as it meant the end of our training together and the end of a long road of dedication. At the same time, it was such a happy time. My dad ran his first 5K at the race, my friends were pumped and it was "do-it-or-die" time....we hadn't trained for these months to quit or fail now. So, we all met at my house, got excited (my poor neighbors can attest to that at 6am!) and drove to the race.

As we pulled closer to the race, we were shocked at just how many people were there. There were people of all shapes and sizes, ages, etc. Some were walking or running for themselves, some for others -- but regardless, there was this excitement in the air. Everyone was pumped. Everyone knew that this was their moment. There were some minor inconveniences like the rain or my not knowing how to line up...but when the race began, you could do give your best or not. Plain and simple.

Because I've trained with these girls, I rarely run with music. I talk to them and it's our social hour or hours...depending on the day. When the running gets tough, we get quiet and I have plenty of time to reflect on anything and everything. My partner that ran the race side by side with me and I started out pretty quick. We were darting in and out of people and there was happiness and excitement all around us. As the miles passed, people were quieter, more focused. The happiness and excitement was a little less because the novelty of the race and the adrenaline had passed, and we were working each mile. I passed a friend struggling due to an injury who wasn't sure how the race was going to end up for her and we passed many people who began to walk parts of the race. As we continued, we saw people who were injured, tired, sick and disheartened. By this time, my friend and I were more quiet and focused as well and the random thought that this marathon was a heck of a lot like life began to take shape. There were people at all stages of this race -- some getting by with seemingly no trouble, some barely making it. Some doing it completely on their own, others relying on people to get them through. Some cheering others along...I think you get it. It seemed so clear to me at that moment. This whole setting a goal and working toward achieving it. Doing what you are unsure can be done. It was all so much like our day to day life.

The race continued and as the miles remaining became less and less, I wanted to pick up the pace and give this race my all. But that was when my friend hit a wall. I tried with all the encouraging talk that I could muster, but she was tired and starting to become mentally beaten. I remember saying, "We only have 3 more miles to go and that's nothing to us anymore." She said, "It's still three more miles and my body just can't go..." And then a stranger came up and said, "Think of it as two. The last mile is cheers and fanfare, so you won't feel that one. I've been there before plenty of times...just think of it as two." I looked around and started paying attention to the atmosphere once again. There were so many cheering along the side, but within the race itself, the runners were cheering each other along. It was like we all wanted to make it, but to help everyone else make it too. Just like life, the other person accomplishing their goal took nothing away from anyone else. We were all in this together, yet with all of our own goals and hopes.

My friend rebounded. She kicked butt. =) We both did. And at the end of this, we realized that these three months had meant a lot more than had ever anticipated. We weren't ready to let them go yet. We didn't feel like the road was quite at its end for us.....

So come October, three of the four of us are running the full marathon. We expect to feel the same excitement, learn some more lessons and enjoy the others running the race....whether its a marathon or simply just life in general.

In love and kindness,


Email Elizabeth & Heather

Update on Landyn & Larsyn

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!


Almost exactly 1 year ago, we received quite an emotional and moving email from a little family expecting twins (a little girl and a little boy). Sadly, the little boy had been diagnosed with a terminal birth defect called Alobar Holoprosencephaly (when the brain doesn't separate during the first 4-6 weeks of gestation). The mother of these two beautiful twins was obviously devastated and had a very difficult time preparing for the birth of only 1 of her beloved babies. By the grace of God, she was directed to Pass It On, Baby! Our community was able to help provide her little girl with clothes and help ease the burden of shopping for only one child. This family's original story is linked here for you to read.

Well, it's been some time and this family had an update to share. Please read the ever evolving and beautiful story of Landyn & Larsyn as the mother (Shanna) shares a little of her reminiscing on her one year anniversary of finding out about her little boy Landyn.

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 12:06 PM, CDT

So today a year ago was when our lives changed. And we started counting our daily blessings.
 This day is forever burned into my memory, frame by frame, word by word. As we are having our ultrasound checking for what we thought could have been Downs Syndrome, only a 1 in 118 chance according to my triple screen. As the ultrasound tech is measuring baby A, Landyn, he is just a few days shy of Baby B, Larsyn, she gets to his head and Says" I just cant get a correct measurement on baby A, let me let the Dr. take a look at these. She never returned. As we waited in the room, I prayed as hard as I ever had, I knew something was terribly wrong. Then the Dr. walked in and Said ," I am sorry , it seems that baby A has Alobar Holopresencephaly, a condition that is incompatible with life, being he is Baby A , I would recommend you selectivly reduce this pregnancy to save Baby B, if you don't do this the likely hood of you carrying these babies to term is very slim and you could lose both of them. By then my mind is going crazy, I cant think straight and I get up and leave the room. I went to the restroom because I had to get away from the negativity of the Dr. to hear your baby is not compatible with life and is not worth giving him a chance made me furious, no matter what Landyn had, I knew he would have a chance and this DR, was wrong !!I collected myself, went back into the room and told him I agreed with the diagnosis did not agree with the treatment he recommended, it was up to God and I wanted a second opinion.
As we left I prayed and cried , my heart was breaking and mostly dreading telling 3 little girls that had been so excited to finally have brother,  that their brother was sooo special that God has chosen him to be one of his Angels and that we would only have a short time with him.
God instantly granted Keith and I the strength to go home and tell the girls and keep it together. The start of multiple miracles and blessing in our lives ! God is Good ! 

We are so blessed and humbled to read and share this story with you. We are glad that we can continue to share their story. 

In love and kindness,

Email Elizabeth & Heather