I want to send a HUGE thank you and all the HUGS my arms could possibly give--to all the children who wrote letters, made cards and sent pictures to the Sandy Hook Elementary School children!!  You sweet, wonderful and incredibly thoughtful children!  My eyes filled with tears as I read your letters and felt of your sincere love and friendship for those you have not ever met, but feel a bond and kinship for!  Your words of comfort and hope will touch lives far beyond what you will ever know!  Heaven is smiling on you!  There are many thankful Angels today, and your prayers in their behalf are being answered!  

All our love and thanks!  --Angel Brycen and his proud mother Alicia Burrell 

Sandy Hook Elementary Blanket Donations

I finally had a chance this morning to sort through and count all the blankets..and I'm SO excited to say that we are up to 404 blankets!!  You all are simply, and fantastically INCREDIBLE!!  We have only 196 left to meet our goal, which I know we can do!!  100 beautiful blankets are set aside to go to the families of Sandy Hook, so the siblings of those beautiful angels will feel comfort as well! --then we have 300 (soon to be 500!!), that will be going to selected charities in the honor of Brycen's Blankets and the Angels of Sandy Hook Elementary! I have chosen 3 charities thus far, and once I receive the remaining blankets, I will select 2 more wonderful homes for your blankets to be placed!!  Please continue your support so we can reach our goal soon!  
Our Selected Charities are:

1.  Mountain View Funeral Home and Cemetery:  This is where we (Brycen) chose to be buried.  It is a beautiful cemetery, and so peaceful!  There's always lots of birds singing, and bunnies playing near the babies.  The Director, Clint Fontaine, was SO kind and generous to us!  Many services were donated to our family, including the plot spaces for Johnathan and I, so we could be with our little Bubba.  In considering this choice, we felt that a cemetery and funeral home would be one of the very first places notified when a tragedy occurred--they have first access to family members during that time.  Because of privacy, many families are difficult to reach, but I have found that we can contact the funeral home and have them give the blankets to children of the families during those difficult times.  

2.   Sunshine Acres:  In Memory of Alexis Reddy: This sweet Angel passed away May 31, 2011 from similar circumstances as Brycen.  Her mother has become a beautiful Angel Mother friend of mine who is currently living in Wales.  Alexis' family sought to reach out through their grief and found this organization in which "they were able to fulfill the Christmas wish lists of all 67 children from Sunshine Acres." "Sunshine Acres is a faith-based facility, which is a registered charitable organization, has been home to 1,600 children in need since 1954.  Sunshine Acres serves children ages 5-14 whose families may be facing such issues as homelessness and medical problems, or whose parents are dealing with substance abuse, rehabilitation or incarceration. 

3.  Child Crisis Center in Mesa, AZ. :  Their mission is to strive for "Strong Families, Safe Kids".  The Child Crisis Center is committed to preventing child abuse and neglect. They accomplish this by supporting and strengthening families through education and intervention, by providing a safe environment for children to heal, and by recruiting, training and supporting foster and adoptive families.  

 

Blankets For Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy

     The past few days have been such difficult ones for me, as I have watched the events of our young children and families in New Port Connecticut change forever by one senseless, and horrific act.  When I heard the victims were young children, I knelt on my knees and prayed, through sobs, for hours!  The tragic loss of our own precious son has given me an empathy and understanding beyond what words can convey.  Although I know there is nothing that can relieve their pain and sorrow during this early time of grieving, I do know, from personal experience, that the gifts of love and compassion sent by others are appreciated, welcome, and often the source of great healing in the days and months to come.  
     For this reason, "Brycen's Blankets" will be donating fleece blankets to not only the families of those precious angels who have returned home along side of their valiant and noble teachers, but the entire school of Sandy Hook Elementary.  Each and every child experienced something on December 14th, 2012 that will be forever in their memories and will require the help of many professionals, church and community leaders for years to come, in order to provide the healing and recovery necessary.  There are 600 students at Sandy Hook, so this will be a great endeavor; one that I can absolutely guarantee will yield beautiful and wonderful blessings for all those who participate!!  From now until December 31st, you can drop off any fleece blanket donations to my home at 4100 East Meadow Lark Way, San Tan Valley, AZ. 85140.  Any pictures or cards from your families would also be VERY welcome!!  At this sacred holiday, let us remember that Christ is the real reason for Christmas--to honor Him, let us be like Him; His greatest love is for His precious small children.  They are hurting and grieving now--let us help them heal and give a gift of love and comfort!  Thank you, thank you!  Blessings await you!  Have a Sacred and Holy Christmas!  From the Burrell Family to yours!  
There will be a box in front of our home, beginning on Tuesday, December 17th, where blankets and cards may be placed at any time.  Feel free to call, text, or e-mail any questions you might have!  The blankets should be sizes for children ranging in ages from 5 to 12 years, with prints that coordinate for male or female.  They can be Christmas, or regular prints. 
Contact Information:
Alicia A. Burrell
4100 East Meadow Lark Way, San Tan Valley, AZ. 85140
Home Phone: (480) 882-3990   
Text: (480) 772-7790
                                                                                                       

Blanket Donations At Their Best!!

Today I met a wonderful lady named Jackie. She, along with other women, have been making blankets to take to local children's hospitals. Recently, these women have needed to find a home for their material, as they can no longer keep up with the demands these blankets take on their already stressed time. I am HAPPY to say that Jackie contacted me and SO sweetly donated ALL the fabric to "Brycen's Blankets"!! YIPEE!!! After sorting through all the material, I have found that there is more than enough fabric to make 100 + beautiful blankets!! I'm SO excited!! If you are wondering how you can help, this is a perfect way!! Thank you, thank you sweet women who donated all this wonderful material!! It will be wisely used, and in the hands of loving children very soon!! All of my love and appreciation to you for your generosity!

Amazing girl doing GREAT things!

This was a letter I received recently from a Senior named Samantha. I hope it will inspire others to remember what their goals and aspirations for the future are, and to find the strength and courage to act on those goals!

Hello,

I am Samantha ----- I am senior at Centennial High School in Peoria, AZ. I, one day want to be a doctor because I have always believed in helping people. I am doing a huge thing for my senior project on Universal Health Care in America. I have to do a project in occurrence with it and I would like my project to do with Brycen's Blankets. I wanted to talk to you about it first and I was hoping that you could give me some more information about why you are doing this and why your amazing family is helping out so many others across the world. I want to make a change one day and I hope that this will give me good foundation. I plan on making at least 30 blankets with my class and sending them to you a long with a documentary of this that I will be presenting among judges to pass my English 101 class. Thank you so much. I hope you have a great day.

Meet Brycen

Brycen was born December 31, 2007. It was apparent from the moment he entered the world, that he intended to be seen and heard! Brycen was an answer to my prayers, and is so loved and cherished in our home among his other brother and sisters! He was definitely my challenge; always in the sink, toilet bowl, backyard hose, my makeup, paints, or any other seemingly exciting messy adventure! Brycen has beautiful blond, curly hair. It was the source of much laughter on several occasions! We often remarked about our "mad scientist", because when he awoke in the morning it would be matted in the funniest shapes, and we would all laugh when he walked out to greet us! How I loved running my hands through his curls! It always made me smile! Brycen never walked; he bounced! We nick-named him "Tigger", after the treasured and timeless childhood classics of Winnie The Pooh. Infact, right now there is a Tigger nestled right next to him! We purchased one for him, to keep him company on his many new adventures, and one for us so we could continue to remember our bouncing little boy as we continue on our journey here. Though his time with us was so very short, my heart could tell you volume after volume! The way his cheeks dimple when he smiles, how his eyes sparkle and shine; how he is all boy and loves to play rough and tumble! How he would run to the door with arms stretched up high, in anticipation of the loved one coming home! How he loved playing with his brother and sisters; especially little McKenzie (they were always partners in crime!) How he explored every possible messy endeavor! How he loved his daddy so! (mommy would do in a pinch, but daddy was always best)! and how he loved to have mommy sing him to sleep at night; and how mommy loved to cuddle and snuggle her perfect, blonde haired, blue-eyed angel!!

I do not speak of Brycen in "past-tense". To our little family he is still very active and very much a part of our every day activities! We pray for him every morning and every night. We talk about our memories and what we are looking forward to doing when we see him again--We have a lot of fun and exciting plans!! Our family now has our very own little angel who is guiding and protecting us from Heaven. We believe in life beyond what we can physically see, and we are working to be a family that will live and love together for eternity! We love our precious "Bubba", and hope to continue to become a family he will be proud to be a part of!