small town, iowa

story time. it's kind of a tear jerker in places, so you have been warned.

over the summer my cousin joe and his wife had their second baby, a little boy named Brekin. they found out over the course of the pregnancy that little baby Brekin was going to be born with heart problems that would require surgery. they weren't sure Brekin would even survive the first three months, let alone make it to christmas or through his first surgery. the most adorable baby ever is still alive and his little heart is still beating.

he went through his first surgery in december and made a short visit at the family christmas. he's such a happy little kid and oh so cute too. the chambers of his heart aren't in the right places. his first surgery was a success, but unfortunately poor little Brekin isn't done. He will need either two or three more depending on how successful the next surgery goes.

as you all probably know, surgery isn't cheap. joe and amber are a young family, both are around 30 and both are teachers. both have taught and joe has also coached in the springville school district. over the weekend the town of springville held the Big Hearts for A Little One fundraiser for the family of four. the fundraiser included a soup supper, silent auction, live auction, and dj/dance. over $16,000 and counting was raised just from those four events alone. they're still counting the extra donations people made throughout the night.

over 700 families were fed at the soup supper. who knows if any of you know where springville is or the size of the city, but springville is a little over 1,000 people. the whole town, plus others from various other towns, are here to support them.

i have done a lot of thinking about this over the weekend and i have wondered how successful this would have been if it had been held in cedar rapids. i don't think it would have been as successful. cedar rapids may not be the largest of towns, but it certainly lacks that small town feel that towns like springville have. in a small town everyone knows each other and it's a very close knit community. the small town of springville has warmed the hearts of many with their participation in the Big Hearts for a Little One event.