"Life doesn't always go as planned. Help others anyway."

Some of you may remember this post where I mentioned Bella and her mom, Jenny. Jenny is a mom friend I found through the blogging world, and Bella, like Jackson, was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. It's wonderful to find someone in the world who can relate to what you are walking through (mountains of surgeries, doctors appointments and therapy). It somehow makes the world not feel as completely lonely and isolating. I have been thankful for Jenny; from the occasional email to blog comments, I have found a friend, someone to vent with or to laugh with at the crazy things people can say.

I have just been introduced to Life Rearranged. For more about what Life Rearranged is all about, see F.A.Q.'s. Every 2 weeks, Jeannett from Life Rearranged hosts a guest blogger. This blogging mama will share her story and choose a charity to fundraise for. It just so happens that Jenny is today's guest blogger and Jenny has chosen Jackson's Smile! On top of that, there's a giveaway with 2 winners! I was considering posting the whole blog post here because it's just that good, but I really want ya'll to see what Life Rearranged is all about. So I'm just going to post the first bit of Jenny's post, so if you want to finish reading, you'll have to go HERE.

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{Jenny Fugler} Love at First Sight

I was in college when I saw a woman whom I considered truly ugly. Her face was grotesquely deformed and discolored; her hair, unruly and frizzed out; her skin complexion was bumpy and dry. I never knew her, we just happened to be studying at the same bookshop downtown. Unable to keep from staring from a distance, I felt such deep pity, as I could only imagine what her life must be like: solitude, no prospective husband or life with children, rude stares and comments undeniably. For the first time in my life, I asked God sincerely, “Why would You make someone suffer through life that way? If You could have prevented her deformities, which You could have, why didn’t You?” The question burned in the back of my mind for the next couple days. What was the point in allowing deformities and sickness and diseases invade our bodies? Wouldn’t it just be easier, less hurtful, if everyone could be normal and beautiful, or at least simple to look at? Another rendition of the age-old question, “If God is good, then why does He permit evil?”
Fast forward three years. My husband and I sit in the doctor’s office at Maternal Fetal Medicine, waiting to hear the news if indeed our in-utero daughter has developed a cleft lip and palate, or not...

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Thank you Jenny and Jeannett for sharing your lives with us.