LU-ish... The nicest group of dysfunctional assholes this side of Bee Cave.

   Alright guys and gals.  How many of y'all have kids?  Little nieces or nephews?  Grandkids maybe?  Friends with little ones?  Ok good... pretty much everybody.  How about this...How many of you are single parents?  Maybe raised by a single mom?  Perhaps friends with someone who is?  Ok...good [pretends to scribble down notes on a drink napkin].  I'm guessing that we can all raise our hands to one or more of these questions.  Right?  Right.  With that being said...we know how challenging parenting can be... and even more so if you have to do it alone.  We do our best to raise them right and pray that our best is good enough.  If we do our jobs right, they will hopefully grow up to live out the things that we try to instill in them.  We hope they will grow to be respectful, kind, and compassionate.  That they will say please and thank you, and yes sir and yes ma'am.  That they will follow instructions, lead by example, and respect authority. That they will try new things, fight their fears, and always try their hardest.  We hope that they are selfless and always willing to lend a hand.  And we hope that they are good friends, good partners, and good neighbors... always willing to lend a hand no matter the situation.  And...we need to do all this while some days, we are barely holding it together ourselves.

This is where we get to lead by example folks.  This is where we have a chance give back to one of our friends, one of our neighbors, a fellow parent.  Not because we have to and not because it is the Christmas season and that is what you do at Christmas...no.  It is because we want to.  Because it is the right thing to do.  Because we all have the means to help in some way...even if it is only a few dollars.  Because it could have easily been one of us in that car.  And because I know that if I were to ever find myself in that situation... I would forever be grateful for the help that I was given.  That is why we give.  Because it is not about us...it is about them.

I realize that some of you may be reading this and are completely lost right now.  For anyone that is not aware of what happened...
Here is a link to the KVUE article on the accident:
http://www.kvue.com/mobile/article/news/crime/man-charged-in-crash-that-injured-mother-two-children/269-494930478

Now I know some of us have already given.  Some of you have dropped off items or gift cards at one of our 2 drop off locations at McArthur's or Austin Salt Cave, some of us have donated to her GoFundMe , and some of us (me included) have donated directly to her via Paypal at heathergwinn@hotmail.com.  Thank you for those of you who have already done so but I have 1 more favor to ask of you!

Heather had just gone Christmas shopping on Black Friday while she was visiting family for Thanksgiving.  Everything she had bought...everything she had saved for, was in the car at the time of the accident.  On top of suffering through the emotional trauma of the horrible car accident, and the physical injuries that her and her son are still recovering from...there is also the added pressure of having to replace what was lost for Christmas. We thought what better way to bless this family than to go ahead and take at least that stress off of her plate for her. So Melanie and I have been hounding her for days trying to get a Christmas list from her and we finally succeeded.  And by "succeeded" I mean that we pretty much had to pry it out of her and are now questioning whether or not she has a restraining order against us!  She was very uncomfortable and hesitant to give it to us as she did not want to look like she was asking for handouts.  So when you look at the list I would ask that you not question the items or the price point of the items and instead just remember that this is Christmas...it is the one time you get to ask for some of those things.  Shit...my boys are all under 6 and they asked me for a PS4 with a VR package and a dirt bike so... yea.  If you are able to cover an item or 2 yourself... awesome!  Some of you may only be able to put 10.00 towards something...that is fine too.  We would love to pair some people up to split some items and even get a group of people to each chip in a little towards some of the bigger ticket items like the Xbox.

The wish list

8 year old boy:
Bioworld Men's Assassins Creed Laptop Backpack
Under Armour Boys' Storm ColdGear Infrared Dobson ½ Zip Hoodie
Under Armour Boys' Brawler Warm-Up Pants 
Transformers Combiners 5PK - Destructicons Mudslinger 
Xbox One S 1TB console
Forza Horizon 3 - Xbox One
SKINOWN Xbox One Controller Skin
Protective Vinyl Skin Decal Cover for Microsoft Xbox One Console
Xbox One X Stand
Cozmo

4 year old girl:
DreamWorks Trolls Holiday Caterbus
Barbie Dream Horse & Blonde Doll
AWAYTR 3PC - Crystal Cat Ears Hair Hoop Headband

Mom:
Caseology Wavelength Series iPhone 7 Plus
Michael Kors Jet Set Travel Large Logo Wristlet
Ralph Lauren Romance Eau de Parfum Spray for Women, 3.4 Fluid Ounce


Please note that many items have already been purchased for the 4 yo girl which is why her list is a little lighter than the boys.  Also, if the link appears broken or non-existent then the item has already been purchased.  Again...any little bit helps.  Even if you can only put 10.00 towards something...we can match you up with a couple other people to all go in together on a gift.  Let's empty out our change jars and make this Christmas special for this family!

Thanks,
Your unofficial, unrecognized, unpaid, pantsless LU spokesman.