Awe, still soaking in all the love that surrounded us yesterday and feeling so blessed and empowered to move forward with the work of Soul with such compassion enveloping the day. Who would have believed it would be sunny in February? Today as I sat in the office I could see that anyone who walked by stopped in their tracks to view the prayer flags, I have to tighten them up a bit tomorrow as the rain has caused them to sag a bit but they are stunning. The photos will hang maybe one more day and I will miss my friends as they are taken out of view, another goodbye to some amazing angels.
It may be hard to thank everyone who made this celebration possible but let me start with the fact that we are thrilled that Nintendo stepped forward to cover the costs of the day and to Drugstore.com for providing two more beautiful raffle baskets in addition to the ones that our board members created. We are excited that Drugstore.com has agreed to help us with such things in the future.
I will start with our speakers: Mark Power, my friend and mentor who is the chaplain for the Pediatric Advanced Care at Children's, Nayer who is a hospice chaplain who works with our friends Charlotte and Chris and other Soul families, Cantor David Serkin-Poole of Temple B'nai Torah who is a long time friend of mine, and Mick Berbarian, Baptist Minister and beloved family friend.
The musicians hit the mark, each act giving their talent in ways that thrilled all of us in attendance. My heartfelt thanks to all of you for taking your precious time and your unbelievable talent and sharing it with us: The Landa sisters, featuring our own administrator, Sarah and her sisters, Elle Scott, client and friend, Dawnelle DeMarco and Greg Johnson, friends and Soul volunteers extraordinaire, Byron Vannoy trio, featuring Soul dad Byron on drums, Danny Godinez, guitarist and friend of board member Angie, and Kim Virant and Mike McCready, friends and Soul supporters who have offered to do another benefit concert like the one the Jimmy Hendrix tribute they did at the Tractor Tavern. More info on that once it is all set.


Huge thanks to Babs Glover, Becky Prokop and the 100 artists for the amazing Valentines which were created and sold in support of the work with our families. Babs and Becky created an amazing display and spent hours pulling it all together. Deb Hamby gathered all the cookie bakers and Carla Prousch worked to keep all the refreshments looking beautiful. Thanks to all who helped in so many ways. Dear friends Matt and Sasha from Portland and our neighbor Jeff helped behind the scenes and were amazing in their willingness to lend a hand. Hugs to Kurt, Michael, Randell and Sarah Mattingly for the wonderful photos of the day.


Of course Sarah and Kari were grand in all that it took to keep the services to families moving forward while working to bring the 5Th Anniversary to fruition. I am so thrilled that so many Soul families joined us, now time to think about a little relaxation with my friend Sarah Mattingly, Soul photographer from DC who is with us until tomorrow. In love and peace, Lynette

Its way too early to be awake but that is just how it is when you are expecting a few hundred friends to drop in later today. It was a process to get things ready but now thanks to many the photos are hung, the sound equipment is in place for our speakers and musicians, the Valentine's are displayed so beautifully and our Soul photographer from the East coast, Sarah Mattingly is sleeping upstairs as is our youngest daughter, Llewelyn.

We had a very special visitor yesterday, Eric, father of Emma, who was in Seattle from Hawaii. His wife had read that we were having an event and she emailed to see if he could come by yesterday before he flew home. Sadly his daughter was a victim of the disease Tay Sachs. I spent time with Eric yesterday and we shared many experiences and it was a quiet time to connect.

There is going to be a special magic around this celebration and I am most thankful to Sasha and Matt who drove up from Portland yesterday to be here to join in the festivities but also to help me with some important chores.

After Sally and I had finished hanging the show on Wednesday I was visited by my good friend Monique who brought her dad by on his 86Th birthday to see the work before he flew home to California. "Tito"(pictured here today) was sitting in the studio studying each face and asking questions about various children and adults and you can well imagine that I was talking on and on about my relationships with each one. As I explained that now the work of Soul was in many capable hands and that we have 30 photographers, he said "Its a network that became a community." He also told me that when I speak today I should mention miracles and angels and so I shall. In love and peace, Lynette

As the dawn breaks the words from the old spiritiual "we are standing on holy ground"
keep floating through my head. Here in Ballard the studio is being transformed into a gallery, at Seattle Children's a show hangs for the week with constantly running footage about the work of Soulumination and in Olympia in our capitol building the images hang for all to see who are meeting with our governor. The faces of Soulumination can also hanging at the Starbucks in the Shoreline area. We have two photographers, Kurt and Aaron going out to work with new families on Thursday. Jodi dropped off her latest work yesterday and we will soon have another set of photos taken by Teddi and Cami and we just got a request for a new child on the cancer unit at Seattle Children's.

I received a most amazing email last evening from a family in Hawaii who lost a child to Tay Sachs, the father will be in Seattle this week so it will be our honor to welcome him to the anniversary. It will be especially meaningful to have Sarah Mattingly our Soul photographer from DC here to greet him as she has worked at the past 2 NTSAD conferences and knows that community as well as I do. I was touched to see on Elliott's Caring Bridge site that her family is hoping to be at the next NTSAD conference in April.

The help has been coming from all directions to make this day of remembrance and celebration possible. Thank you to all who are baking cookies and helping set up this week, especially to Sally, Aaron and Lynn who spent hours hanging the show yesterday. To the photographers who have created the amazing images of legacy for our families and the board members who work in so many ways to keep this ship afloat I am most grateful. To have women with heart and soul to run this organization we are most blessed, thank you Sarah and Kari. In advance I thank the speakers and the musicians who will give their special talent in honor of our families. My own family always provides in many ways for my support and for the whole of Soulumination. The hands that created each prayer flag are most appreciated. The gifts from artists around the country who made the beautiful Valentine's are filling us with delight. Its been like a personal greeting as each card arrived and all of us in the office have loved receiving them.

See you Saturday, in love and peace, Lynette

Today we opened our show at Seattle Children's Hospital and we had a small but meaningful reception with the Advanced Pediatric Care Team, social workers, hospital staff and supporters. It was wonderful to have our board President, Matt in attendance as well as board members Angie and Brenda, Soul mom Heidi and Soul mom/photographer Jodi who attended part of the show but spent her main time on the PICU working with a new family. Mark Power gave a wonderful blessing and I was very moved by the fact that Scott and Beth were in attendance as they were the couple that started the whole Soul show on its path with her explanation of the work she was doing at Children's over 8 years ago when they were interviewing me about photographing their wedding. I am posting photos here today from this event.

Soul photographers, Teddi and Cami were out shooting for another new family this weekend and Kari and Sarah are working on 3 more new families and Jeremy has be scheduled for one of those shoots.

The stunning Valentine's keep arriving. I am sharing a photo today of quilted cards made by Jane and Molly and the sets of cards that were created by Soul families and other volunteers.



We will start hanging the new pieces of the Soul Collection tomorrow here at the studio in preparation for this Saturday's event. Thanks in advance to Sally, Aaron and Lynn who have volunteered to help tomorrow. The new pieces are stunning and represent almost 100 new faces to our collection and the work of many of our 30 photographers. They look amazing. See you all Saturday, in love and peace, Lynette

Today I share Valentine's but my own heart is breaking with the loss of another angel baby. My dear friends Laurie and John, Caroline, Karl and June, and Linny and Ed have lost their beautiful daughter, sister, grand daughter and love bug. Elise died yesterday. We met when I went to NY for the Today show piece and I have seen them at both NTSAD conferences and the show in Washington DC. Elise was the stunning beauty whose dad was featured on Miami Ink when John had one of his Soul photos tattooed on his shoulder. She is shown her today and will be in our hearts forever.

We had an lovely visit on Monday with Dave and Alice who came over to make prayer flags on the 6th anniversary of the passing of their first born son, Josiah. Dave helped us with a printer problem and it was perfect having time with them to remember Josiah and the day we met. Josiah's story was also featured on the Today Show and this wonderful family has become a part of my life in so many meaningful ways. We thank Josiah's grandma and parents for the lovely donations in his honor. The prayer flags will fly over the 5th anniversary celebration as will one's done in honor of Elise when I was at the last Tay Sacks conference.





I had the pleasure of hearing two of our musical performers for the 5th anniversary yesterday and the sound in the studio was stunning. Both women sang a bit and it was really something special. We hope to see you all on the 6th. In love and peace and sorrow at the passing of another special friend, Lynette

I am on cloud nine as last night I walked into my niece's labor room ten minutes before my great nephew was born. He is one big and beautiful baby boy and we are so excited for the first member of this new generation.

Today I am sharing one Valentine but a number of photos from the reception at our state's capitol last Thursday. They feature board members, our adminstrator Sarah with her representative Tina Orwall, me with my rep, Rueven Carlyle and Kat and Susan Dunn who were instrumental in this show.

Things are shaping up for the 5th Anniversary so we are working like crazy to make sure it all flows smoothly and that we have all the pieces in place. It promises to be a day of compassion and memory.

In love and peace, Lynette

I had been having an emotional week and shared this with our volunteer accountant and artist, Jenni Wilson when she dropped off her Valentines. I sometimes deal with issues around sorrow and loss and she shared some incredible words that are from a blog entry that was on the Seattle Times web site when a biker was killed here in Ballard. I think they are truly beautiful and inspiring words and I immediately started to feel more balanced and ready to go back to work on a project for Soul after reading it. I know this in my heart but sometimes its hard to keep it in our mind:

"Life is much more than the life of the body; It is an infinite expanse of energy; A continuum of love in countless dimensions; a psychological and spiritual experience independent of physical form. We have been alive forever-we will be alive forever more"






The Valentine's are arriving daily and they are stunning as you can see by the examples here. It is not too late to turn them in if you are an artist/craftsman who wants to contribute. Please email if you'd like the guidelines, but of course time is running short as its only two weeks from today that we celebrate.

All of us who were at the reception at the state capitol this Thursday were so thrilled with the power of the Soulumination Collection in this rare and special venue. We were treated to a visit by our governor as she was invited by her high school friend Shirley who is our beloved Soul grandma and volunteer bookkeeper. Shirley was unable to join us at the event but Christine met Matt and Angie, our board members and Soul parents and heard about the work of our little nonprofit. We are so endlessly thankful to Kat Dunn and her parents, Sue and Pat for their work to make this show a reality. I am sharing one photo today and will share more later this next week.

Sarah and I had a little chat at the end of the day Friday and we are expecting some amazing musical talent at the 5Th Anniversary, a number of the performers have ties directly to Soulumination, one is a Soul dad, one is our own Sarah and her sisters, one is a beloved couple who volunteer regularly, and then we have some that are noted in their fields as true recording artists, rising stars and certainly there is powerful and amazing talent in all the acts. The event is to honor and celebrate the lives we have touched and the families of the project and if you come we will share these talented musicians and over 100 new portraits. The courtyard will feature hundreds of prayer flags from around the country. We have spiritual leaders to bless the event and lovely Valentine art for sale. Hundreds of hours have gone into the planning and preparation so we hope for large turnout.

I close with a tip of the hat to our photographer Leo Lamb and our new weekend phone guru, Greg Johnson (who will be performing a song written especially for the celebration) for their work with a new family this past weekend. The photos are absolutely stunning. My two upcoming shoots have been postponed but we will work with these families at a later date.

In love and peace, Lynette