A Note of Thanks from @ashpeamama's Mother-In-Law

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Hi Dan,

I hope all is well with you. I am now back in England (I arrived 15th february) and have spent the time catching up with my friends who were so supportive of me (via email) whilst I was trying to support Peter. 

As I think you were aware I am so proud of the way Peter is handling his life and it is so important to him to make sure that their children are ok. I believe my grand daughter is being a bit of a challenge at the moment as she hasn't got a routine but it is early days.

We were 'chatting' on MSN last evening and he said he had got a car- dark blue which is Ash's favourite colour - which was made possible by the money that was raised by the fund you set up. This will make his life easier and now he can start to go forward. 

It is their wedding anniversary next weekend so I think he will need all the support and prayers we can give.

It was great meeting up with you and I wonder if you could let all the internet people know the effect all their support and warmth gave me, I didn't realise how loved Ashley was (not suprised though) and the knowledge of them out there helped me through what was/is the hardest thing I have had to deal with. The inability of a mother to make their children better is immeasurable.

I intend to attach a few photos and a copy of the thank you letter i wrote to the church congregation but is also relevant to all the many internet friends. Ashley was worried as Lucy didn't appear to like the chair some of the internet friends sent them for Lucy, but I can reassure you that Lucy now loves it and it is invaluable to Peter as she can be put into it and left safely and happily whilst he sorts out Toby.

Once again thank you for everything ya'll have done for the American Spencers.

Love,

Sue Spencer xxxxxx ()()()()

Gifts

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"4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men." 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

On January 8 a phone call came in that day from a dear friend telling me there was something wrong on Twitter (a social networking site http://www.twitter.com/) causing many thoughts to go through my head along the lines of somone said something terribly rude, feelings were hurt or something like that. My friend stuttered a bit, and I implored her to tell me. "Ashley was in an accident." Silence.

Ashley Dianne Brewer Spencer was the victim of a terrible vehicle accident. From her obituary: "She is survived by her husband, Peter Spencer, a native of Reading, England; father and mother, Joseph B. and Dianne Montgomery Brewer; daughter, Lucy Dianne Spencer; son, Toby Peter Spencer; two sisters, Stephanie and Cresta Brewer; brother, Craig Brewer; maternal grandmother, Ava Leonard; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Ron and Sue Spencer; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, David and Linda Spencer; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins." And at least 209 followers on http://www.twitter.com/ where she warns us "The postpartum hormones are raging, watch out! "

"Why thank you @mosqueda, have a cupcake" was the first Tweet from Ashley to me on July 7, 2007. I think it had something to do with her Twitter avatar, a small photo usually depicting the user in some way. With Ashley it was often related to Louisiana State University. On this day, her avatar must have had something to do with a cake. I don't remember. I only see 28 tweets from Ashley invovling me directly, but I most certainly remember following her preganancy and really enjoying getting to know her. Out of her 5,595 twitter postings, I was a tiny little percentage.

Yet I still felt very connected to her. She was clearly vivacious, but with a real, gritty side to her. "So... looked down and realized i'm POPPING out of my shirt, hello third trimester girl growth... should've noticed before left for work." It was just the genuine look at her that drew me in to actually pay attention to her tweets.

When I found out she had passed, I was crushed. The night before we had a small exchange "@mosqueda um, no question, y'all need to yell Geaux Tigers!" 08:16 PM January 07, 2008. About 12 hours or so later, we lost her earthly presence, though she remains in many hearts.

What to do? I'd seen many folks raise money for different causes, and I literally felt (didn't hear Him) God nudge me to do something for her family. I knew she and her husband, Peter, were young. I remembered going through the death of my twin girls shortly after they were born, and the pain we felt. There wasn't much I could do, but the idea of getting folks together to chip in lingered.

I visited http://www.chipin.com/ and took the plunge. I picked a number out of the air: $5,000. That amount was raised in less than 3 days. I was stunned. Behind the scenes it was recommended I up the goal to $6,000. The goal sat unmet for a few days, but one morning I "retweeted" the donation website http://ashpeamama.chipin.com/ashley-spencers-family link. And watched the donations flow in until finally we hit $8,050.

After PayPal fees, the gift given to Peter, Toby and Lucy Spencer was $7,800. Peter will use this money to help pay cash for a reliable vehicle to replace the vehicle "totaled" in Ashley's accident.

A lot of people thanked me for putting this together and frankly I was honored, yet embarassed. But what this whole experience showed me was that I answered God's call by using gifts he gave me to help Ashley's family. What are those gifts? I'd say compassion and empathy first and foremost. I just felt a terrible loss and resulting love and compassion for Ashley's family. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that God describes some us as "those able to help others, those with gifts of administration." I guess that's me. So, I must give glory to God for making our collective gift to Ashley possible.