Saturday, May 7, 2011

and the winners are...

I'm so sorry that we didn't announce the winners yesterday, the store just got so busy that I spent the day helping out the retail staff. Which was a lot of fun :)

Choosing winners was INCREDIBLY difficult! Y'all nominated some pretty fantastic and inspirational mothers.

I printed out all of the nominations for the mega mom giveaway and the tvp girls and I read ALL of them (there were WAY more than I had expected!). There were lots of tears shed as we read, some of them were very touching and we wanted to pick way more than five. We each had 5 stars, and when we found one we would like to win we would star it with one of our stars, and the ones with the most stars win...



((( If you nominated someone (even if they didn't win), PLEASE consider sending the nomination you sent us to her, I think any of them would love and cherish to read what has been written about them, and could possibly be one of the best presents they ever received! )))

So (drumroll please) the 5 winners are:

1. 1. $100 gift certificate to TVP and $100 to Pottery Barn:

(nominated by Cari)

Shelley is the mother of three children, Gracey (5), Christian (8), and Braden (11). She is a dear friend and a light in my world. Her husband has served two tours in Iraq and bravely defends our country in the US Army. Shelley is a soldier too. She has gone into battle for all of her children. Last year while her husband was deployed her precious little guy Christian was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer. Shelley has fought through surgeries, sleepless nights, excruciating pain, a sad and broken family, bottles of pills, meals that won't stay down, long trips away from home to see specialists, and she has done it all with grace and beauty. She fights to keep her home together. She fights to make her children happy, she fights to believe and to maintain hope and faith that Christian will be healed. I have known a lot of wonderful mothers, but I have only ever known one Shelley. She has created a happy, loving, warm home in the midst of trauma and pain. She is the most deserving Mom I know. I know that a simple but wonderful gift from The Vintage Pearl would be a sweet treat for this fighter of a Mom!


2. 2. $100 gift certificate to TVP and $100 to Anthropologie.

(nominated by Emily, Natalie, Jessica and Olivia)

My sisters and I were so excited to see this opportunity to nominate a wonderful mom. Our little sister, Amy, is 22 years old and the mother of 3 beautiful little children. Her husband is in the army and they have lived a hard life, but she is absolutely the most amazing mom ever to her kids. Her middle child, Austin, was born with a severe heart problem. This last week he went in for his first surgery, and didn't live through it. At 2 years old, he passed away. Amy is spending mother's Day weekend having a funeral for her sweet little boy. We really wanted to get her a mother's necklace to remember her Austin by and the light he was to everyone who knew him. We are really excited about the possibility of winning the vintage pearl giftcard to get her something, to have him with her always.


3. 3. $100 gift certificate to TVP and $100 to Victoria's Secret.

(nominated by Rhonda)

When a tragic fire claimed the life of Barbara Jean in 1945, her four-year-old sister, Margie, was sent to live with her grandparents. Her dad visited, but she rarely saw her mother.
Cancer claimed her grandmother’s life, when Margie was young. Instead of enjoying her childhood, she kept house and cooked for her grandpa. She knew he loved her, though he did not say it or demonstrate affection. She was not allowed to date, but met the man she would marry through a family connection. They married a few weeks after she graduated from high school and had three children.
Through her example, the children learned the value of forgiveness and unconditional love. She had every right to be bitter, yet she chose to show compassion to the very ones that deserted her when she needed them most.
Instead, she developed a relationship with her parents. Because of that, her children grew up knowing them as their grandparents. They saw Christ’s ability to love and forgive through her example, and came to accept Him as their Lord and Savior. They missed out on raising her, but will spend eternity with her. Margie is my hero, and my treasured mom.


4. $100 gift certificate to TVP and $100 to Bath & Body Works

(nominated by Ansley)

I would like to nominate my precious friend, Mary. She is the wife of our worship pastor and the mother of 9 beautiful gifts from the Lord. Through the birth of their 5th child, Eli who was born with Down Syndrome, and several mission trips to Eastern Europe, Chris and Mary heard God calling them to "look after orphans...in their distress..." James 1:27. Since that time, they have completed 4 adoptions from Eastern Europe ... Micah, Matthew, Eliana, and Ethan, who also have Down Syndrome, have all come home to the arms of this beautiful mom. When I spend time with Mary I see the love of Christ. It overflows to her husband, her children, her home, her church, and her community. Mary is generous with her time, kind with her words, and always loving in her service to others. Her children are a testimony of her love for Jesus. The older children, Blake, Hannah, Bethany, and Seth, love and care for their younger siblings with compassion and grace. Mary loves selflessly and never expects anything in return.


5. $100 gift certificate to TVP and $100 to Olive Garden

(nominated by Jesse)

I would like to nominate my wife Kelcie for the Mega Mom Giveaway, because she fits the bill for being a Mega Mom. She is currently employed full time, attending college full time, raising my daughter (her stepdaughter) and caring for her mother who is currently undergoing chemo therapy for her diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer back in November, and does it all with a smile. I would love for her to be a recipient of this prize one; because she hands down deserves it, but two; I know how big of an admirer she is of your products. Money has been tight lately due to an ongoing custody battle were fighting due to my daughter’s biological mother’s drug abuse and frankly we are not able to afford many extras right now. Kelcie provides my daughter with all the love, support, and guidance that any mother would give her child and would never consider her to be anything other than her own daughter. What I have in life is much more valuable than any material item, but I would like to show my appreciation to her for all that she does. Thank you for considering my request.

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The 5 randomly picked winners of the $25 tvp gift certificates are:

1. Kiley
2. Bev Cox
3. Jessica
4. UpsideDown Kate
5. Sarah Matos

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If you are one of the winners, please email us at customerservice@thevintagepearl.com to claim your prizes!

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Hope you all have a fabulous Mother's Day!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats to them! Each Mother is truely special. I do think it's a little unfair that each of these winners had a tragedy in their story though. A mother who works her butt off is just as deserving, you don't have to have something tragic in your life happen to be an amazing mom.

erin said...

Hi anonymous,

Sorry you think it was unfair, we tried to do it as fairly as we could. We didn't seek out only those that have had a tragedy, those were just the ones with the most stars :)

I hope you have a great mother's day!

Kiera said...

what amazing letters that you received. I can not imagine all the stories that you read and how you had to chose these moms, but you picked wonderful mothers that deserve a little something special in their lives...
and to anonymous...really, unfair, did you read those letters, their lives haven't been fair, and they deserve a little bright spot.
Happy Mother's day to everyone, thank you Vintage Pearl for sharing these letters!

Anonymous said...

I think the winners are wonderfully deserving. I just shed some tears of my own!! Thank you for having such a wonderful contest and making such beautiful jewelry! Happy Mothers day to all of you too!!!

Chanda said...

Congrats to the winners and bravo to TVP team for making some great choices in what must've been a hard decision!! :) thanks for making these moms' mother's days a little brighter!!

Anonymous said...

What beautiful nominations!

Sarah-Anne said...

congrats all around!!

Emily said...

Congratulations to the winners! I'm sure it was hard to pick, but these moms have been through so much and definitely deserve a token of appreciation!

Chris and Mary Malone said...

Thanks for honoring my beautiful wife Mary. She's truly the most wonderful wife and mom there is. And she's SUPER excited...because she loves jewelry and she loves bath & body works! Thanks for making her mother's day even more special!

Laura @ live.laugh.photograph said...

Congrats to them!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to all these deserving mothers!!!

Tiff Hunt said...

WOW!!! Those are some AMAZING ladies! Congratulations to each of them and may they continue to be blessed!!

Anonymous said...

Fun contest! Love the stories! Congrats to the winners!