Cards By Reese

By Reese Schroeder-

Hello! My name is Reese Schroeder. This week I’m taking over blogging duties for my Mom, Stacie. Between raising me and my two brothers, working and coaching my volleyball team, she stays awfully busy.

I am now eight years old and still enjoy art. I created cards featuring some of my favorite animals when I was in kindergarten.

Although I never dreamed of it at first, these drawings wound up becoming Cards By Reese. All kinds of people found out about them and we sold so many I couldn’t keep up with the numbers.

I made them as a way to raise money to help my mother when Dad was very sick. He spent several months in the hospital. Any adults reading this know now—even when you have medical insurance—there are always deductibles, co-pays and other bills that aren’t covered.

Looking back, it is so amazing that my artwork became a way to help with these expenses. While it’s been a long time since I saw her, I am so grateful to Julie Baumann, the art teacher who helped me with my artwork.

After we had finished the drawings and a nice printer offered to print the cards for free, she took me to visit the people in her neighborhood.

When I asked them if they wanted to buy a pack of my cards, you know what? Nobody said “no,” which made me feel really good. When I told my Daddy about them, he said, “That’s great, Reese.”

The sad part of the story is that he never came home. While he went to live in Heaven, Mom says he’s proud of me.

After the funeral, we wound up moving a long ways away so we could live closer to my aunt and uncle and other family members. For a long time, we didn’t do anything with the cards.

However, now that we have gotten settled, I asked if I could draw some more scenes for a new line of cards. The first two sets were of animals, but the newest ones have a beach-and-water theme.

One shows a diver looking at a pair of fish on the bottom of the ocean. There are three other drawings of fish underwater, one of a mermaid, and one of a girl standing next to a sandcastle. I’m excited about these new cards because I think they’re some of my best work.

More than that, I’m excited to be able to help my Mom and help the poor and hurting in India through Matthew 10 International Ministries.

Half the money we raise will go to helping needy people, including kids like me who don’t have a father. Many don’t have a mother, either. My heart aches for these orphans because they have to go through life without someone to tuck them in to bed every night and comfort them when they’re scared.

Buying these cards is a way to send greetings to friends and loved ones while also helping others. Thank you for caring.

By Stacie Schroeder-

As with many of you reading this blog, life in our household continues to speed by. The kindergartener whose artistic talents led to the creation of Cards By Reese recently started the fourth grade.

Fourth grade? Already? Surely this little girl who used to crawl up into my lap can’t be nearing the culmination of her elementary school years. Yet, it’s true.

If you are a first-time visitor to my blog, let me add a word of explanation about Cards By Reese. The cards resulted from Reese’s drawings of her favorite animals when she was in kindergarten. Under the direction and encouragement of her art teacher, Reese completed a number of drawings.

Though we never imagined they would become anything more than something to share with family, they became the basis for a set of six cards.

Thanks to generous donations of printing companies and many others, we wound up selling hundreds of sets of these cards at $10 a pack. The money was used to help defray the medical expenses of my late husband, Jon.

After he died of a rare lung disease in 2009, we moved from Minnesota to Tennessee to be closer to family. Amid our relocation and starting a new life, this project went on the shelf.

We are now close to re-launching Cards by Reese, with plans to add a beach-themed set later this year to the first two lines. In addition to online sales, we hope to get the cards into various retail outlets around the Southeast.

As I reflect on the past three and a half years, and the challenges of working through my grief and moving to a new place, I am amazed at how fast my daughter and her two brothers have grown. Besides maturing rapidly and advancing in school, in a few weeks Reese will be starting volleyball.

Any parent who has had a child in youth sports knows the pleasure of watching their offspring begin to grow and develop skills.  In my case, I am overjoyed —I will be coaching her team!

I am so excited to have this opportunity. Still, balancing the demands of work, raising three growing youngsters, and working with a diverse set of volleyball players will be challenging. I see the key as not just learning patience, but exercising it.

Not only will we have to add volleyball practice to our busy schedules, but the re-launch of Cards By Reese will also bring other responsibilities. Yet we eagerly await their rebirth, since the cards have a new purpose.

Instead of medical expenses, half of the net proceeds will go toward our children’s future educational expenses. Even more exciting is that the other half will go to help fund the work of Matthew 10 Ministries.

This Knoxville-based outreach focuses its work on countries across the world. In addition to evangelistic festivals, Matthew 10 supports orphans’ homes and a ministry to widows.

Supporting Matthew 10 Ministries represents a direct fulfillment of our Biblical call to help those in need. We hope you will consider purchasing cards drawn by Reese, both as a way to share greetings with others and bless the world.

 By Stacie Schroeder-

As we look forward to the pending re-launch of Cards By Reese, many exciting developments are in store.

Our marketing team is assembling a Google ad campaign, which will include increased search engine optimization. They are also working on placing our six packs of cards into convenience stores across the Southeast.

In addition, we will be featured at the web site for Kingdom Business Life Radio and have promotions via our web site, Facebook and Twitter.

For newcomers to my blog, these cards originated with artwork by my daughter, Reese, then only in kindergarten. Sales helped defray medical expenses related to my late husband’s hospitalization.

Today, we plan to split any money raised between my children’s future educational expenses and Matthew 10 Ministries’ missions endeavors.

After a major relocation and recovering from grief, I can tell that life is returning to normal, including my return to work. I recently started a job at a salon and spa in Knoxville.

Prior to this time, taking on any extra task proved difficult, but after a year of praying earnestly about the timing, it arrived.

It is another transition after relocating from Minnesota to Tennessee and learning to live without Jon. It calls for being away more from Reese and her brothers, Walker and Cash.

Still, I feel confident about it and am enjoying it. Yes, I miss the kids, but they are in a good place and know that I love what I do. It has also helped increase my appreciation for the time that we get to spend together.

One of the things I am enjoying about this stage of life is watching our children grow and develop. Reese is rapidly maturing and has taught her younger brothers how to draw many things, but especially animals. (No surprise there, since that’s how her cards originated.)

Walker and Cash display the same love for drawing and coloring as their older sister. And Walker has become a pretty good artist—maybe we’ll have a second creator for the card lines!

It is a joy watching them interact. Whenever Walker has trouble drawing something, he goes straight to his sister for help. The boys know that the cards were made in honor of their daddy and try to come up with fun ideas for new ones.

As I pause and reflect on the three-plus years that have passed since my husband died, I can say with assurance that God is great. I can look back and see where He has brought me. And, how He has continued to fill my heart with contentment, joy and peace.    Just one year ago I felt a strong urge from the Holy Spirit to reach out and trust that God had our lives in His hand. He told me if I could do this again, He would take me to a new level and change how I saw everything.

Once I learned to let go and trust Him with everything I had, He did as He had promised. He has filled my life with a satisfaction I didn’t know could be there again. After all we’ve lived through, that is a wonderful feeling!

By Stacie Schroeder-

It has been more than three years since my husband, Jon, went to heaven. Although our three children and I miss him dearly and still think of him daily, we feel privileged to have an opportunity to re-launch Cards By Reese to honor his life.

For those who haven’t read the story on our web site, these cards emerged from artwork by our daughter, Reese. Then in kindergarten, she worked with her art teacher and sketched cards with pictures of her favorite animals.

Thanks to donations from local printers and help from her classmates in suburban Minneapolis, she wound up selling hundreds of packs of six cards, which were available in two design sets.

This was a way to raise money to help defray the costs of Jon’s hospitalization, which lasted for more than three months before his death from a rare lung condition.

After we moved several states away to be close to extended family, the project went on hiatus. However, Reese is working on a new, beach-themed line that we hope to release by late fall of 2012.

While we made the cards initially to help pay medical bills, half of the proceeds will now go to the mission field. Reese is so happy she will have a chance to help others in their time of need, just as others blessed us when we needed it most.

We hope that when people purchase the cards, they remember the importance of having faith like a child—and that God can use anyone, in any situation, to spread His love and faithfulness.

For me, they are a reminder that one day we will see Jon again and be with him for all eternity. Because this is a promise from God, we can stand on it.

Despite the tragedy of losing her father, Reese still remembers her art teacher, Julie Baumann. I believe Julie will always hold a special place in Reese’s heart. She was an incredible blessing in all our lives and we will always remember her.

Sadly, because she was so young, memories of Reese’s classmates have faded. However, I believe that with the re-launch of Cards by Reese that people from Minnesota will again reach out to us. The story impacted too many people for that not to happen.

Getting ready to enter the fourth grade this fall, Reese continues to pursue her passion for art.

Of course, while it is too early for our precocious child to choose a career, she insists that she wants to be a veterinarian (not surprising, given the subjects of her drawings.) Whatever her choice, I’m sure that she will continue drawing, using art as a way to relax or unwind.

We have taken quite a journey in recent years. As God’s grace continues to unfold, I hope you will come alongside us.

Cards by Reese is now on Facebook and Twitter. Come by our page, give us a like or a follow and say hello.

Despite the pain of her husband’s death, Stacie Schroeder says her family is excited to re-launch the line of greeting cards that her daughter created as a way to help defray their medical expenses. Although it still hurts to lose her late husband, Jon, to a rare lung disease, Mrs. Schroeder says Cards By Reese has given her daughter a lifelong story to share.

“Reese hasn’t done the cards for awhile but she loves art,” Stacie says. “She loves drawing and is excited to start again. It’s an awesome thing that she can have a faith testimony. From now on she can say, ‘Look at how God has blessed my life. Through everything that happened He gave me this incredible business as a little girl and yet I can use it and bless others with it.’”

The re-launch includes a partnership with Matthew 10 Ministries, founded by Dr. Pete Sulack of Knoxville, Tennessee. A marketplace minister, Dr. Sulack is the owner of Exodus Chiropractic, one of the world’s largest chiropractic clinics. He organized the ministry in 2004 with a goal of bringing 100 million people into a personal relationship with Christ. It sponsors evangelistic outreach festivals in major cities across India. The ministry has also provided housing and education for 150 children orphaned by the Southeast Asia tsunami in 2004.

Stacie loves helping Matthew 10 in addition to defraying future college expenses for Reese and her two younger brothers. Using these cards for ministry is just another example of God’s hand at work throughout what has been a painful—yet rewarding—experience, she says.

Stacie has sensed His presence throughout the aftermath of her family’s loss, saying every time she goes to God with questions, He provides answers.

“I feel like He has watched over us and stood on His promises the whole time,” she says. “He promised that we would never be alone and that He would provide for us. We miss Jon tremendously and think about him always, but by the grace of God have been able to move forward in our lives and continued to find happiness. The kids are becoming very active in school and sports.

“Reese has been involved in gymnastics, basketball, and track, and is currently enjoying karate. The boys love football, basketball, karate and baseball. I know their daddy would be very proud of them. In the moment of tragedy you ask, ‘What in the world is happening?’ You don’t understand everything a bit better until some time has passed.”

Hi, everybody! I LOVE Christmas!

And guess what?  I’ve been making Christmas cards.   

I’ve painted angels and stockings, snowmen, Christmas trees, and my favorite, of course, are the animals–reindeer and penguins. 

They are ready to mail to your house so you can send them to your friends. 

I can’t wait for you to see them! 

Be sure to check the back of each card…I have a surprise back there for you.

HO! HO! HO!

Love, Reese

I just got back from visiting my cousins in TN. I had lots of fun with them….even though they’re all boys. We jumped on the trampoline, rode scooters and painted the driveway. I taught them how to make a very special ‘S’. Love, Reese

Hi everybody!! Thanks so much for liking my cards and buying them! It makes me so happy that you all want to help my family. We miss daddy very much and talk about him all the time. I think he would like the cards more than anybody!

Love, Reese

Stacie, Reese, and her little brothers, Walker and Cash, got to visit General Mills.  Some gracious employees set up a display to sell Reese’s cards (over 500 packs sold!) Thank you so much to General Mills, a lot of determined employees, and a gracious and giving group of people who purchased cards from Reese. A very special thank you goes out to General Mills for making the Wheaties box. It is a gift to Reese she will never forget.