so much to say..

What an incredible day the Cuiching's have had.  Today, Sunday was the Church Cross of Glory event “Shower Ellie with Love”.  And boy did they ever shower not just Ellie but our entire family with love, support, and generosity.  I feel so blessed and proud to be part of this church community. It feels amazing to have such wonderful friends and family.

Since Jan 4th I have had many people come up to me and say such things as “you wonder why god would do something like this to a sweet young child”.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same way a time or two after Ellie was diagnosed.  I feel very fortunate that I was able to attend one of Pastor P.J.’s sermons that put it in a way that made me understand and feel good about god.  Pastor P.J. put a little spin on lent.  Instead of giving anything up for lent his sermon serious is about Never Giving up.  A few weeks back he said something in one of his sermons that really hit home with me.  He basically said that God is not in the disasters, the sickness, and the bad in the world.  That god is in the angels that come out of a disaster.  An example of this would be the many, many people that I have come out of the wood work through this journey that have helped us in so many ways.  There have been so many angels in our life; I would like to name a few.  So I am going to use today as an example of our Angels.  The hundreds of people that came out to support us is a great example.  Incredible some of the people that did not even know our family and they made special a special trip to church today, or another example, the many, many volunteers that served and cooked pancakes.  Some more include Pastor P.J., Laura, The band that played the concert, the congregation and non congregation that went out and got basket raffles donated.  All the volunteers today and people that showed up to support my sweet little girl.

We have also met amazing people (Angels) since Ellie has started Chemo, such as Pat a volunteer in the hospital that has been volunteering for almost 17years in the oncology department.  She makes it a point to come talk to Ellie every day we are at the hospital and try to lift her spirits, even though Ellie is not receptive.  Pat sits with Ellie and colors while we speak with the doctors.  Ellie’s oncologist is an angel.  I say this because he makes me smile every time I see him at the hospital.  Her Neurosurgeon who did two successful surgery’s and Pediatrician who could of blown off Ellie’s headaches, without them Ellie would not be here. They are a few of Ellie’s Angels.

I know that we have only touched the surface of what is to come over the next year but with all these angels in our life it has become much more apparent that God is watching over my baby girl.  As pastor P.J. said “But God is not in the disasters; God is the one who is there to help us throughThem.”

Pastor P.J. also said “No matter how bad or hopeless a situation may seem, with God there is always hope for a comeback! Everyone loves a good comeback kid story.”  Well guess what Ellie is going to be the next comeback kid story, I have faith.  

I always say that I wish that God would spread the love around.  What I mean by that is, I wish he wouldn’t have given one family M.S., S.I, extremely bad Allergies, and to top it off my daughter brain cancer. But I have to look at it this way.  God was preparing me.

God gave me the M.S. so that I can help spread the word of this disease and raise money for the multiple sclerosis foundation.  Most neurologists (including mine) suggest that you don’t tell people you have M.S. because then it defines who you are and what you are capable in other people eyes.  I told my Neurologist that’s not who I am, I am an open book and I want to get the word out about M.S. because we need a cure someday.  To date with my teams efforts we have raised around $50,000 for the multiple sclerosis foundation. I have met several people that have told me they had M.S. after they heard I had it.  We are taking a year off from the M.S. because we have much bigger fish to fry right now. 

I wasn’t sure how my son’s Sensory Integration played into god has a plan.  Jake was diagnosed when he was 1 ½ and we struggled every day with him. We spent endless hours in therapy with him.  I had so many people stare at me when he threw fits in Target.  You know it’s bad when all the sales people recognize my son.  But he has come leaps and bounds and I find myself answering the question why this happened to Jake.  As most of you have read my daughter on top of brain surgery, weakness in her hips, penalization in her right side of her face and speech problems has developed S.I...  I believe that god was preparing me for my battle I must face with Ellie S.I. What I mean by this is that I know now how to handle S.I. a little better.  It has softened the blow that my daughter has S.I.  If you are familiar with S.I. my son is what they call a seeker while my daughter is an avoider.  As someone told me I have a ying and a yang they balance each other out. 

“God may not always help us OUT of a difficult situation, but God will always Help us THROUGH it.” Pastor P.J.

My wish today besides the obvious one is that I can spread some of the love that has been given to me in this time of need.  I wish that someone will see me as an angel in their life someday.  I have been inspired, and I thank each and every one of you for doing that.

A few other of my favorite quotes from Pastor P.J are below, I also included the link to his blog with some of his sermons. And one of my all time favorite video from a sermon.  It is very much a fun video.

“But God is not in the disasters; God is the one who is there to help us through Them.”

“However, God is in all the angels who have been bringing Comfort and aid to those affected by the disaster."

“Disasters are part of living in a world that has broken away from God and become

Broken. But God is not in the disasters; God is the one who is there to help us through Them.”

http://crossofglory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/DGU-Yourself.pdf

http://pastorpjsermons.blogspot.com/