Who Do You Trust?

When Emma was 1 year old, one of my husband's cousins (who was 5) passed away.  She had cancer.

Shortly after this I was taking a class for work on germs/illnesses/cleanliness.  A statement was made that statistics showed that children who attended daycare had a much better chance at never getting cancer because they had built up such a strong immune system.

Whew!  I felt this huge relief!  After the pain my husband's family was going through, here was this tiny sliver of assurance that this wouldn't happen to me, because I worked at a daycare, and my daughter had come with me everyday since she was 9 weeks old.

Statistics?  I laugh in the face of statistics!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!

Okay, as sad as that all is, the experience taught me a vital lesson.  You can't put your hope and trust in anything or anyone other than God.  Psalm 121:1&2 says "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."

So what are you putting your hope in?  Do you take peace from reassuring statistics?  Do you hold on tight and hope things go your way? 

I've learned that even in the face of pediatric cancer things can go well.  Do I like cancer?  No.  Would I give it back in a heartbeat?  You betcha!  But I have felt God's hand on us so often, and I have a peace now that I never knew before--a peace that tells me everything will be okay, no matter what happens.

I wish for you all to find that peace (though maybe not in the same way I found mine!).  And in case it isn't clear, I mean a peace in God.

Ronald McDonald House Charities

This month's charity highlight goes to...The Ronald McDonald House Charities!  This is one of Emma's favorite places ever.  Whenever we go to Memphis, she hope hope hopes that they will tell us that we have to stay there.  And let me just say, they are a wonderful group of people.  We are given a comfortable, spacious room.  We have a huge pantry of food at our disposal.  There are playrooms, craft rooms, game rooms, movie closests, playgrounds, bikes, scooters, fitness rooms, a chapel and more.  When you donate to this charity, you are HELPING THE FAMILIES who stay there.  Families who are going through hell, much of the time.  So here they are!

WHO: Ronald McDonald House



MISSION:  The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. Guiding us in our mission are our core values:

• Focusing on the critical needs of children.

• Celebrating the diversity of the programs we offer and the staff, volunteers and donors who make them possible.

• Staying true to our heritage of more than 36 years of responsible stewardship.

• Operating with accountability and transparency.

THEIR STORY:   The first Ronald McDonald House opened in Philadelphia thanks to Dr. Audrey Evans, Philadelphia Eagles’ player Fred Hill (whose daughter, Kim, had leukemia), Leonard Tose, owner of the Eagles, Jim Murray, the Eagles’ general manager and Ed Rensi, the McDonald’s regional manager.
     The McDonald’s owner/operators in Philadelphia made the House possible, donating proceeds from the sale of Shamrock Shakes.


HOW TO DONATE:  You can always drop a few bucks (or coins, it all helps) into the little boxes at McDonalds.  You can also donate by visiting here.  But it gets better than that!  Each individual House has their own website, so if you want to donate to a specific location you can do that, too!  Our favorite is, of course, the RMH of Memphis, but you can search the home website for your local chapter.  There are other ways to help as well.  You can collect pop can tabs, which they will recycle and the proceeds go to RMHC.  You can also volunteer at one of the houses, or donate supplies (each house has a "wish list").

Patient of the Month

I am a very proud mama today because Emma is St. Jude's official patient of the month for November!  If you haven't seen her story/video yet, please visit www.stjude.org and scroll to the bottom right corner.  There you will see Emma's picture, and a link that says "Meet Emma". 

Watching the video and reading her story made me cry.  I really can't help it.  The day of the interview we spent the morning at the Memphis Zoo with the camera crew.  It was such fun!

I am so proud to be a part of the St. Jude family, and as I say in the video I don't believe Emma would be alive today if she had been sent to another hospital.  NO ONE else would have been able to get her diagnosed and on chemo in less than 24 hours, which  was vital to her survival.  It is because of my thankfulness to St. Jude that I was thrilled to help their cause in participating in the patient of the month interview. 

Because of the huge debt of gratitude that our family owes St. Jude, I am proud to support them in other ways as well.  That is why we are participating in the national Give Thanks.  Walk.  This walk will be held across the nation on November 19th.  We are taking donations to support our walk this year, and I hope you will donate to this very worthy cause.  You can see our fundraising page at http://www.mygivethankswalk.org/emmaclark

I am so proud of my little girl, and I can't help but ramble a little today about it.  Thanks for bumbling along with me!

A Yucky Little Monster

I wrote this poem two days after Emma was taken to Memphis.  Some of you may have read it before, but it is something that I hold dear, so I thought I would share it here!

A YUCKY LITTLE MONSTER
By: Katie Clark, for Emma Clark
In Honor of Dr. Scott Howard

A yucky little monster went floating through the air
I swallowed him by accident, quite unaware.

I didn’t see him in there, he’s a sneaky little guy,
Hiding every time I laughed and every time I cried.

Then that yucky little monster went and did what he does best.
He grew and grew and grew, getting bigger in my chest.

He made me really sick, he took away my fun,
But I will have the last laugh when the day is done!

You see, I met a superhero who knows just what to do.
Fighting little monsters is his favorite thing to do.

So we will fight the monster, and one day we will win.
Good bye little monster.  Don’t come back again!

Time

Time is a tricky thing.  We always think it will be there for us, but in truth, time waits for no man.

I thought I had time with Emma.  I haven't said this too often, but before Emma was diagnosed, I KNEW something was wrong with her.  Even when her doctor said it wasn't anything serious, I mean it when I say I literally KNEW that it was.  I just figured I had time, I would bring her back again and again until we got our answers.

But I didn't have time.  Cancer wasn't waiting for me to get my ducks in a row.  Her tumor didn't slow its growth until I was ready to deal with it.

I learned my lesson there, so today when we get the opportunity to do something fun with our kids, we take it.  When we get the opportunity to serve, we do it.  That opportunity might not be there tomorrow, or truthfully, we might not be here tomorrow to take it. 

I don't want any regrets...at least not where time is concerned.

What about you?  Has something happened in your life to show you that time is one of your greatest assets?

Time Is  by Henry Van Dyke

Time is
Too Slow for those who Wait,
Too Swift for those who Fear,
Too Long for those who Grieve,
Too Short for those who Rejoice;
But for those who Love,
Time is not.

We're Home!

Wow.  That is the best word that I can think of to describe our trip to "The Lighthouse".  This group of loving, caring people pampered us, catered to us, prayed with us, and played with us.  We had (in Emma's words) "the best time ever"!

Each day began at 8am with breakfast, then moved on to "Morning Watch", a daily devotion time.  After that, the kids split up into groups and the parents had a type of group therapy.  We were actually kind of leery of this part.  We didn't want to sit with a group of strangers and talk about our feelings.  Guess what?  That turned out to be our favorite part!  Being with these brave and strong parents, who were fighting the same montsters as us, helped us so much.  It was enlightening, and we found new strength and wisdom.

My favorite thing that was said was from one of the dads.  He said that we are the lucky ones.  Most parents, he said, have to teach their kids about their math homework, or their spelling homework, and they complain about that.

We get to teach our kids about LIVING!  We are showing them how to fight, how to be strong, how to cope and move on, how to be happy in spite of the bad.  We are the lucky ones.  I loved this!

Another parent said that she feels like her life is too big.  I definitely feel like that sometimes, too.  How can I handle all of these big things?  But knowing that I am not alone in this helps more than I can say.

After this we had lunch each day, and then free time (which we spent at the beach!).  In the evening we had supper, and then some type of group activity.  On the last night there was a talent show.  Emma and Ashlyn were sooooo cute!

Overall the trip was a success, and we definitely plan on attending next year.  Thank you for sharing it with us!

Lighthouse Family Retreats

Soon we will be heading to a beach in Florida for a cancer family retreat, hosted by Lighthouse Family Retreats.  We have heard great things from other families who have attended  these retreats, and we are hoping to bring back some awesome reports ourselves!  So here is this month's charity highlight.

Who: Lighthouse Family Retreats

Mission: to serve families living through childhood cancer by helping them to laugh, restore family relationships and find hope in God.

What They Do: Lighthouse Family Retreat hosts beach retreats for families affected by childhood cancer.  They endeavor to provide some momentary normalcy in the midst of the chaos. Kids just being kids: playing in the sand; laughing in the sun; and enjoy a vacation as if maybe for just a week cancer has all but disappeared.

Refer A Family: Know a family facing pediatric cancer?  Part of a family facing pediatric cancer?  You can apply for a retreat here . 

Donate: All of the retreats are run by volunteers, and on donated money.  If you would like to help further Lighthouse's mission, you can learn more about volunteering or donating here .

We will be back next week...hopefully with pictures!