Life Isn't Always A Party.....

One of my wonderful blog followers, Air sent me an email today. Here it is:

Hi there Kim.........I was reading this sweet little girls story today and realized that she is in your part of the country. I wondered if you could read it over and be kind enough to maybe post something on your blog. I would like to do something for the family but have not decided what yet. So if you have any ideas please let me know. As a parent I am counting my blessings today that my children are all healthy and able to do normal everyday things. Seeing this sweet little Kate suffer and her parents as well just broke my heart. I cried through reading the journal. How could you not? Thanks for your time. Aaron

I clicked through to read about this sweet little girl, Kate (cute & blonde just like my own Kate) right here in Phoenix and how her family recently found out (June 29th) that she has a major brain tumor. I immediately got the chills and tears sprung to my eyes, as I read her story. To read her mom's posts, makes my heart ache. After reading every post on the site, I realized that this story is really close to home. The McRae family is a part of the Cornerstone Christian Church in Chandler, AZ (where we live). I haven't been to this church yet, but we have friends who are members and last night I signed up to participate in their Holiday Boutique.

What can we do to help? As far as I can tell, they aren't asking for donations (except to donate to the CaringBridge website to help other families in need), just lots and lots of prayers. So if you have any ideas about what else this beautiful family needs, or what we could do for them, please share your ideas!

At the very least, please take a moment and appreciate your happy, healthy children and give them every ounce of love that they so deserve. This is taken from one of Kate's mom's posts, and really puts things in perspective:

Do you know those days where your kids are endlessly calling "mommy"? I have had many of those in the past. My kids are 6 (she will be 7 in 2 weeks), 5 and 4. There were many times I would say "okay no one can call me mommy for 10 minutes, I just need quiet!". How many times did I complain about how it seemed like they were always pooping and I was always wiping. How I loved those days where I could lazily stay in my pjs and not wear any makeup. One word can change all of that. Cancer. Now I beg for my daughter to say mommy, just once, just for something for me to hang onto. I don't care if she screams it, slurs it, anything, just say mommy.

I cannot imagine what this family is going through. Please visit Kate's site HERE & keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

If you have time to leave some words of encouragement, here is Kate's Mom, Holly's email: hollymcrae@gmail.com

Love,
Kim

{photos by Promise Tangeman}