live a life worth living

my first ever FB note was a call for my friends to step up and make a difference. the note talked of a special burden God placed in my heart for those suffering from cancer. i spoke of a young lady named michelle who needed a bone marrow transplant and encouraged each of you to register at the national marrow donor program. my heart breaks in remembering that michelle passed away on july 25th 2009. her family and friends are still continuing michelle's legacy. you can read about it here. http://projectmichelle.com/blog/

today i write on behalf of a little girl, kate who has been battling a very malignant and aggressive brain cancer since june 29th 2009. my sister and BIL used to go to the same church as kate's family in california and this is how i found out about their story.

read the 'summary' story here:http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate/mystory

read the updated journal here:http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate/journal

kate's mom's most recent journal entry shares of their desire to help other families in similar situations as they have felt so blessed by the help and outpourings of others. last year, they did 'kate's crazy cool christmas' and requested that toys be donated to the children's hospital so other cancer patients could receive gifts. this year they are once again doing 'kate's crazy cool christmas', in a slightly different way.

they are choosing 10 families to give gift bags to. these gift bags will hold different things that they felt were helpful during the difficult times. things like starbucks, target, restaurant, visa gift cards, etc... along with a separate gift bag with some items such as jesus storybook bible, esv journaling bible, and/or charles spurgeon's "beside still waters".

calvin and i are donating 4 jesus storybook bibles to kate's crazy cool christmas. sophia has one of these and we find it wonderful for her and us. it gives us so much pleasure to know that another family can read stories of Jesus to their child.

i hope you'll join us in sharing Jesus' love with the 10 families that aaron, holly and kate choose to bless this christmas. if you're interested in giving something, send me an email and i'll give you the address where you can send or have the items sent directly to.

in these small little ways, Jesus can shine.