Thanks will never be enough

When Ella was born, people all over the country helped us out. Some people brought us food, some sent us special gifts, some gave us money, and most sent up hundreds and thousands of prayers for our sweet girl. At the time Joe and I were completely overwhelmed with the love and support. It was a scary time for us and knowing that others were thinking about us and praying for us really made all the difference.

Last week Ella got 2 special packages in the mail. First, she got a beautiful prayer blanket with her name embroidered on it. The card was signed by a woman I’ve never met, who attends a church I’ve never heard of. She is my grandmothers hair-dresser (I’m not sure if that’s the PC term) and as soon as she heard our story she decided to make a special prayer blanket for Ella. When we received the box I cried. It is still so overwhelming to have strangers take so much time to make something special for Ella. The second gift was a new Dr. Seuss book. Once again, I cried when we got it in the mail. A friend of my mom’s sent it to Ella after she read how much she loves Dr. Seuss books and it was so touching that she wanted to send it to Ella.

Saturday we headed up to Frederick, MD to visit with the Eagles. You’ve read about them here before, it’s the most amazing civic group that has adopted EB as their charity for the year. We have been able to visit with them on several occasions and have grown to love this group so much! They have the most amazing hearts! Saturday they had a bowl-a-thon to raise money for EB and they raised over $7,000! Incredible!

On Sunday it was my turn to go to the church service and Joe went to Sunday School with Ella. In the bulletin was an announcement for a new baby, and in reading the announcement I was taken back to when Ella was born and how much our church family gathered around us. They brought us food, came over to our house and offered words of encouragement, and lifted us up in prayer. On more than one occasion members of the church gathered together to pray for sweet Ella and ask for God’s healing hand. I remember one of the first Sunday’s we brought Ella to church and a woman sitting in front of us said, “Oh, this is the precious baby we’ve been praying for!” And even now (more-so than when Ella was born) our church is so supportive. It’s one of the few places we can take Ella where I don’t feel like everyone is commenting on what happened to her…because they’ve been there since the beginning.

All of these examples bring me to the point that Joe and I often talk about how we will never be able to repay all the kindness we have received since Ella was born. Just saying ‘thank you’ will never be enough. We are continually overwhelmed with how people want to help and how much they love Ella and want to see her grow and develop. You all are amazing! You warm our hearts and let us know that the world is full of amazing, kind, helpful people. Thank you…from all that we have in us, thank you for everything.