Ya'll, I have lots of nieces and nephews. I have really been blessed in the family department, both the one I was born into and the one I married. I have one nephew on my side and eight nieces and nephews on Steve's side. (Let the catholic jokes commence.)
Today I want to tell you about My niece Maggie. She has the biggest and brightest smile I have ever seen and she is always flashing it. She is beautiful, both inside and out. This little girl knows what she likes (ice cream and the color pink) and what she wants and she will work toward what she wants. It is adorable when she says Isla's name and I really do want she and Isla to be best best friends. Maggie also has Cerebral Palsy. When she was born there were two knots in her umbilical cord and it was wrapped around her neck. She was in the NICU and the hospital for 10 days. Her testing at that point came back "normal" and it was really too early to tell if there was neurological damage.
As Maggie got older it became obvious to her parents, Amanda and Daniel, that she wasn't meeting the traditional baby milestones and her trunk control was poor. Maggie went through OT and PT and at around 17-18 months was diagnosed with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy.
Maggie and her family recently visited
Health In Motion (HIM), which is a clinic in Canada with a little different approach on therapy. They have a program called L.I.F.E. (Learning Independent Functions Everyday) that is designed to help kids meet their milestones developmentally. The therapy involves the parents and not letting kids off "the easy way." For Maggie this means a lot of hard work to crawl in the classic way, to stand up and one day to walk.
I want to ask you today to commit to praying for Maggie and her family. Pray for trust in the Lord and His timing and for healing and peace. Pray for Maggie as she pushes herself physically and mentally to exhaustion but has clear accomplishments. Pray that we can all learn from Maggie. That she shows us that even though things are hard, we can walk through them with a smile on our face and determination in our hearts. Pray for big things from God, healing and miracles, love and devotion.
They are fundraising to be able to visit HIM again and would like to go back twice. This ain't cheap. (Yes, it pains me that I just used ain't in a sentence on cyberspace for God and everyone to see.) Pray that they can fund raise and meet their goals to attend financially and for mental peace while doing this.
Also, pray for a mama's heart. When it comes to our children our love is fierce, we will do everything in our power to make sure their story is as full as it can possibly be. Pray that Amanda and Daniel keep following God in Maggie's story and let our Creator be the author of her life.
You can also help! (You knew this was coming right?) They have two fundraisers going on right now. One is
Mary Kay and the other is Thirty-One. If you purchase the Mary Kay mention the Belchers and 100% of the profit will go to Maggie! You can read more of Maggie's story at her site
here. You can also make donations to fund her treatment at the site.
"Blessed are the pure in heart : for they will see God." Matthew 5:8
