Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Emily in PA

I've been reading Charlie's blog for a while now...some friends of mine had a link to it on their blog, and I was immediately drawn in. You guys have been a huge inspiration to me, especially as I've faced physical challenges with my little boy. Our son (our first baby) was born last April with a congenital defect in his right eye that left it sightless and malformed to such an extent that doctors thought it best to remove it last August. He has a prosthetic eye and is otherwise a healthy, happy boy, but the process of acceptance and understanding has been such a rollercoaster for me. And although I was only 2 at the time, my older brother passed away after contracting meningitis when he was 4. That has been a trial some members of my family have never been able to quite get over. You are so blessed that Charlie was able to fight through it, even though it brought a different set of trials into your life.

I know that physical and mental ailments come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of severity, but that doesn't lessen the impact these ailments have on family members who are trying to cope. And I think your family has done an unbelievable job of coping and being obvious supports for those around you. I'm sure you have been bouyed up through prayer and support from others, and my husband and I have also experienced the blessings that come when others pray and fast on your behalf. I just wanted to say how much I admire your strength and your determination to move on in life, because, really, what else can you do? You've been such an example to me and helped me come to terms with the fact that everyone has their own trials and Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us--our children are His children and He knows what will be best for them, even if it sometimes causes us some pain or heartache as parents. And we are His children and He knows what's best for us, even if we hope and pray the outcome might be different. Our little boys are so precious to Heavenly Father that He knew they could handle whatever this life threw at them, and so could we.

Your family is in my prayers constantly and although I'm sure there's a "creepy" factor to getting random emails like this, I hope you know your family is an incredible example to those of us who hear of Charlie's story through the grapevine!

Sincerely,
emily (in Philadelphia, PA)

4 comments:

Vanderlinden Clan said...

Thank you for that touching story; it was just as touching to me as Charlie's story. Thanks for the reminder that we all have trials and that through those trials we always have the choice to handle them positively. Through Charlie's blog we have had so many inspiring reminders of that. Thanks...

Meghan said...

"Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us--our children are His children and He knows what will be best for them, even if it sometimes causes us some pain or heartache as parents. And we are His children and He knows what's best for us..."

Love this statement. It couldn't be put more plainly or perfectly than this. thank you emily.

Anonymous said...

I have been keeping up on Charlie from the get go. I also have a son Charlie's age. The picture of him in his PJ's tugged at my heart. My son, just a few weeks younger has those same pj's. That really got to me.

I admire how stong you are as parents and how blessed your family has been by Charlie. What a wonderful little boy. How amazing is it that a little boy so sick can help so many people. I have had such wonderful blessings since I have read Charlie's blog. I find myself checking it daily.

I wanted to get my son a puppy. When we went to see the puppies, the lady had told us there was one puppy that was born without an eye. There had been nine puppies in the litter, and no one had picked the little guy with one eye. As my family was playing with the puppies, I stared to fall in love with the little one eyed wonder. Even though in my head I had the same thoughts as everyone else.... Would a one eyed dog be fine? Then it happened....The lady told us her kids had given that puppy a name. They named it Cooper! I imeditaly thought of Charlie---Super Cooper!! And I thought if he could do it so could we. Cooper is the best dog. I have to admit, before Charlie I don't think I would have given a one eyed dog a second chance. Now for as long as we have Cooper, I will never forget Charlie and all of his wonderful blessings he has given me.

So Charlie.... Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for changing my out look on life and helping me remeber. Life may not be easy... but it's worth every struggle.

Anonymous said...

Emily, I have been checkimg charlie's blog for quite sometime and realized that I have forgotten to leave a message for you. Your little guy is a fighter cause he is from Philly. You have an amazing city to explore with him.
I miss it!!
I encourage you to take in the sights and sounds of it all with him. For disability advocacy, Check out LibertyResources, Inc. @701 Market and the PIAT (Pennsylvania Initiative on Assistive Technology@ Temple U.Shyla Patera Montana