Thanksgiving
To all of our Catie followers,
Our hope is that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that you were able to count blessings and see God’s bounty in your life this past week. We have had a wonderful week, as a family, and as ambassadors of all that Catie is and means to so many. The week began last Saturday as St. Jude kicked off their Thanks and Giving campaign across the country with mall walks in 63 locations.
Catie's Team members at Harrisburg Walk
Two of them had Catie Teams participating, Allentown, PA and Harrisburg, PA. If you know of anyone who walked in one of these events and knows about Catie, please let us know!
Participants and Volunteers at the Give Thanks. Walk.
The Harrisburg walk was the second annual and its success last year provided the impetus for the Allentown walk and others. The Harrisburg walk surpassed last year’s event in participants, (more than 250), volunteers, (more than 50), and in donations, $32k and still counting. Below is a link to a video of the walk.
http://animoto.com/play/YM2k8qF0wJbKk1ZhkHLKvQ?utm_content=escape_link
In addition to the walk, we also saw the first St. Jude commercial for this year’s campaign and it brought back the flood of memories from Catie’s commercial with Jason Taylor. What a wonderful day that was. Catie was still in treatment and feeling good and Christine and I had a terrific time spending an entire day with Catie and being so proud of who she was as she met and interacted with so many people. Her smile just lit up any room she was in, just like her mom. I am so blessed to be a husband and father, and being Catie’s dad is still an honor. Take a look at the link below, it is a short video of the outtakes of the commercial, Catie is the beautiful little girl in pink. It takes a minute for the video to load, but it is worth the wait.
http://bbitv.nextcom.no/video/Behind_the_Scenes_with_Jason_Taylor.htm
In many ways, that day held all of the elements of Catie’s Wish. We stopped to pray at the Lourdes grotto in Emmittsburg, and Catie wrote out a prayer card asking God to make her better and we prayed for all of the kids battling cancer. Then we did what we could to help St. Jude in their fight to treat and continue research. Even then, we knew that eradicating pediatric cancer would take prayer and research. Thank you for continuing this journey with us.
The rest of the week was a buildup to Thanksgiving and a great weekend. Thanksgiving was spent with the Connollys and as usual, we did not arrive home until after midnight. Friday saw us sharing Thanksgiving meal number two at our house which Christine and the kids have begun to decorate. Saturday we journeyed back to our old neighborhood so that we could spend some time with the Toscanos and be close by on Sunday for Gianna Marie Grimmer’s Baptism.
Max holding Gianna Marie Grimmer
What an honor to be invited and to be a part of such a wonderful sacrament. Holding that sweet three week old smelling of Chrism brought back such terrific memories of holding Catie and the Fab 5 and of our Gianna who we were never able to hold. What a blessing! Thank you Jennifer and Will. As I knelt next to Christine holding Gianna, Christine looked at me with a huge smile and a tear running down her cheek and said, “this is the happiest I have been in a long time.” I knew just what she meant.
Isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about? We should not be thankful just when things go our way because getting our way may not be the best thing for us. Think about being a parent and giving your child everything they want, allowing them to have their way constantly. You would never do it because the child would end up spoiled and selfish. As parents, we teach our children that sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes the answer is no, and we hope to teach them that in both answers we love them. God loves us unconditionally and that does not change or diminish when we don’t get our way. Holding that sweet baby brought joy for the blessing that she is, sadness that two of our daughters are no longer with us, hope that we will see them again in heaven, and faith that God has us in the palm of His hands. The trick is to be thankful for all of that, not just the parts we like.
Molly and Gianna Marie
And so, I pray that your Thanksgiving was all that it could be and that your blessings were too numerous to count, (even though you tried). If you did not see all of the blessings, now is the perfect time to reflect on them as we prepare for Christmas. See all of the blessings God has placed in your life. Know without a doubt that He loves you, and then share that love with those in your life. Hug the people you love because you can’t hug them once they are gone. Tell your spouse you love them and thank them for all they do, and let your kids know that you are proud of them even if they drive you crazy. Know that we are praying for you and know that Catie climbs onto God’s lap and whispers your name to Him daily.
God is good, all the time,
Christine, Kevin, Maggie, Max, Mia, Molly, M.E., and always Catie
PS – The Central Pennsylvania Tour of Lights begins this Saturday, December 4th at 6pm and runs each night in six Central PA locations until January 8th. Please visit www.duszakfamilylights.com for the addresses of the light shows. Proceeds from the shows benefit St. Jude and the Catie’s Wish Foundation. Catie saw the show two years ago and was thrilled, and saw it from heaven last year. This year’s show is bigger and brighter than ever and clearly visible from Catie’s viewpoint. Thank you Ron!!
