More Than Just Money

Why I Give To My Local Church

I grew up in the church. From as early as I can remember, those shiny gold offering plates with carpet inside them passed in front of me (followed by the weekly register to write your name!) and became a regular part of my Sunday morning. I saw my grandparents throw their offering envelope into that plate every week. My grandma would often give me a quarter or two to throw in, so I felt like I was a part of it too. As I grew older and started making money of my own, I occasionally threw my five bucks in, really feeling like I was doing something. We eventually switched to a church a little more modern where those gold plates were replaced by white buckets, and those weeks I threw a $20 bill in I felt pretty good about myself. I made sure to write my name on that envelope in big letters so there was no mistake it was mine.

I later joined the staff at my local church and heard the call to tithe and what that meant during a series on finances. Woah, they want 10%?? Are they crazy? If they knew how many bills I paid every month, they wouldn't dare expect 10%. So I continued throwing my $20 in, feeling like a good little Christian.

Then things changed. Life got messy and incredibly difficult. And the church was there.

When my husband and I were going through the hardest years of our marriage, the church was there.

When I was battling my 3rd (and most trying) year of infertility trying to have a child, the church and our life group was there.

When my son was experiencing all kinds of medical difficulties, resulting in huge financial struggles, the church was there with prayer and our life group was there with help.

And my thinking shifted. God doesn't just want me to give my tithe every week to keep up with the church building and help pay the staff. In reality, He doesn't need my money. He owns everything anyway. Instead, He wants me to give to the work being done in and outside of the walls of the church building to help change lives and change neighborhoods.

If you know me, you know we pay a huge amount of money every month (think mortgage payment...) to student loans. And we now have medical bills and incredibly expensive food we have to buy for my son that has severe food allergies. Giving 10% to my local church is hard. It really makes us have to budget and look at what we're spending money on. But since we have started tithing, we've never been without. We've never missed a payment, never not had enough food or been unable to pay medical bills. God just keeps providing.

If I can give back even a portion to the church to thank them for being there for me during the hardest years of my life so far, I will. I want to give to the work that the local church continues to do to change lives and be there for people, like it was for me.

Touch, scratch, poke, yuck.

Today was the long anticipated first appointment at the EE Clinic. Kaleb was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) a little over a month ago. (You can read more on previous blogs.) Once a month, 3 specialists come together to treat kids who suffer from this disease. We first met with the allergist (who was different than the one he usually sees), then Dr. Aljabi (G.I. Specialist) and then a dietitian.

Dr McLaughlin (allergist) told us a lot about EE and food allergies and then had a comprehensive skin allergy test done. There were 5 different panels of foods, and Kaleb was not happy at all. They forced him to lie on his stomach for a really long time, and to be honest, was not kid-friendly at all like Dr White's office is. He had reactions to 2 new things, turkey and coconut. Which now brings our list of foods to avoid to:

Milk, egg, wheat, barley, rye, oats, chicken, turkey and coconut.

We then saw Dr Aljabi and Dr McLaughlin together. Dr Aljabi was very impressed with the almost 4 pounds Kaleb has gained!! However, she was really concerned about his skin color, and Dr McLaughlin concurred. This forced us to have lab work for a full CBC.

Lastly, we met with the dietitian, who basically didn't offer any other solutions and told me I was doing a good job of feeding him. I was really looking for different ideas of things to feed him, but she couldn't offer me any. In fact, I taught her several things about where to shop, new products on the market, etc! 

In the end, my main lesson for today was to be my child's advocate. Dr Aljabi wants another endoscopy done in January, but I informed her about how Deaconess told me his last one would be covered at 100% but then I got bills for $1500. She agreed to schedule it for Dec 20 so that all the bills would be covered this year since we've met the deductible. (Have I mentioned I really like her?!?) Hopefully if all goes well on the next endoscopy, we can stop the pulmicort steroids. 

I also made it a point that if Kaleb has another endoscopy he WILL have the versed medicine to calm him before the IV, which didn't happen last time. I told them how we were told there "just wasn't time" and they assured us it wouldn't happen again. Trust me, it won't. Not with this mama! I've learned to stand up for my child and fight for him and what's necessary and what's not.

I was talking with a friend last night about how we had prayed and prayed for a child for 3 years before getting pregnant with Kaleb, and how much of a miracle he truly is. I can honestly say at only 1 year old, he is my daily inspiration. Special needs and all, he knows how to light up a room and steal a heart within minutes. His tight grip hugs may be the sweetest thing I've ever experienced with a child. While I didn't ask for this situation or foresee it at all, I'll deal with the food avoidance and cooking special meals for him 3 times a day for as long as I have to for my miracle baby. Most days I feel like I don't have it altogether and feel a lot of stress and anxiety, but then Kaleb crawls over, sits in my lap and lays his head against my chest, and it's all worth it. Funny how God created children with the ability to soften hearts like that :)