Happy 10th Birthday and a List of Gifts!

This is a HUGE day in my world and for many others who have been part of this frontier endeavor that began in 2002...beginning the Hasingler Family Pediatric Palliative Care Center at Akron Children's Hospital...

This was a conceived at a time when there were only a scarce, single-digit few in this country...and our center is now considered one of the premiere centers in the world.

Here's what we do:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1ZVRCWqzU]

We have rented the 3,000 seat Akron Civic Theater, doors open at 6 pm, TONIGHT!

So I  thought I would LIST the mercies God has given by allowing me to be a part of this work and this team:

1. Having the privilege of being invited into the most intimate parts of families' lives as a guest and a presence.


2. The gift of PERSPECTIVE!


3. Being able to walk the journey with some of the most resilient, incredible children/young adults and families I have ever known.


4. Seeing God use the weak to teach me incredible lifelong lessons.


5. Being able to work with such wonderful, gifted colleagues and a phenomenal Director.


6. Being able to give back to the community from which I received so much.


7. The knowledge at the end of the day that I have made a difference.


8. Being able to work for an incredible hospital...one of the best 99 employers in northeast Ohio.


9. No long commute...


10. Seeing God's hand in the common, unnoticed places time and time again.


11. The opportunity to see what to most is invisible.

I think of how important children were to Jesus while he was on earth and think of the words of this old song, as sung by Alison Krauss with The Cox Family...Jewels
 [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmSbC17u4-s]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HASLINGER PEDIATRIC PALLIATIVE CARE CENTER!



With gratitude,