People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, …but they will always remember how you made them feel.
(Markelle's 10th Birthday, 12/16/05)
As most of you already know, each year our family chooses to take on a unique service project in honor of Markelle and her December 16th birthday and Christmas. It's been our way of continuing to give what we can to Markelle and to keep our holiday focused on what we have and are capable of doing rather than what we have lost.
If you are reading this you probably knew Markelle, or maybe you met us after Markelle was gone, in which case you have probably heard her story. We would like ask you to take a second and try to remember how you felt after just visiting with Markelle or hearing about her. If you are like us, We visited Markelle as often as possible just to get our cup full... Let's face it, most of us never went to the hospital for her, or for Heidi, it was for us, because being with Markelle made us feel amazing. Witnessing her fight and her passion for life, seeing her try to have as much fun as possible when she obviously felt lousy was purely inspirational. We'll confess that we drank from Markelle's fountain and it made us feel like a better people.. It's one of the things we miss most and one of the reasons we love our yearly service project in her name. We get to attempt to recreate the feeling we felt when we spent time with Markelle. In addition, we keep her memories fresh and keep her part of our family tradition.
Now, part of our family is in Oregon. A lot of Markelle's people and our family and friends are in Utah. We have friends and family who live in Washington, Idaho, Texas and Ohio. Life changes, we are growing and spreading out. So after giving much thought to how we can collectively share in Markelle's gift, we came up with a new idea. We propose that each person think of one word to describe how Markelle made you feel, and then take some time to come up with a family, or individual, project to try to make someone in need feel that same way. We would love to post your story here for everyone to share, with pictures and feedback on how your project made you feel. We would love to see the unique ways in which we were all inspired by Markelle and the creative way you choose to express it.
If you are reading this you probably knew Markelle, or maybe you met us after Markelle was gone, in which case you have probably heard her story. We would like ask you to take a second and try to remember how you felt after just visiting with Markelle or hearing about her. If you are like us, We visited Markelle as often as possible just to get our cup full... Let's face it, most of us never went to the hospital for her, or for Heidi, it was for us, because being with Markelle made us feel amazing. Witnessing her fight and her passion for life, seeing her try to have as much fun as possible when she obviously felt lousy was purely inspirational. We'll confess that we drank from Markelle's fountain and it made us feel like a better people.. It's one of the things we miss most and one of the reasons we love our yearly service project in her name. We get to attempt to recreate the feeling we felt when we spent time with Markelle. In addition, we keep her memories fresh and keep her part of our family tradition.
Now, part of our family is in Oregon. A lot of Markelle's people and our family and friends are in Utah. We have friends and family who live in Washington, Idaho, Texas and Ohio. Life changes, we are growing and spreading out. So after giving much thought to how we can collectively share in Markelle's gift, we came up with a new idea. We propose that each person think of one word to describe how Markelle made you feel, and then take some time to come up with a family, or individual, project to try to make someone in need feel that same way. We would love to post your story here for everyone to share, with pictures and feedback on how your project made you feel. We would love to see the unique ways in which we were all inspired by Markelle and the creative way you choose to express it.
You can see what we've decided to do in our posts below. Please send us an e-mail with your story. We would love to hear about it and even see pictures of what you do. Send emails to markellefrei@comcast.net. We will get it posted right away.
We are aware that this service project comes very close to Christmas, which is a natural time of charity and helping others. This is not meant to be a contest or to see who can do the most, it's not intended to take the place of what you would normally do with your family or church and does not have to be monetary at all. Helping the children of a single mother with reading and homework is every bit as impressive as giving a large sum of money to her... We are simply asking that you pay forward the wonderful way Markelle made you feel and then share it with us. If along the way you inspire someone to see the miracle of the season, then the amazing gift she left for us will have true meaning.
With love and all the blessings of the season,
Heidi and Allie
With love and all the blessings of the season,
Heidi and Allie
God gives us the opportunity to know him, he stands at the door and knocks, it's up to us to let him.
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