Ava's Memorial Service - Please RSVP

As previously mentioned, Ava's Memorial Service will be two weekends from now.

Ava's Memorial Service
Date: Saturday, January 14th
Time: 1pm
Location: Willow Creek North Shore
                   2200 Shermer Rd.
                   Glenview, IL 60026

For now, there will be a private service on Friday (Jan 13th) for family and close friends. However, if it looks like the Saturday service will likely fill to capacity, we will consider opening up the 13th as well to accommodate more friends.

While Willow Creek North Shore church can accommodate over 1,000 people, we know that Ava's story has touched exponentially more. Due to limited seating, the service on Saturday will be open to those who personally know Ava and the Lee family: Mike, Esther, Uncle David, Uncle Matt, and the Lee grandparents. To help us get a scope on the numbers attending, please RSVP at this link to help us better assess what is needed.

If you saw and already RSVP'd on the Facebook Event page created earlier this evening, please RSVP again at the new link above. The Facebook Event page didn't allow people to RSVP for more than just themselves, and required guests to have a FB account to do so. This new page will also allow friends to RSVP regrets and include a message if desired. Thanks for your help, patience and understanding.

From Esther and Mike

(Esther's post on Team Brighter Days FB page):

Since I have no words, I am posting Mike's letter to our church in hopes that it will be an encouragement to you. We know many share in the deep ache of missing our girl, Ava Bright. Though it is tempting for us to lay down and give up, we look to the example of our sweet girl during her last moments on earth.

She galloped toward the finish line, even when the oxygen no longer reached her lungs - until the final beat of her heart.

It will be my absolute privilege and honor to, one day, share about Ava's last few hours before going to heaven. For now, we look to God to provide the very next breath of air so that we do not suffocate under this heavy blanket of sorrow.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us and for our girl, Gwen, who has been profoundly impacted by the loss of her sister. She cries out with us and lays in bed with us, understanding the depth of this experience in a way many children her age could not. That is how strong their bond was. I am so thankful that she was able to experience that kind of love.

We will also include the tentative schedule for the memorial services below. We look forward to celebrating Ava's life with everyone who loved her.

________________________________________________

Dear Family,

Esther and I, and many times Gwen, have been huddled in our room for the past four days weeping and crying out. Jude simply has no idea what is going on. Esther and I have been counseling each other, needing so much help from each other to deal with the endless sources of pain and sadness. Some measure of solace comes from the fact that Ava herself, less than a month ago, asked God to stop the suffering, saying that she wanted to go home. In God's mercy, grace, and love for her, He answered her prayer to the contrary of countless thousands that were asking that she be healed and remain here.

We may always suffer the confusion of why she has suffered illness all throughout her life, and why the disease was allowed to persist till the end. But we rejoice in her being taken up by God out of this world and into His own embrace. Ava lived in such a way that has reached the core of what truly matters to me and what doesn't. For she kept suffering with such perseverance and continued to care deeply for her loved ones and show kindness to all people. She did this even when it was so hard to take one step or even a satisfying breath of air.

It has been extremely difficult also to fight against the many regrets, failures, and missed opportunities we have had with her over these eight years, given how truly precious she is. We've even been battling against the conclusion that we somehow caused this terrible and ceaseless suffering upon her. Esther has been especially good to me in helping me fight against that.

Our lives have been overturned. It's not just because we occupied so much of ourselves with her basic need to survive in the face of a barrage of attacks against her life. But it's also the Christlike character that God infused into her, from the beginning of her life to the final beat of her heart. All of this makes her absence so deafening.

Yet we are beckoned to align ourselves with the irrefutable result of all of this: the glory of Jesus Christ. Despite how we feel, God has been and will continue to be glorified. We conclude that this must be the point of all her struggles, and we believe that her passing will somehow also be used for God's honor and glory.

Our sorrowful state will likely evolve, as someone told us that this kind of grief is not linear but a journey of lots of ups and downs. Yet the Lord is worthy of all our praise, including the kind that comes out of horrifying pain.

Thank you for being the church that we can worship our God with, in every mindset and every phase of life. We love you. Worshiping our Heavenly Father is what we need to do and what we long to do, knowing that our connection with Jesus is the only hope we have to persevere through this. So we hope to see you at church on Sunday, and want you to know that starting this evening, Esther and I will be attending the OIL Retreat in Wheaton so that we can be filled up and unite ourselves with corporate worship right away.

Nothing is the same anymore. But God is the same.

With fresh determination in her steps, Ava enters into His heavenly house of worship, lifting her joyful hands to our good, good Father.

Looking heavenward,

Mike

_________________________________________________

Ava's Memorial Service - preliminary info

Thank you for everyone's patience. Details are still being discussed, but Ava's memorial service will be two weekends from now, January 13th (private service) and the14th.

Due to limited seating, the service on the 14th will be open to those who personally know Ava and the Lee family: Mike, Esther, Uncle David, Uncle Matt, and the Lee grandparents.

For now, the service on the 13th will be a private service for family and close friends. However, if the 14th fills to capacity, we will consider opening up the 13th as well. Please RSVP as soon as possible to the Facebook Event posted here to help us organize.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts,
Mike and Esther

Ava's Memorial Service - preliminary info

Thank you for everyone's patience. Details are still being discussed, but Ava's memorial service will be two weekends from now (Jan 13/14), with Friday night being a private service.

It is a wonder how far and wide Ava's story has spread; people from all over the globe have prayed, wept and supported Ava and the Lee family - family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. However, in order to keep attendance at a reasonable number, we humbly ask that the Saturday service be limited to guests who actually knew Ava and the Lee family: Mike, Esther, Uncle David, Uncle Matt, the Lee grandparents. (We know this will still be a lot of people). Everyone else is invited and encouraged to join in via live stream. (More details to come on how to do that). We may create a Facebook event page for people to rsvp in order to get a ballpark idea on numbers. Thanks for your understanding and help.

In the Presence of His Glory

As many of you already know from Esther's FB post, Ava is in the presence of Jesus. We wonder what joyful things she is doing: singing praises with the angels, worshiping her Heavenly Father, dancing and using her pain-free legs, laughing and being free of wires, ports and tubes... perhaps even knowing all sorts of things that remain a mystery to us on this side of heaven.

Despite the comfort of knowing that she is in the best place ever, the sorrow she leaves behind is real and deep. Mike & Esther have so appreciated your partnership in their journey, from near and far, friends and strangers. However, please respect the Lee family's desire and need to grieve privately at this time. Details about the memorial service will be shared according to their desires when it is decided.

At this time, the meal schedule will resume as originally planned, daily meals delivered to the Lee home. Frequency may be adjusted as needed.

Thanks for your continued prayers for the Lee family. While we rejoice that Ava is done battling cancer and is free of disease, the family she leaves behind is beginning a different kind of marathon. Thanks in advance for continuing to pray for them.

Meals Pending

Friends,
Thanks for all the prayers, love and support that you have rallied around Ava and her family. For those who signed up to bring a meal, please wait until we have more information about where/how many would best serve them. (There is no expectation for you to deliver food to the hospital in lieu of the Lee home on your sign-up date, but let me know if you'd like to). We'll update with more info when we have a better idea. Thank you.

Ava in PICU

Ava went to the ER last night and was admitted to the PICU. She has severe septic shock and has been intubated. She still has not been stabilized; your prayers are deeply appreciated. Thank you.

From Esther:
Ava is in severe septic shock and in the ICU. She is intubated and currently still unstable. Please pray for our sweet girl and for us. These broken hearts are too heavy to carry.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:16

Meal Train

The Meal Train will begin again for the Lees starting next Monday. They will have various family members coming in from out of town, so meal support would allow them to focus on spending time together without the distraction of other logistics. Things to note:

• Meals should be delivered to the Lee home. You can contact Patty at: naisula (at) gmail (dot) com for their address
• The number of adults to feed might vary from day to day, but should be noted on each date. (Please check back as the numbers might be adjusted accordingly). Feel free to team up with others to provide food for a particular day.
• Don't worry about providing food for the kids.
• At this time, a daily meal schedule has been set up. However, should the Lees start accumulating a healthy amount of leftovers, the schedule will be adjusted accordingly. Thank you!

Thanksgiving Week Meals

Hi, friends,
As Ava is admitted back into Children's in Milwaukee to receive treatment (see Team Brighter Days FB page), the meal schedule has been reactivated for this week, through next Monday. Things to note:

1. Only lunch for one adult is needed.
2. We are not utilizing volunteer drivers this week, so we welcome you to order from restaurants that deliver. (You can see this link for suggestions).
3. It's possible Ava might get discharged before next Monday, but I'll let you know if a meal is no longer needed on your sign-up day. Thanks for your flexibility.

Ava should be able to go home on hospital pass to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with family on Thursday, so thanks for your prayers for that to be happen without any unforeseen hiccups.

Thanks for your continued support and love for the Lee family!

Discharge!

You may already know from Esther's post on the Team Brighter Days page, but Ava has been discharged from the hospital! What an incredible blessing this is; the meal schedule has been temporarily suspended for now, but I'll let you know when the need arises again. Heart-filled thanks to all who signed up, provided and delivered meals for the Lees. Please continue to pray for Ava and Esther during this critical time of preparing for transplant. Ava will get another bone marrow biopsy and the results will determine whether she is still a candidate for transplant. Thank you for your faithful prayers! You are helping to make news headlines! The Lord is good.

The Brightest Day Awards: Our Neighbors

We are still in the battle. Not a soul except God knows how this will turn out. But why not get the award ceremony going a bit early?

Let's call it, "The Brightest Day Awards." It's based on the middle names of our girls: Ava BRIGHT and Gwenyth DAY.

Because these are the people who, through their ongoing friendship with us, have turned a rough experience of ours into the Brightest Day we could possibly have. Just a few comments before the award ceremony begins:

1) These awards are purely subjective, based on no scientific criteria. I just want to put certain people at ease, you know the kind of Christian who says, "I don't want any rewards on earth because then I won't get them in heaven. So please don't thank me, don't acknowledge me, don't give me any credit because then God won't give me any credit." [a very kind and gentle sounding] Hahahaha! If that's YOU, stop trying to cheat the system! Besides, let's say we never thank you, never appreciate you, and completely ignore you for what you've done for us on earth. Yes God WILL reward you. But who is going to stop us from finding you in heaven and thanking you anyway? How sure are you that we won't be able to feed you grapes in heaven, with our three kids fanning you with a semi-slow breeze on a hot day? So if we WILL BE thanking you in heaven, how different is that from thanking you on earth?? So take it easy. Let me and my family, and everyone who knows us say, "THANK YOU!" You can stop averting your eyes and keep reading, People!

All kidding aside, there have been hundreds of people - we couldn't keep count. So many people have done so many different things for us. But there is not a single soul of any of them who is "trying to do a good deed," you know - to feel good about themselves or to be recognized in any way. Maybe a family with a sick child draws out the best people on earth. But I just want you to know that these awards are an attempt to capture the spirit of the people who have helped us. They describe what cannot be put into words, so we call them the Brightest Day Awards. It's therefore purely subjective without any standard of criteria.

2) The ceremony may never come to an end. As long as we're here, no matter what happens. This is the one constant piece throughout our journey. It's been UP for us as well as it's been DOWN, but the people surrounding us have stayed the same - reminding us of God's presence and grace. So we'll keep "handing" these awards out maybe monthly, weekly, hourly - whenever we can. It's an attempt to release the tension that exists from being broken and unable to keep up with everyone who has blessed us. 

3) Unlike common award ceremonies, it may be a challenge to identify the recipients of this reward. No one's walking up on stage and getting their pictures taken! Names will rarely be used. Part of that is a protection of people's privacy and especially to keep people from being squeamish when they're singled out. But recipients WILL KNOW who they are, because they'll be notified of having won the award. (Someone from the Brightest Day team will make a personal call or send a card - and invite them to visit this blog.) We do hope most recipients will have at least a small circle of people who are able to say, "I know them!" and give a virtual applause.

Okay, here we go. For the VERY FIRST Brightest Day Award, it goes to...

Our Neighbors!

It had been just six months since we moved into our home, and I'm not sure how our neighbors found out that Ava was diagnosed with leukemia. But I know their hearts sank, and they somehow knew what might help. In Seattle, someone came to visit us in the hospital. It was a woman who lost one of her children to neuroblastoma many years ago. She is our neighbor's best friend, who happens to live in Seattle and would often come to the hospital to cheer us on. Our neighbor found a way to keep being a neighbor during our darkest times. From there, when we were away for months on end, our neighbors collected our mail, mowed our lawn, parked his marked car in our driveway (our neighbor is a Cook County Sheriff) to further protect our empty home from opportunistic vandalism, and many, many other things. They pretty much kept our home from the things that could happen even if we were home, such as the pipes freezing and bursting, weeds spreading everywhere, stale air breeding mold on the walls... They did a complete landscaping of the front and back lawns, which were being terrorized I think by an invasive species from Venus. Interplanetary moss and shrubs can no longer return. A HUGE job that was. They loved and cared for our dog, making him feel like a king, taking care of all his needs and even giving him a new best friend by taking in a rescue puppy so that he'd have a social life. One of our neighbor's sons is a firefighter, whose crew came in and helped rearrange all the heavy furniture in our house before we came home from Seattle. Another son is a musician who will probably be famous one day but is willing to spend every weekend mowing our lawn before I can get to it - that's all throughout the summer and fall when we've BEEN HOME - right now even when I've been perfectly able to do it! Their 3rd son is away in college, who has tons of friends that sometimes have parties in their backyard. They talk to Gwen and give her something to look forward to, which is to have lots of friends who are good people and make a neighborhood come alive. It's great to be surrounded by such wonderful neighbors. You don't have to live with the sense that, if you had to defend yourself from the many threatening things out there in this world, you'd be all alone. With our neighbors, we believe that if anyone or anything were to come against us, they'd have to face some strong people first - they'd have to get past a circle of true patriots who know what they're doing and will fight and defend us with everything they have. We love our neighbors - they're the kind that we wish everyone had, the kind we aspire to be. They're the neighbors that make what you do more effective, like when you try and have the kids run a lemonade stand, they boost the sales. When you're looking for the best place to enjoy the fireworks, they save you a spot. When you wonder if your block is going to have anything to be proud of when it's Halloween or Christmas, their property has things going on that make up for everyone else's. So much kindness, strength, and dedication poured into our feeble lives.

That's Our Neighbors. This very first Brightest Day Award goes to you!