We have been referred to and given the excruciating opportunity to offer a life-saving experience for our precious daughter. As many of you know and have rallied around us in prayer and support since before we adopted her at birth, we have worked over 9 years to help support our daughter through some extreme emotional regulation dysfunction. She has the kindest heart, she loves her family, loves her friends, and loves Jesus. Through no fault of her own, her brain betrays her and in very simple terms, she is in a very heightened threat response state the majority of the time. It is exhausting for her to live like that and she works as hard as she possibly can to overcome, but her fight/flight response is as innate as blinking, breathing, or telling your heart to beat. Because of this, she can demonstrate unsafe behaviors when her brain feels like it needs to protect itself, with even the simplest task. We have exhausted all local resources, medicinal, holistic, private resources, and intensive in-home crisis intervention to help re-train the brain and let her heart shine. Her team says she needs time and support to have her brain catch up to her heart, and we agree. Every Single Provider we have talked to has the utmost confidence and excitement for what she is capable of when her brain is not using maladaptive behaviors as her default defense. We have all seen how incredible she already is, and we are fighting for her heart in a big way!!!
We also want to advocate that a Mental Health Crisis *is* a Health Crisis! Taking proactive measures IS life saving!
The funds from this campaign will be used to help us pay for the extreme cost of a beautiful therapeutic camp-like-setting in the southwest for children ages 8-12 with emotional regulation dysfunction. There she will be with only 30 other kids her age, incredible professionals in their fields, go to school, and live in a southwestern style home environment surrounded by beautiful landscape, horsemanship, gardening, trails, etc. Therapy is infused in the day-to-day living of work and play with a very relational model. They are extremely adoption friendly and trauma informed. They use the neuro sequential model of therapy day in and day out to help each kiddo specifically, and have already begun brain mapping.
We are stepping forward in faith knowing that God has flung open these doors, and we are taking each terrifying step in obedience, breaking our own hearts temporarily to save hers. We believe God will provide exactly what we need to make this happen financially.
First and foremost we covet your prayers. We invite you to partner with us for our McMiracle. We humbly ask that you’d pray about how much you’d be willing to give, and who you can invite to partner with us as well.
Costs are for the treatment center fees (average length of the program is 14-18 months) as well as the monthly flights for visits, hotels, travel, etc. for our family. We also invite you to donate airline miles, hotel points, rental car discounts, or if you have access to private travel, that’s great, too! Please visit us at McMiracleFam for more info on alternative gifts outside of this campaign.
Sometimes love looks devastating and sacrificial. Sometimes trusting Jesus feels equally freeing and terrifying. We are so proud of Macie for willingly going where she knows she can get help for her tricky brain. She sang us the song below, word for word, and we believe that together, her Miracle starts now.
Love, John and Kristen, little brother Charlie, and our entire extended family who love, adore and champion her.
