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Book recounts blessings to family through child’s brief life
By John Gleason
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LEARN MORE Title: “A Child’s First Christmas in Heaven” |
Every life, however brief, is profoundly meaningful—and a blessing to those touched by it.
Barbara and Tom Geesey’s lives were richly blessed by a little girl named Ella who became part of their family and, for the short time she was with them, filled their home with love and joy.
Barbara shares Ella’s story in a book titled “A Child’s First Christmas in Heaven” (Xulon, 2009). It is a story of hope, trust and love and recounts how a small child changed the lives of a family forever. The book is dedicated “to anyone who has ever loved a child.”
Ella was born in 2002 with Schizencephaly, a development disorder characterized by clefts or slits in the brain’s cerebral hemispheres. A person afflicted with the disorder may present varying degrees of seizures, delayed speech and language skills, and vision and eating disorders.
Treatment consists of extensive physical therapy and anti-seizure medication.
Ella’s biological parents were unable to care for her and contacted adoption agencies who were interested in placing the child with another family—until they learned she was severely disabled.
The Geeseys, who had three grown children of their own, knew the young couple and their plight. They brought Ella into their home, where she lived until she died in 2009. Barbara told the Denver Catholic Register that having Ella in her life brought her face-to-face with God’s love.
“Ella was medially fragile and so very special,” she said. “She would require expensive medications and round the clock care. Children with Schizencephaly often have short life expectancies and the doctors doubted that she would live a long time. Well, Ella ended up living to the age of seven.”
In fact, Barbara notes in the book, Ella surprised her doctors by rarely getting sick. The loving adoptive mom describes Ella “as beautiful a baby as anyone could wish for.”
“We wanted to say how much love Ella brought into our lives,” Barbara said, explaining what prompted the book. “For me, I can say that knowing her has been one of the best experiences I’ve had. She was simply a loving baby.”
In addition to telling Ella’s story, Barbara hopes that proceeds from the publication can help fund a respite care facility for disabled children.
“It’s an idea that came from the experience of Ella in our lives,” she said. “There’s not a lot of places available and it can be quite expensive.”
“A Child’s First Christmas in Heaven” retails for $19.99 ($11.99 in paperback) and is available online through the publisher, www.xulonpress.com. It can also be ordered through Amazon or at Barnes and Noble Booksellers.
Barbara admits that the book may not be a literary masterpiece. Rather, it comes from her heart. Her message is that being open to God’s will can lead where you didn’t plan to go—and to unexpected blessings.
“It’s like I wrote on the book cover,” Barbara said. “Trust God’s leading and wait for miracles to happen. If you wait patiently, you’ll see God at work in your life and in the lives of those around you.”
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