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Dear Friends at FHFH:
I just wanted to take this opportunity to
thank you for your ministry. I want to thank you for offering an
outlet for my son to make this his ministry also. Three years ago our
grandson, Carter Dale, was born. He started turning blue and then
purple within minutes of his birth. He was transported immediately to
another hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit. After tests, he
was flown by helicopter to Peoria, Illinois to yet another hospital
that did heart surgeries on new borns. They had to keep him sedated to
build up strength for his surgery. My wife and I came home and took
care of some business and went back to the hospital. I sat down next
to my son, Jimmy, in a waiting room and handed him an envelope. In it
was money from us, from his grandparents and from the church in which
they were married. "Dad, I can't take this money, I can never pay them
back." Then the tears started rolling down Jimmy’s cheeks.
I asked him, "Do you remember the day that
a man came to you at work and asked for merchandise from your company
so it could be auctioned off to enable him to afford to go to an out
of state hospital to receive treatment? Do you remember telling him to
wait while you went home and grabbed your 'Dale Earnhardt, Snap On
wrench's - the ones that were limited edition and had already tripled
in value? You took those back to the store and handed them to him and
said, ‘Here, these should bring some money for you.’” Jimmy said,
"Yeah, I remember." Then I asked him how it made him feel to help that
man out? "Okay, I understand now dad, it’s a gift to be able to help
someone."
Well, Carter had surgery and they replaced
his aorta. Late that night we went back to the hotel. His mother and I
told him to call the hospital and check on the baby so we could get to
bed and return to the hospital early in the morning. While Jimmy was
talking on the phone he turned pale and sat down on the bed and kept
saying, "Okay, Okay" over and over. He hung up the phone and said,
"Mom we have to get back there right now, they found another problem
with Carter and they have to open him up again and do another surgery.
My precious little grandson had to lay there a week with his chest
spread apart and covered with clear plastic. We would ask the nurses
to cover his chest so we couldn't see his heart beating. He was too
swollen to close.
Carter is fine now. But, the way people
had helped the family gave my son a burning desire to return the favor
and help others. Now, thanks to FHFH he’s found a way. Jimmy was
giving a testimony at Church and after the service a man came up to
shake his hand. He said, "You don't know me, I have never been here
before, but while you were talking about your son, God spoke to me and
said, "This child will be something for My Kingdom some day." So you
see, I don't use the word 'ministry' lightly. Thank you again for all
you are doing and for giving my son and his boys a way to help give
back.
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