Hey there!  My name is Erica and I'm so glad you are here.  I am a child of a good and gracious God and wife of 17 years to Jake.  I have three beautiful children.  Two (Drew and Ava) that live earthside and one (Grace) who went to Heaven in the summer of 2023.  I have a wonderful family and the best friends any girl could ask for.  I love being a wife and mom and consider that role my biggest calling in life.  I did not grow up in the church but gave my life to Jesus in 2010 and live every day pursuing a relationship with Him.  I can humbly acknowledge that I often fall short, but I know that I serve a good God who extends unending grace to me. For most of my life I would have said that there were no earth-shattering events, just the normal daily struggles all wives and moms face.  On Christmas Eve of 2022 all that changed when my youngest daughter Grace (8) was diagnosed with a cancerous soft tissue tumor called Rhabdomyosarcoma.  All the ease that life once held was gone and I became a cancer mom overnight.  I held my baby during port accesses, combed out her beautiful hair once chemo began, comforted her when chemo and nerves made her nauseous all while balancing being a mom to two other children that needed me and were hurting. Seven months later we had to make the decision no parent ever wants to.  Her cancer had spread rapidly to areas of her body that chemo could not penetrate and we were told our options had run out.  The next season of my life began when I held my baby girl as God ushered her into Heaven.  I've had to learn how to be a mom on earth when one of my precious children isn't here to hold.  It's changed me and challenged me in ways I couldn't ever explain.  It's unnatural and not how God intended it to be.  I have always liked getting my thoughts out of my head and on paper.  When Grace got sick, it became therapy for me.  It helped me to clear my mind and process all the things running through it.  It's now been a whole year since we sent Grace to Heaven, and I feel a strong urge from God to do something that could possibly reach many others.  He has entrusted this heavy purpose to me, and I refuse to waste any of it.  There have been many people since that have experienced life change because of how strong and courageous Grace was during her battle with cancer and how she never lost her faith.  If by me sharing my life in this way leads to the salvation of even one more person, what a testimony that would be.  The story that when God handed me the biggest sorrow of my life, I did not turn away but turned toward Him, picked up this cross and bore it for all to see me grieve the loss of Grace with hope and faith.  To show others that even when your worst nightmare happens it is still possible to trust God with His plan for your life.  To remind people that we have God that gave us Jesus so that we would not feel alone in our sorrows.  Instead, we can look to Him and the suffering He faced for our sins and sit in the valley knowing He has been there too.  We can place our trust in Him because He has been proven trustworthy.  We can rely on dependance from Him to guide us through this life on Earth.  To show others that maybe the miracle in all this is a mom that is learning to walk forward in the midst of heartbreak.  Not away from Grace, but towards eternity with Jesus where I will get to see her again.