Want to help?

This may actually be the hardest post I’ve typed yet! Ok, I know there’s only 5 posts, but still.

Honestly, I don’t like asking people for help. Maybe it’s just a guy thing? But I also don’t like people making a fuss over me or over my family. Julia feels the same way. It’s just hard to accept the kind of help/generosity/attention that people want to give. That sounds horrible, right? But it’s just something that we struggle with. We don’t want people to feel like they have to give us something or do something for us. We don’t want to seem greedy or to cause any type of hardship or burden for anyone else. For some reason, we feel like we should be going it alone, or at least mostly fending for ourselves and making it all work somehow.

But too many people love us and care for us to just let us go this journey alone. People want to help. They want to share this burden with us. They want to do… something.

And we don’t want to say no. Nor should we. You’re our family and our friends. I would hope that if the tables were turned, we would be doing the same exact thing for you, whether you asked for it or not. Because, at the end of the day, we’re all in this together.

Over the past couple of weeks, people have expressed their desire to help us in many different ways. Below, I’m going to list out all of the different ways you can help, and if you’d like, please pick whichever one works best for you.

Final disclaimer: PLEASE don’t feel like you are obligated to do any of these, or that any of these are more or less important than the others. Really!

Ways to help:

• Prayer – We believe that prayer is a powerful gift that allows us direct communication with the God that created all of us, and Elijah. We believe that he listens to us and is active in our lives. Many people have already expressed that they are praying for us and for Elijah, but there’s no such thing as too much prayer! And there’s a lot to pray for.
• Money – Julia’s Aunt Lex was kind enough to start a GoFundMe page for us. It’s called Elijah’s Loving Little Legs. The Goal is listed as $10,000, but that’s just a number. If we don’t meet it, that’s ok. Whatever money is raised will go towards medical bills, and helping Elijah through this time with some extra comforts and fun.
• Food – Our friend Olivia also wanted to help by setting up a Meal Train for us. This allows people to pick a date that they can provide a meal for us. You can either make food, order food, provide gift cards for food, etc. If not all of the dates get reserved, that’s fine. We’re not too picky, but if you want to go this route, and have questions, you can feel free to reach out to us with questions.
• Gifts – If you wanted to get a little something for Elijah, he really likes building things. So, Lego’s are a good option. He also likes science experiment types toys, or projects that involve hands-on activities. He likes board games and card games too. He likes books, though right now it’s more about looking at pictures of non-fiction books (usually about legos, egypt, trains, etc.). He likes RC vehicles, and things that go, or things that crash!
• Mail – If you just want to send us a postcard, letter, picture, or whatever, I know Elijah would love getting some surprises in the mail. Our address is 7520 W Willow Ave – Peoria, AZ 85381.
• Visitors – It’s a bit hard to know exactly when it’ll be best to have visitors, or how exactly that’ll work out, but I know it’ll be good for Elijah to see people. Plus he wants to make sure EVERYBODY sees his wheelchair! He’s been inviting everyone to his “celebration” after his surgery so they can see his wheelchair. If you want to come visit Elijah and us, whether in the hospital or here at our home, just check with us first to make sure it’ll work out ok.

 

Hmmmm….. I think that’s it. But if there’s anything else you can think of that you want to do, or you have any questions about anything I listed above, please just reach out to us and let us know. You can reply to this blog post, or email me at justinbollmanatwood@gmail.com.

To all of you who have already helped in some way, or reached out asking how you can help, or are planning on helping THANK YOU! We have been floored so far at just how generous people have been and continue to be. It is very humbling and empowering all at the same time. And though Elijah doesn’t fully understand the extent of everything that is happening, and all that is going into it behind the curtains (or even in front of it), we will do our best to make sure he knows that he has a ton of family and friends out there that care for him beyond belief and will do whatever they can to help him through this…. I guess that’s true for Julia, Abigail, and myself too.

We love you all and thank you for helping, no matter how you do it.