Something to think about - a friend posted this on facebook - it is definitely worth reading:
Forever ours, forever His: LDS family comforted after tragedy
Courtesy photoPatrick and Ashley Sullenger with their daughter, Preslee.
Patrick and Ashley Sullenger were your typical newly married students. Even though they both graduated from Madison High School in Rexburg, they didn't meet until Pat returned from his mission.
They were both working at Just Sports in Rexburg when they fell in love and were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. Not too long after that, they announced that they were expecting a baby and before we all knew it, Preslee Jo joined their family.
Pat and Ashley were the cutest parents. While in the hospital after she was born, Patrick was excited to be a dad. Everyone could see that Preslee had captured their hearts right from her first breath.
Preslee quickly became their everything. They wanted to share their family experiences with friends and family who were spread around the country, so the blog they had started shortly after their honeymoon became a digital journal of their adventures as parents. Their friends and family checked in on them often. It was a typical young family blog, full of fun pictures and videos of their little family (and we can't forget their adorable dog, Pog).
For 18 months, they chronicled their comings and goings and life was good for this cute family. Then on a warm night in July, while Preslee was with her grandparents, Pat and Ashley went on a date. A few short hours later, they received a phone call telling them that Preslee had been in an accident and they needed to go straight to the hospital.
Sweet little Preslee had fallen into a canal and floated about 1½ miles downstream where she bumped into the leg of Jeff Call, a farmer who was working in the canal and was about ready to leave, but decided he needed to put one last board in the ditch where he was irrigating.
At first he thought she was a doll, but he quickly realized that she was a baby. He scooped her up, handed her to his brother, Mike, and they immediately began CPR and called 911 for help. Her grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins were all searching frantically for her in and out of the canal. It was an excruciating search - minutes that will forever change the life of those who were so frantically hunting for her.
As the emergency crews rushed to their aid, Jeff and Mike prayed passionately for Preslee to survive. She was taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls where the trauma team didn't give the family much hope, but decided that they weren't going to give up on her. They called for the jet to take her to Primary Children's Medical Center in Utah.
Word spread quickly of the accident. Ashley and Pat's phones rang nonstop with friends and family wanting to know how they were doing and what they could do to help. There were no phones allowed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where they were treating Preslee, and Pat and Ashley were too busy with her to take calls.
They turned to their blog to get information out to all those who were so desperately waiting for any news. In the first post on her blog after the accident, Ashley writes in a stunned and scared voice:
"Between Facebook and our phones we have heard from so many of you. We wish we could respond to all of you, but all of our energy is centered on Preslee. We have witnessed many miracles and she is still holding on. At this point they say they don't know if she'll make it, and if she does she probably will suffer from severe brain damage. Pat and I know it's because of all the prayers and the fasting that we have been able to stay strong. We hope God continues to show mercy on our little girl and grant a few more miracles. We have a long road ahead, and we would appreciate any prayers or fasting on behalf of our little girl. She's fighting, and it's the most difficult thing a parent can watch."
With help from family members, her blog became a lifeline - a way for them to get information out to all those who cared. Many friends and family members began leaving messages for Pat and Ashley of their love and concern, prayers and fasting, words of encouragement and hope on the blog. They would cling to those words during the long hours as they were constantly at Preslee's side.
After the first couple of days, the traffic on the blog began to increase. They never thought about anyone else reading their blog besides close friends and family, but there was a sudden increase of people who heard about their story and clicked onto Pat and Ashley's blog. Strangers began reading and praying for little Preslee and all of her family.
As people became emotionally involved with this precious little girl and the fight that she was going through, they began linking the Sullenger's blog address to their own. Strangers started to leave comments of encouragement, hope, love and sadness.
As Pat and Ashley, along with Preslee's grandparents, sat watching over little Preslee in her hospital room, they would read the comments. When any of them would begin to feel overwhelmed by what was going on, they would read what people were posting. But soon people began to express more than concern for this family.
As the news of Preslee's condition spread across the globe, so did the spirit of love and understanding, despair and grief, utter disbelief and complete understanding. Every emotion that seemed to be running through that hospital room seemed to radiate through the words on the blog.
The family began to worry about so many people becoming attached to sweet little Preslee. Those who were at the hospital and could see Preslee's condition deteriorating were concerned about what to say in the posts. They all had such strong confirmations that Preslee was going to be OK however this turned out, but how do you tell all of these people, both friends and strangers that had been praying so fervently for a miracle, that it was time for her to go?
With inspiration, Ashley wrote a post, almost a warning really, that Preslee had taken a turn for the worse. Then after an unimaginable night, they watched as sweet little Preslee left this world.
The post later that day said:
"Disbelief. How did this happen? I know each of us and many of you are asking yourself this same question. In the last week we have all experienced a range of emotions from tragic horror to hope to complete humility and now to an assurance that God is the true giver and taker of life.
"Little Preslee went back home today to the God who gave her life.
"She was an angel sent here for us. An angel that has taught us about the miracles around us each and every day. When I think of what she accomplished in one week I begin to cry. She rebuilt testimonies, she introduced people to the gospel, she even saved a complete stranger's marriage. We, like many of you, wonder why things had to turn out this way. With the hundreds and thousands of prayers offered up in her behalf and the complete faith we had for her to receive a miracle ... why did this have to be?
"One thing we have learned ... that in the end all we have to really give is our will."
"Elder Neal A. Maxwell rightly said: ‘The submission of one's will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God's altar. The many other things we ‘give' ... are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us.'
"We love you Preslee..."
That post was met with well over 500 comments. Many strangers shared stories of the tears they had shed and prayers they had offered for this family. The family's worry was in vain because anyone who read the blog was deeply touched by the spirit that was surrounding Patrick and Ashley. People began sharing the miracles that truly were taking place in lives because of one little girl who was sent to earth for such a short time, but had a huge mission that could only be completed this way.
Funeral arrangements were made and sweet little Preslee's body was laid to rest on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, 11 days after this had all begun.
Pat and Ashley figured that all of the traffic on their blog would decrease back to just friends and family, but that hasn't happened. Since the accident, they've had more than 530,000 views on their blog. They have had visitors from 111 countries and every state in the United States. On one day they had 17,631 hits from 78 countries.
So many people have become extremely drawn to the spirit they feel when reading about the Sullengers. People are still checking in constantly to see how Pat and Ashley are doing. Complete strangers continue to leave comments for the family every time Ashley writes a post.
As I sat down with Pat and Ashley, I asked them why they think so many people have been drawn to their blog. We talked at length about some of the reasons why their blog has attracted so many people, but they also know and understand that they may never realize the extent that their blog will have on the lives of those who anxiously await a post from them.
Ashley has learned to rely on the Spirit a great deal as she has shared some very intimate details of her grieving process with the world through her blog. She is a very private person so this hasn't been easy. She has also learned that when the Spirit prompts her to write something, she does it.
One thing they both have realized is that Preslee really has affected the lives of thousands of people. A friend of Pat's brother asked if she could translate their blog into Chinese and share it with her friends in China. Many people have come to feel the spirit and love of our Father in Heaven in a country where the LDS Church isn't readily available. Last they heard, two people had found members of the church and asked for baptism. Many others have sought out information about the church.
The apostles have taught us that the Internet can be used for both righteous and not so righteous things. As the church has been using sites like www.lds.org, Facebook, YouTube and many different Websites to help spread the gospel, they have also encouraged members to use their personal blogs as tools in missionary work.
Elder M. Russell Ballard writes, "Now, may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration."
He encourages all member to "join the conversation" with personal blogs. He then states "all of you know that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are reminded and encouraged continually to share the gospel with others. The church is always looking for the most effective ways to declare its message ... while some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the church are established one conversation at a time."
Without purposefully knowing that they would affect so many lives when they started their blog a few years ago, Patrick, Ashley and little Preslee will have changed thousands of lives through their simple words and incredible testimonies of the Savior, the atonement and especially life after death.
Ashley and Pat have grown more in the last couple of months than most of us will in a lifetime. Some days they both just want to give up all the knowledge they have gained and all the help they have been to others just to have their sweet little girl back. But it is in those times that they have turned to the comments left on the blog and realize that her death wasn't in vain. Anyone who reads about their experience is taught by the spirit and strengthened in ways that in turn have helped to strengthen Pat and Ashley.
So while this seemingly simple young couple has experienced one of the worst losses a parent can ever experience, they are hanging in there. They grieve daily. They cry, sob, laugh, love and they write ... for themselves, for you, for me, and especially for little Preslee. But ultimately, they write for Him.
On the Web: www.patrickandashley.blogspot.com
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