Evangelhouse Christian Academy - St MartinvilleJeff Hogg: They say the only guarantees in life are death and taxes. Well, I personally can add one more because I firmly believe and guarantee that my daughter would not be who she is today without having had ECA being a part of her (and my wife and Is) lives. We were in desperate need for a safe and spiritual haven for our daughter to heal from beginning down a path of self-destruction. And no one wants to have to make a decision about where to send a loved one for help in this regard, let alone their 14 year old daughter. But here we were. And for us, we were willing to go anywhere.
Searching for therapeutic boarding school was not an easy endeavor. Internet searches led us all across the country. And then by Gods grace, we literally stumbled upon one about 100 miles from our home here in Louisiana. Who knew?
Our daughter is set to graduate in less than two weeks. Were there ups and downs in our time there? Of course. Did we hear over phone calls and home visits how she hated being there and that she just wanted us to come and get her or just not bring her back. Yep. But as I picked her up this week for her holiday visit, knowing it would be the last time she would be on campus before we come back for her graduation ceremony, the tears in her eyes as she said her good-byes was all the testimony I really needed. A testimony of how God used this program to transform this young lady, this daughter of mine, back on a right course and to establish for her an example of what healthy relationships in life can do. Our relationship is better. Her peer relationships are better. Her spiritual relationship is as well.
Another final word of encouragement for me going through this process came at our first Parents Weekend. When out of the 18 or so girls enrolled, only 2 were from the state, and that 16 other families saw (or rather trusted and believed) that ECA could provide the hope and possibilities they were looking for, that they chose to send their daughters to a small little community town in rural southeast Louisiana from all across the country (and even from countries abroad).
Making a decision about residential is tough. ECA made it just a little bit easier.
