MT. BETHEL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY CREATES CULTURE OF LOVE AND SUPPORT ss Grace Detling with Jennifer Ethridge, school nurse at MBCA
ss MBCA Kindergartner at chapel service
ss Grace, Marianne and Samantha Detling
Mt. Bethel Christian Academy has been a mainstay of the East Cobb community since 1998. With the recent addition of a high school, MBCA now serves students in grades PK-10th. Ask a Mt. Bethel family what they value about their school and you might hear about the uncompromising, Christ-centered academic environment or the championship athletic programs. But most likely, you’ll hear a story about the people because what sets Mt. Bethel apart is a warm culture of love and support that must be experienced to be fully understood. Hundreds of families could tell their story of what the school has meant to them. The Detling family is among the most recent. East Cobb attorney, Chuck Detling and his wife, Marianne, are blessed with two beautiful daughters, Samantha and Grace. In July 2014, an unlikely accident landed Grace in the emergency room. Eight stitches later, Chuck noticed her pupil was bouncing and asked the doctor back to the room to examine her eye. That examination would lead to weeks of tests and uncertainty. Finally, an MRI would confirm a diagnosis no family could adequately prepare for. Grace had a brain tumor. Given its location in the front of her brain between two optic nerves, the tumor would prove inoperable. The following weeks were filled with seemingly unending doctor appointments, tears and a great deal of prayer. With permission from the Detling’s, a friend shared the heart wrenching news with Grace’s MBCA kindergarten class and immediately, the school community responded. Within hours, meals had been provided, childcare for sister, Samantha, was
arranged and prayers were being offered on Grace’s behalf by dozens of MBCA families. Meals and prayers are surely a welcome comfort in difficult times but the outreach of the Mt. Bethel community would not end there. When the Detling family needed to move from their rental to their new home, the MBCA family stepped up again. Dozens of MBCA families packed boxes and furniture and moved them to their new house. At school, Grace’s first grade teachers took special care to protect her fragile health by continually sanitizing the environment, wiping down desks multiple times a day and reminding students to wash their hands. The school nurse, another invaluable MBCA resource, was the perfect blend of nurture and tough love; recognizing when Grace needed to rest and when she needed to take her math test. The PE teachers had the unfortunate job of telling non-stop, spunky Grace she needed to sit out and watch when doctor’s orders had limited her participation. Collectively, teachers, students, and parents helped Grace be where she wanted to be during her treatment…with her school family. Today, if you ask Marianne how MBCA helped, through tears she will tell you “they prayed without ceasing and provided strength when the weight of uncertainty was overwhelming.” As East Cobb’s only PK-12 preparatory school, Mt. Bethel is an exceptional place for young learners. But perhaps more important, it is an exceptional place for people of all ages, to feel the love and support of Christian community. Stop by soon for a tour and experience it firsthand. But be forewarned, you may not want to leave.
P A I D A D V E R T I S E M E N T
18 October 2015
EAST COBBER
www.eastcobber.com