Walking With You

This week, we are sharing ways that we incorporate the memories of our children into our lives and family. We can also share any ministries, outreaches, or just beautiful ways that our children's lives have impacted the lives of others. I so wish I had more time to devote to this post. I'm writing it before work this morning, so please be understanding of this thrown together post.

Faith and Grace went home to heaven in November, so Christmas was not far behind. Many people sent us Christmas ornaments in memory of our girls. Over the years, we have added ornaments for each of our children. After Thomas' passing in July of 1998, ornaments were added for him, as well. They are scattered throughout the tree along with the ornaments that our boys make in school that remind us of the way they are growing as they walk this earth.

Another Christmas-related thing we do: Each Christmas, the boys help me pick out gifts to fill shoe-boxes for Samaritan's Purse. We do one in memory of each child. So, our family sends two girl boxes and one boy box. It has always been a blessing to us to remember our children in this simple way. We enjoy shopping for little gifts that we would give them if they were with us, and we are grateful that those gifts will be given to children in need.

In the early years, we had a birthday celebration. My friend Ginny and her children even shared a few with us. She made pink frosted cookies for Faith and Grace's celebration. And we had cupcakes one year. We did this for Thomas' special day, too (although not pink, of course!). Timothy and I would sing "Happy Birthday" and he would blow out the candle. He always wondered when he was little if they could see us celebrating. Then we would talk about what they may be doing. He would talk about what he would give them if they were here.

For many years, we did not have pictures of our heavenly babies on the shelves. But, they are there now...blended among pictures of our children who are with us. Faith and Grace's tiny, delicate footprints and Thomas' angelic little face both sit on our shelf, along with memorabilia that remind us of their lives. For they ARE living...in heaven's glory.

As you know, our family has been blessed to begin a ministry for grieving families. We established Sufficient Grace Ministries for Women (and Families) in 2004. I created the Dreams of You Memory Book a few months after publishing a short story about our sweet Faith, Grace, and Thomas and the gift of God's grace. The greatest gift we have received from the lives of our heavenly children has been to know the sufficiency of God's grace and His ability to make beauty from ashes in our lives. He comforted us in our desperate grief. And, it is the desire of our hearts to reach out to offer that same comfort to other grieving families. Hundreds of lives have been touched through this ministry. People have been comforted in their grief. Souls in our family have been saved as people turned to Jesus for comfort. Our marriage has been blessed with a lasting love...although it was tested by fire. Restoration is a beautiful, amazing gift to behold...the restoration of lives, souls, marriages. Thousands have read and know the names of these precious little babies through this blog and our ministry. Every time we are able to give a family a Dreams of You Memory Book or a Comfort Bear, or just to pray for them and reassure them that we understand their pain....our children are remembered, and we are humbled to know that God values and uses every precious life. You know the feeling you get when you watch your child hit a baseball and slide into home plate or ride his bike for the first time or just anything to spread his wings and soar? Seeing another person's life impacted by the lives of my Faith, Grace, and Thomas gives me that same feeling. It isn't the reason I serve in this ministry...but it is certainly a blessing that comes from it. God's purpose for their lives is evident to us, and more is being revealed as time goes on...and that is a great gift.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort that we ourselves have received from God. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Please click on the links within this post to learn more about our ministry and our journey. For now, I am off to work. But, I hope you will link up and join us this week to share the ways that you remember your little ones.

Updated: I was not able to get this posted as I wanted before work. I'm so sorry it's so late...please forgive me. I hope you are all able to join and share with us the ways you remember your precious children. Please share a comment and link your post below.

Another Update: I wanted to let you know that my sweet blog-friend, Holly is listing all of her angel friends and their babies who have gone to heaven on her blog. If you would like to include your baby's name, please stop and add it to the list here. Thanks so much for thinking of this, Holly. We will be doing something in October for pregnancy loss month. You are always so thoughtful and compassionate.