• Uncategorized

    THANK YOU FOR ALLORAH

    As Ella learned to say her nightly prayers, she always made sure to include her little sister. In her prayer she always says, “Thank you for Allorah.” Our sweet girl has now been gone from this earth for two years today, but every single night since she left, her big sister has never forgotten to pray, “Thank you for Allorah.” She said it last night, and we can promise you that she will say it again tonight.       Ella has done this all on her own. Not once have we ever encouraged her or discouraged her from continuing to pray about her sister every night. After Allorah passed, it was…

  • Pregnant After Loss

    The Unplanned Delivery

      I wrote this over a year ago with the intentions of not forgetting the details and sharing with others. Here I am a year later reading it, and so thankful that I wrote everything down. I don’t know about you, but my memory doesn’t always serve me well. Seriously, when you experience a big life moment – WRITE IT DOWN! Going into this third pregnancy I felt like I knew what to expect. With the first two, my stories were very different, but both natural births. I was ready and praying for the same outcome. The truth is, no matter how much we plan and think we know what to…

  • Uncategorized

    THANKFUL TO LET GO & LET GOD

    Today, I placed the same little turkey hat on my son that I placed upon Allorah’s head for her first Thanksgiving only two years ago. At that time, little did I know that it would be the only Thanksgiving I would ever get to spend with her.

  • Grieving Gracefully

    ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU

    If you can read the title without hearing Mariah Carey singing the ever so popular Christmas song, I dare say I am impressed. It’s a cute love song, but in my head today, as I sat in the passenger seat pulling away from Allorah’s grave… it hit different than ever before. I have been overwhelmingly blessed today to be surrounded by such great love, and often I asked myself, “What more could I possibly want or need?” Truly, in the physical sense, I want and need for nothing, and I am so crazy grateful. However, in the spiritual sense, I have a need that weighs on my soul heavily. It…

  • Grieving Gracefully

    THE BITTERSWEET MOTHER’S DAY

    Today should be different.  This Mother’s Day I should be placing two candles on a cake. The fact that it’s even Mother’s Day at all should be merely a distraction as I focus on celebrating my sweet Allorah’s 2nd birthday. Instead, I am putting together a Butterfly garden in her memory, consoling her Big Sister that misses her daily, nursing her little brother that she will never get to meet earth-side, and trying to stay strong for my husband that’s hurting as deeply as I am. How did we get here? The question, “How did we get here?” echoes over and over again in my mind.  It has been 9…

  • Grieving Gracefully

    CAN YOU LOSE LOVE?

    Grief – why do we tiptoe around this word so softly? Well, I think the easy answer is because it hurts SO BAD! There are so many different causes of grief for example: You may grieving due to the changes that come along with being an “empty nester.” Your life revolves around those sweet babies for so long, it’s hard not to grieve what once was your everyday normal once it’s gone. You may be grieving the loss of a job. So many have suffered from the fallout caused by COVID recently. When your means of living becomes an unknown, it’s hard not to fear for what’s ahead for you…

  • Grieving Gracefully

    LOSING A SIBLING

    They say a picture says 1,000 words… well in truth, this one says it all. These two girls shared the most beautiful bond and everyday together was this happy. One of the most heart-wrenching parts of our journey of grief is how it affects our 4.5 year old Ella. We plan to share how we told her once Allorah got to Heaven, and all the questions and heartache that followed when we weren’t able to bring her little sister back to her… COMING SOON!

  • Grieving Gracefully

    A HARD CANDY CHRISTMAS

    Christmas is IT for my family! We live for that special feeling this time of year gives and always try to make it magical – especially now that we have littles to celebrate with. For the past 13 years that Justin and I have been together, we have always kicked off our Christmas season with singing the classics. One of our top favorites to sing is Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas” The Dolly love runs deep in our home, and although we have sung this song a thousand times together – never have some of the words hit so close to home. We haven’t had the heart to listen to…

  • Pregnant After Loss

    OUR NEW BLESSING

    Isn’t that our greatest desire for our children? For them to be the happiest they can possibly be and have their eyes set on God... well, my Allorah can see Him right now and that’s an awesome and powerful thing to know.