Hope for the Holidays {Hope Came Down}
How can I feel joy when I'm just so sad? How can I enjoy Christmas when my baby was suppose to be here? How do I go on when my heart is broken? I hear you, sweet mommas, and I understand.
On December 21st, my daughter will turn 6. There will be no trip to the American Doll store. We won't go get her first pedicure. She won't unwrap any presents. We've never done any of those things because Kinley has celebrated every birthday in heaven. So, I will do what I do every year--I will make pink cupcakes. I will sing happy birthday. And I will miss my sweet girl. Then 4 ...
Testimony Tuesday {Waiting in Hope}
I have lived two Christmases in the shadow of loss. First we lost our son during birth on his due date at the end of October. With two healthy toddlers I couldn’t just skip that holiday season. Then six years later with three growing boys at home we were surprised with another pregnancy and almost as quickly learned we would lose it. Our baby went to heaven during the end of September. My natural reaction would have been to hold my breath until the holiday season was over. What was there in joy and festivity for me? I was grieving—how could I hang lights, ...
#ILoveHopeMommies and a Giveaway!
Thank you for considering making a donation to the ministry of Hope Mommies through our #ILoveHopeMommies Fundraising Campaign. It is estimated that, in the United States alone, 1 in 4 women will experience miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss. This is a staggering number, and one, quite honestly, I never knew existed until it happened to me. We greatly appreciate donors like you who are the hands and feet of Jesus in this broken world. The women we support carry a story within and throughout themselves that no mother should ever have ...
Hope for the Holidays {Hope in the Silence}
I pulled out Clara's baby book last week to add her recent school picture.
As I was doing so, Camille walked over and wanted to join in and "help."
Camille: Oh, Mama it's baby Camille!
Me: No, sweetie, this is baby Clara.
Camille: Oh, OKAY. She so cute! Show me more pictures?
Me: Sure, we can look at more pictures, let's start from the beginning.
Camille crawled in my lap and we looked through Clara's book, page by page. She pointed out every detail and made sure I looked at every single element of every single photo. When we got to page 34, Camille looks up with ...
Tenille’s Story
My husband, Matt, and I are high school sweethearts. We've been together since I was 15 and he was 16. We dated four years, married a year after we graduated high school, put each other through college, and had a relatively easy first eight years of marriage.
Since I was a little girl, all I ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. In the spring of 2003, we decided it was time to start our little family. On August 9 of that same year, we found out I was pregnant for the first time. We were elated and anxious to tell our families, as this would be the first grandchild on ...
Hope for the Holidays {Give Hope}
As the holidays approach and we begin to unpack and display all the subtle reminders of our sweet precious babies that aren’t with us, we can easily sink into sadness. This time of year is full of reminders and moments that make us stop and wonder what life would look like with our precious little ones. But, amidst all the heartache, we can have hope; a hope in a future because of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Our hope does not rest in things of this world, but in our eternal inheritance in heaven.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! ...
Testimony Tuesday {Hope in a Box}
Box Gatherings are an opportunity for anyone wanting to make a difference in their community by providing Hope Mommies™ Hospital Boxes to their local hospital.
Are you praying about how to honor your baby this Christmas season in a way that can have eternal impact in the lives of those enduring the same pain you have endured? A Hope Box Gathering is a unique way to spend an evening with friends, write encouragement cards, decorate boxes, fill them with all the gifts and talk to your local hospitals about the ministry, and impact other moms' lives.
Testimonies ...
Katie’s Story
It was the first pregnancy test I had ever taken, and I was shocked to see two strong pink lines. I sat on the bathroom floor in stunned silence in the wee hours of the morning, trying to comprehend the excitement and terror that accompanied that second pink line. I remember crawling back in bed and telling me husband, Jonathan, and immediately bursting into tears, and seconds later giggling uncontrollably. Needless to say, we were very excited and spent the rest of the day driving to our nearby family members' homes, telling them the exciting news in person.
I ...
Hope for the Holidays {Rejoice in Hope}
“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: rejoice!”
-Philippians 4:4
As the Christmas season draws near, the last thing you may feel like doing this year is rejoicing. It may seem there is little reason for joy this year. If your loss is new, it is possible you pictured celebrating your Christmas very differently than you now will. Last Christmas was that way for me. We had expected sharing our Christmas with a six-month-old boy and all the fun that comes with watching a baby at Christmas. Instead, the holidays seemed like a huge reminder of the ...
