Testimony Tuesdays {Hope Box Gathering}
Some days are more memorable than others. This was just such a day. Because on this day, I put hope in a box and tied it up with a jute twine bow.
This day was years in the making.
This day was the culmination of months and months of planning. This day, wishing turned into reality. This day helped give my pain meaning. This day helped give my baby's death purpose. Somehow, putting hope in a box and tying it up with a bow for another mother who lost her baby helped answer the "why" of losing mine.
I wish there were not a need for one more ...
Paige’s Story of Hope
After almost a year of trying, we finally got pregnant with our second baby and were able to surprise my Dad on Father’s Day with the news. Just six short weeks later on July 26, our family got the worst blow we have ever experienced when we lost my Dad unexpectedly in an electrical accident while working under my parent’s farmhouse. A week to the day following his accident I started experiencing complications in my pregnancy and was immediately sent to my doctor’s office for an ultrasound. Much to my relief there was still a strong heartbeat, everything seemed ...
Testimony Tuesday: Courtney’s Testimony
I’ve thought a lot about the experience of suffering and the Bible’s response to our suffering this past year. Before our miscarriage and infertility I quickly passed over passages on suffering, not because I didn’t see them as important, but I just didn’t relate to them. I had faced trials before, but nothing that really made me wrestle with God’s good plan for my life in the way I have recently. I don’t doubt His goodness; I just need to understand it more than ever before. While difficult, that is a good result of our suffering. It causes us to lean hard ...
Jean’s Story
Memories can be triggered by sights, sounds, or smells. Every time I see a Hershey's bar, I think of my dad. He loved them! A good memory – along with the pain of the loss.
We never know when a memory will be brought to mind. A recent memory was triggered by a place. This memory goes back 33 years.
A friend had been on bed rest due to bleeding and early contractions at 24.5 weeks. We got the news (amazing how with social media and texting you hear about things as they are happening!) that her water broke and she would deliver that day – at 27 weeks. We were ...
Testimony Tuesday {Julie’s Retreat Experience}
I came to the Hope Mommies retreat in 2015 as a mom who was grieving “well.” I was surrounded by a supportive community who had been caring for my family faithfully for the past 10 months. I had allowed my suffering to push me closer to the Lord and though I wrestled with Him, I trusted Him. My husband and I spent many evenings talking, processing and encouraging one another in the Lord. I had read many devotionals, commentaries and books on suffering as I sought after Jesus. I was truly in a good place with my grief. Don’t get me wrong, I missed my daughter terribly ...
Christie’s Story
In 2008, I met the love of my life, Ken Stoddart. We had an exciting and romantic courtship and were married on July 17, 2010. We were beyond thrilled when we found out we were pregnant right after the wedding. I remember taking a pregnancy test 20 times, just to make sure. The feeling of seeing those lines was beyond exciting.
I called my sister, and asked her “What do I do now?”
She simply replied, “You wait.”
I had horrible morning sickness and only wanted to eat cookies and ice cream. My mother-in-law told me that the sicker I was, the healthier the ...
Choose Hope 2016
The pain of losing a child, whether to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss, is among the most agonizing of sorrows. Whether your loss occurred many years ago or very recently, the ache you carry in your heart is heavy indeed. There is nothing that can prepare you for the devastation of losing a child, and there are no words that can take away the pain that results. But dear one, your grief does not need to be carried alone.
For the past ten years, our nation has officially recognized October 15 as an opportunity to honor and remember our precious babies who ...
Kinsey’s Story
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already. A year since our world was shaken.
A year ago, this month, our little family welcomed a new addition—one we had eagerly awaited and prayed for, for so long. And instead of snuggling him in my bed, I was on my knees in the hospital bathroom, with my head to the cold floor, begging God to spare our son. It was not supposed to end this way. This was not what I had imagined six months before when I first saw those two pink lines.
In Feb, 2015 we found out that we were expecting our second child. Our 2-year-old son ...
Heather’s Story
My story began long before the births and deaths of my babies. I had always wanted to be a mom. I wanted a big family. I wanted lots of children. Fast forward to married life, and I learned I couldn’t have children without medical intervention. With the use of fertility drugs, a willing husband to give me hundreds of shots, and great doctors, I became a mom to my firstborn, Claire. Life was fabulous. We decided to try 6 months later. It was a “breeze” the first time, so how hard could it really be? I was so very naive.
It was very hard to get pregnant the second ...
Testimony {Rhiannon’s Retreat Experience}
When I first heard about the Hope Mommies retreat, I felt in my heart that I had to go. I wanted to connect with other moms like me, to hear that I wasn’t alone in my grief. But I will admit, as the time got closer, and especially in the week leading up to the retreat, I was a bit afraid of how much it would hurt being there. I was only 5 months out from losing our daughter at 35 weeks after 2 years of trying and 2 previous miscarriages, and I had just found out that I would be walking through secondary infertility. I wasn’t sure if it would be too painful to ...
