It's hard to believe Hans will have been gone eight years this coming January. It seems so long ago. It seems like yesterday. I still see him everywhere. I began writing almost immediately after Hans left us for Heaven and published my first blog post on September 17, 2016. At the time, I had never …
Continue reading You Can Trust Him Turns Seven
As the snow begins to recede and the rivers begin to rise here in the interior of Alaska, I am thankful the Lord has brought us through another long and very snowy winter. Last week I swatted my first mosquito and watched a pair of swans fly over. This morning I heard the first robins …
Continue reading A Little Bit of Spring
A New Yearby J.R. Miller (1840-1912) The ending of a year calls us to thought. It is a good time to take account of our life, to see just how we stand and where. Introspection is not wholesome as a habit of life — but he is living recklessly who never looks into his own …
Continue reading A New Year | J.R. Miller (1840-1912)
I see you. The one who is grieving this Christmas. You are missing someone today, someone you love. Someone who is gone from your sight. And it hurts. But still you sing. You buy the presents. You smile. You make the cookies. You praise God because He is worthy. And because it is Christmas. And …
The joy set before us should shine upon our souls as the sun shines through clouds, glorifying them. We should cherish sacredly and tenderly, the memory of our Christian dead but should train ourselves to think of them as in the home of the blessed, with Christ, safely folded, waiting for us. Thus, the bright …
Continue reading The Joy Set Before Us
Yes, it's normal. We are terrified of forgetting them. Afraid that if we let go of that horrible moment when our child died, that it will be like they didn't exist at all. The pain is tremendous, but early in our grief we can't seem to help wanting to stay right there in the past …
Continue reading The Fear of Forgetting
By Charles Haddon SpurgeonScripture: 1 Samuel 20:27 From: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 25 "Love well those who are spared to you, and do them all the good you can, for their places will not hold them for ever. Cheer the aged, console the desponding, help the poor, for they will soon be beyond your reach, …
Continue reading The Empty Seat
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, …
Continue reading Four Years After the Death of our Son: Some of the Positives
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22,23 A beautiful Autumn day, a cup of tea with my husband, a visit from our daughter, Sunday worship, evenings with our remaining boys still at home - all these give rise …
Continue reading Grief: Keeping Our Emotions in Check
Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. Ecclesiastes 7:3 When you are sitting there alone and you are weeping, and the longing for your child is a thick and expanding heaviness in your chest threatening to erupt from your throat in silent, choking grief. When …
Continue reading Walk, Don’t Run.
The days and weeks leading up to The Day that forever marks the death of our child can be difficult. For some, the anticipation is far worse than the actual day, with the first anniversary usually being the hardest, but not always. Many parents fear the one year anniversary day will be as horrendous as …
Continue reading Dreading the Anniversaries
Initially, the pain of child loss is so severe, that it is easy to wonder if it is survivable. Many women say they know, if it happened to them, they could not survive it. But, I want to tell them: Yes, you can. If I can, you can. We have no choice in the matter. …
Continue reading Surviving Child Loss: Now What?
"God has assured me of two things. He has been there, and he has kept me from completely rejecting life in him. I thought he had deserted us, but I was wrong. He has been there the whole time." -Samuel's mom, from 'Small Piece of Faith" Head on over to Writing Footprints for the unfolding story of …
Continue reading Writing Footprints: Small Piece of Faith
I still get those moments where I just can't comprehend that Hans is gone from us. But the difference now is the intensity. Those first weeks and months, and into the second year, it would just immobilize me - the pain saturated me through and through - I didn't know such pain existed. Back then, …
Continue reading Healing After Child Loss
Contrary to various cultural notions, there is no set time-frame for grieving. None of us "gets over it" in the one year (or less) of mourning that is often allotted to us. Each family, and every member within it, operates within a unique set of circumstances that will influence both the weight and duration of …
Continue reading As Time Goes By
You Can Trust Him 