My midwife, the most wonderful midwife in the whole world, gave us this Precious Moment figurine in Grace's memory. Grace's name and birthdate are written on the bottom. (She gave us a matching one with Hannah's name and birthdate on the bottom, too.)
I miss you everyday, but I'm especially missing you today on your 2nd birthday, dear daughter.
There's no special reason that we did it today. Originally we had to wait til the weather warmed up in order to dig up the ground. Then it seemed we'd only remember to do it at times that didn't work. Both of our baby girls' remains are now laid to rest in the same place.
But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Isaiah 26:19
Remembering Grace on the 1 yr anniversary of her due date. Rest in peace, sweet one. I love you and always will.
Edited to add:
SS and her kids stopped by today just before lunch to bring me a card and some beautiful pink roses. I invited them to stay for lunch, which they did, before they headed back home.
Josh used a laser engraver and made this beautiful etching for me for Christmas.
I had to take the picture looking down at it to avoid getting a reflection in the glass. The glass is a 9x16" rectangle.
Josh used E, F, and himself as models by using a digital camera to take pics. Then he converted the pics to the "sketch" style and had the engraver etch the glass.
The writing on the top of the wood holding up the glass has the title of the piece, Two of Us in Heaven. Underneath the title it says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:1
On the bottom of the wood, Josh engraved the following:
This image was created in loving memory of my two stillborn daughters, Grace Eleanor [last name] (10/5/07) and Hannah Meredith [last name] (11/26/08), for my wife, Melanie. The inspiration for this image came from my daughter E, who, shortly after Hannah's birth, told us that she thought Grace would be welcoming Hannah into Heaven, where the two of them would be waiting for us. The image is meant to depict little Hannah, timidly approaching a welcoming Jesus, while her older sister, Grace, offers her a hand, encouraging Hannah to come meet Jesus, her Savior that she has already had the chance to meet. The title of the image, "Two of Us in Heaven", comes from a short song that E made up after Hannah's birth. It is my prayer that this image offers hope, encouragement and joy (though it may be mixed with earthly sorrow) to everyone who sees it.
- Joshua [middle initial, last name] 12/24/08
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. - Job 1:21
Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the almighty? - Job 11:7
I cried and cried when I opened it. It's absolutely beautiful! I love it! What a wonderful, loving husband God has blessed me with!
Today I picked up my footprints ring from the jewelry store.
I knew that they might have problems with the maker's marks being in the way when they tried to add more engraving. When I dropped it off, I assured them that they could put the engraving over the stamped marks in the ring.
When I picked it up today, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the jeweler had buffed out the imprints on the inside of the ring so that now all that's in there is Grace's and Hannah's names and birthdates. It turned out beautifully!
Today I when out grocery shopping, I stopped at the jewelry store and dropped off my footprints ring to have engraving with Hannah's name and birthdate added to the inside.
E ended up staying home from school yesterday since she was sick the night before and had a slight fever in the morning. Consequently I didn't end up taking care of EZ during the day. E was doing better in the afternoon, so Josh, the kids, and I ended up going to the funeral home at 4:30 to fill out the paperwork and make the arrangements. All the kids were very quiet and well-behaved while we were there. The older 3 kids took their homework along to work on.
We are having Hannah's body cremated. Her funeral is at 5:00 on Friday evening. We've asked Pastor R to just do a devotion again, similar to last time. (How I hate the fact that I can say "last time".) We will just have her ashes put in a temporary urn again. Since that just looks like a small plastic box, the funeral director said they can put the urn into a casket for the funeral. Then we can take Hannah's ashes and the urn home with us when the funeral is over, and I won't have to go back to the funeral home again to pick them up.
We will stop at the store before the funeral and buy 7 roses, each of us picking out the color we want, to lay by Hannah's casket.
Josh and I have decided to bury Hannah's ashes in the ground around Grace's gingko tree which will then be in memory of both of them. We'll have to wait til spring to do it though. I really like the idea of both of their ashes being together even though it's only their earthly remains. It makes me think of them both being together in their eternal home.
Josh and the kids brought me home from the hospital today. I am quite sore but doing okay.
I am in the process of editing this blog to include Hannah's story as well as Grace's. Some of Hannah's posts will be interspersed with Grace's as they are arranged chronologically according to posting dates, and I'm taking some of them from our family blog. If you want to be sure to read all of Hannah's entries, you can click on Hannah in the sidebar on the right under "Post Categories".
Please note that if you choose to leave comments, they are moderated, so you do not need to post again when your comment doesn't show up immediately.
Maybe it seems odd that I am doing this so soon, but it helps me to be able to write down my thoughts and feelings and process what happened in this way. I also feel it's a way for me to show my love for my daughters by acknowledging their short lives.
Here are some pictures I took of Grace's tree now that it's got some leaves.
F, S, and I ran errands yesterday morning after M left. I picked up my footprints ring from the jeweler. I'd had it engraved to say GRACE 10-5-07.
Yesterday and today were beautiful spring days. Temps yesterday were in the mid 60's, and today it hit 72, but it was really windy both days.
Josh and I decided a few months a go that we wanted to get a male ginkgo tree as Grace's memorial tree. They are slow-growing, but they have neat fan-shaped leaves, and the trees can live hundreds (even thousands!) of years. Ginkgo trees are also unique because there are both male and female trees (but you don't want to get a female tree because the fruit has an awful smell). I'd called a local nursery on Monday to see if they had any, and they did, so when Josh came home from school yesterday we all went to the nursery to buy it.
Josh came home from school a little earlier than usual today. I showed him where I wanted to plant the tree in the front yard, and he dug a big hole for it. I think all of the kids took turns helping dig, too. After supper, once the tree was in the hole, I poured Grace's ashes around the tree. Then we all helped fill in the hole with the rest of the dirt.
Right now I don't have a working camera, and the tree is still dormant. I do plan to take a picture of it once it leafs out.
My footprints ring arrived via UPS while we were gone. I'd been tracking it before we left and saw it would arrive while we were gone on our vacation to AR, so I'd asked our neighbor to get the package for us so that it wouldn't blow away or get lost. She did, and I got it from her tonight. I really like the ring, and I think it looks prettier than the pictures of I'd seen online.
Shortly after Grace's death a dear friend sent me a beautiful stainless steel chain with a heart pendant on it. The front of the heart says "The Heart Remembers". On the back my friend had Grace's name and birthday engraved. I love the necklace. The chain is nice and sturdy, and I don't have to worry about it tarnishing or changing my skin colors as it's stainless steel. I've worn the necklace almost constantly since receiving it.
Before getting the necklace I thought about getting a ring to wear in Grace's memory. I looked at lots of different sites and at many different kinds of "memorial jewelry". I wanted something to wear in Grace's memory but not something that would be an obvious sign of loss to anyone who saw it. I have other "mother's jewelry" with my living children's names or birthstones, and I wanted something for my daughter who is no longer with us. I knew I wanted the jewelry in yellow gold. I thought about getting a ring with her birthstone or just getting a plain band and having her name engraved on the inside. Then I came across one that seems to fit what I want perfectly. It's 10kt gold. I just ordered it tonight off ebay. (I had to get my finger sized at the store first to know what size to order. Even though I ordered mine off ebay, you can get the same ring HERE.)
The ring is actually based on the Footprints poem by Mary Stevenson. I found a couple different versions of this ring, some of them with the words "It was then that I carried you" engraved on the inside.
When I saw the ring, that poem wasn't what I thought of. The tiny footprints reminded me of Grace's tiny footprints. I ordered the version of the ring without engraving on the inside because I want to take it to a jeweler and have Grace's name and birthdate engraved on the inside.
