Four Good Reasons to Smile!!!

Love's Embrace

The following poem was written by a teacher at my school who was gracious enough to let me share it here with you. She attended Madeline's funeral and reflects on all the sights and sounds of that moment in time. What is so beautiful about this sweet gift is that this was her first attempt at writing of any kind, but you would never know it by reading her eloquent words. It is something I will always deeply treasure, as it is a reminder to me the impact a tiny baby had on so many. Thank you so much Mrs. Mc for these beautiful words. I am honored that you were inspired to write them.


Love’s Embrace

Twilight’s subtle hues –
above, horizons kiss.

A solitary portrait of mother and child –
held in an infinite moment –
capturing love’s embrace.

The inner circle’s bonds steadfast -
as hearts unite as one –
mother to daughter –
generations connected.

Heads bent in prayer –
as somber silence surrounds the cherub who slumbers.

Evenings voices chafing –
heaviness of hearts – barren, displaced.

Whispers of God’s presence rippled –
through boughs of sweet pine –
the symphony from his creatures –
both great and small, bring comfort to all.

While strength from the outermost –
buttressed, with encouragement and compassion.

Balloons float adrift from the hand of a brother –
setting soul and spirit towards –
Love’s Embrace.

By Jenny McMahan

praying for Copeland

Please join me and pray for the Farley family from Tennessee. Boothe delivered a little girl named Copeland today. She weighed 4 pounds and is breathing on her own. Copeland has Trisomy 18, like Madeline. This sweet family needs our prayers so much right now. Please pray that they will get lots of precious time with their new little girl.

Mandy

balloons for Madeline

It has now been three months since Madeline went to heaven and while there are days that I have such a peace about it, I still find it really difficult not to try to relive those 12 hours we had with her and wonder if I should have done things differently. I question if we did the right thing by letting Madeline go to the NICU or should we have just kept her in our arms until she took her last breath. I know you can't live your life in regret or wondering about all the "what if's" but it is really hard not to. I have thought over and over about how I spent each minute of that precious time with her and how it just wasn't enough. I sometimes don't know whether to smile or cry when I think of her because I still miss her so.

Today after eating out for lunch, the boys all got balloons when we left the restaurant. They, of course, wanted to let them go and watch them as they drifted up to heaven and out of sight. Maxwell mentioned that he hoped Madeline got one of those balloons to play with today, which led Grayson to ask how she got to heaven. I told him Jesus came to get her and he wanted to know if Jesus could fly and if Madeline rode on his back to heaven. I smiled as we talked about Madeline and am thankful the boys still ask about her. Their innocence and trust is so precious and it brings me comfort to know that they have a better understanding of Jesus and what He can do because of their sweet little sister that they will meet in heaven one day.