Gracefully Broken: The Legacy of Ellie Love

I've been stewing on this one for over a week now. I thought several times along the way that it was time to sit down and write but then God said, "Nope." I'm always amazed at how He lets me know when it's time. When I think it's time and He says to wait, it never fails that there's something else He has to show me before it's time to write. This time was no exception. In my last post, I said I wanted to write a series of posts to try and shed some light on things that are helpful and not-so-helpful to do and say around your grieving friends. I'd like to continue that today with a biggie. Please, please, please, for the love of Pete (or anyone else you love 😉), do not say, "I totally understand," to anyone you know who is grieving, especially the loss of a child. Just don't do it. I don't care how much you think something you may have experienced in your life might be similar to losing a child. If you haven't lost a child,...

I don't have a lot to say today. I've had so many things on my heart over the past week, but I'm having a hard time figuring out where to even start or how to break it up so I'm not writing a novel instead of a blog post. 😂 So I'm going to keep it short and sweet today. July is National Bereaved Parents Month. All month long, I've been wanting to highlight different issues that bereaved parents face, but like I said, I couldn't figure out how to start, and now here we are on July 27th. I have no idea where the month has gone, so I decided to just jump write in and share what's on my heart, hoping it will make some sense.  I know one of the most common questions or problems for people who have never lost a child is not knowing what to do or say to a grieving friend. People want to help, but they just don't know what to say. Sometimes they even end up saying nothing because they are so afraid of saying the wrong thing. This can lead to hurt and e...

Whew! It's been a ROUGH 2 weeks. Whoever said that there are stages of grief that everyone goes through in a linear fashion is a big fat liar. I think this picture is far more accurate portrayal of what grief is actually like (at least for me): These past 2 weeks have brought several big milestones. July 3rd was Ellie's 8 month birthday. July 4th was another "first" in a year of holidays spent without our girl. It was also the first major holiday since we lost Lizzie. I should be posting pictures of my 3 babies and growing baby bump dressed in red, white and blue like everyone else on social media. But instead, I felt like I was dying inside thinking about all the "should be's." July 5th was 2 months since Lizzie was born far too soon. Then finally, yesterday was 8 months since Ellie went to heaven. I feel like I can breathe again. For a couple of weeks, anyway, until the next wave of milestones hit. Not every month knocks the wind out of me qui...

My thoughts are all over the place today. As I sit down to write, I have no idea how to put together coherent sentences and transport them from my heart to the page. My heart is so very heavy. So many are hurting right now. Can anyone besides me relate to the feeling of being blown and tossed by the storms of life to the point that you can't even see straight or figure out which way to go? It's been a physically and emotionally draining past few days for me. I've been walking with a friend through an extremely difficult time. You know, when you're struggling, sometimes it's easy to block out everything going on in the world around you. But the truth is that others are struggling too. In fact, we may never know the pain hiding behind the smiles of the people we interact with, whether it's a lady at the grocery store or a friend who may be too afraid to share a painful struggle. I've learned that my courage to share what's on my heart has helped others ...