25 Weeks - Remembering Amelia

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Sunday I had the honor of speaking
as the parent reflection at a memorial service
honoring babies lost at Alegent Hospitals in Omaha
from July through December of this last year.
It was another opportunity to speak our daughters name out loud
It is such a blessing to share her story with others.
Such a blessing to speak her name, and to let her legacy live on.

It was a lovely ceremony,
including a candle lighting and reading of the infants names.
Each mother was given a single white rose.
It felt good to stand before those parents
and affirm the value of their child's life.

They were here,
even if for only a moment.
They mattered.
They lived.
They are remembered.
They are loved.
They are worth EVERY tear. 

When I got home I placed the rose and candle
in a small cubby in our dining room where I have
a remembrance candle and cherub baby
that were gifts to us following Amelia's death.

I have spent some time worrying over how and where to create
a special place in our house to display Amelia's things.
But truth is, she is everywhere in our home,
she is in every room we are in.
Her absence is felt in every space.

She was here.
She mattered.
She lived.
She is remembered.
She is loved.
She is worth EVERY tear.



Psalm 42:1-5  
¹ As the deer pants for streams of water,
   so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
   When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food
   day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
   “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember
   as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
   under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
   among the festive throng.
 ⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God.