A Giveaway For Meredith's Birthday

In two weeks, on October 3, it will be Meredith's birthday and I wanted to share my love for all of you by having a giveaway. There are no hoops to go through, all you have to do is comment on this post. I have several things to give away and in your comment, please mention what you would like to have a chance to win - all the items or specific items. Please also leave your email address. Anyone can enter - this is not only for BLMs. If you live outside of the U.S., please don't hesitate to enter. I don't mind shipping internationally.

The first item is the Willow Tree "Forget-me -Not" figurine. I have wanted this for so long and everytime I go to the Hallmark store, they are out of them. I finally ordered two, one for a winner and one for me.

Secondly, there is a birthday calendar. I have some similar ones and that is how I keep up with the birthdays of our baby angels. I keep a separate one for friends and family members.

The next giveaway item is a calendar by the Moreheads. They have been drawing children and angels for a number of years and I usually get one of their calendars for Christmas. After the year is over, I use the cute pictures in scrapbooking for my grandchildren.

Lastly, I am giving away my copy of "They Were Still Born."

Please remember our little girl on her birthday in some way by just thinking of her, doing a kindness for someone in her name, or however you choose.

Thankfulness

To add to the things I was thankful for previously:

My humble home, small as it is. So many people are homeless...

The Promise of Heaven

A wonderful Labor Day party yesterday at the home of our son

Books - I LOVE books! Wanted to be a librarian but never finished the coursework. Life stood in the way, so I was the next best thing - a teacher.

A full refrigerator & pantry

Our pets - a Pomeranian, a chihuahua/dachshund, and a beautiful soft black & white kitty

Summer fruit

Fresh scrapbooking materials

Little gifts I find on sale that make my grandchildren happy

This is a huge one - my recovery from septic shock in 2008. From what I have read and viewed on medical shows since then, I know that many people do not recover from this illness. I thank God every day for my life.

"Our Story"

Although I have had this blog for over a year, I had never posted an abbreviated "Our Story" on the header. I have now so that new readers or someone who is just visiting can get a glimpse of Meredith's story.

Thankfulness

Because I cried during the total composition of my prior post and have been frequently teary since, I decided I needed to get in a better frame of mind. So, I am dwelling on what I am thankful for:

My whole family - the one I have now and the ones in Heaven who have influenced me in the past and their teachings & love STILL influence me

My friends

My fellow BLMs who are in a whole different category of "friends"

My Saviour

Prayer

A sweet baby girl who first made me a Mother

Doctors who give samples of expensive medications

Air conditioning

Clean water

The Bible

There is so much for which I am grateful - I will save more for other times.

Wondering....

I was wondering last night and thinking about who would take care of Meredith's grave when I am gone. I know I will be with her in Heaven but I don't want her grave to look lonely. She is buried 100 miles from us, in a lovely small cemetery in the town where I was raised. It is where we will be buried. What bothers me is there is a vase on her tombstone. I don't want the vase to be empty. I feel like I will go first because of all the health problems I have. So last night I told my husband when I pass away for him to either buy her a new stone without a vase or remove the vase and have an angel put in its place. He said I can come up with some of the weirdest things to worry about. Of course, while I was talking to him I cried and he doesn't like to see me upset. After all these years, I cannot bring her up to him without tears coming to my eyes, my throat tightening and reliving seeing her struggle through the windows of that nursery. He and I lived the horror of our first child's death. He had to go to pick out her casket without me. We had to make decisions about where to put her and I wanted her by my grandmother.

Now, I know I have three children. The girls would gladly put out flowers for me, but I don't want them to have to drive that far to do it. For this reason, I don't want a vase on my own tombstone. My son - I don't think he would. My brother doesn't like to visit the cemetery much. Cemeteries are usually "done " by the women of the family. My husband said he would see to the care of her grave, but what to do after he is gone? I have two wonderful cousins who have helped out in placing flowers for me, but I don't want to leave that job with them.

As long as I can, I want my personal touches on Meredith's grave. I want to fill her vase myself. I don't want her grave to look lonely. For nearly 37 years tending her grave has been the only way I could "hold" her, in a sense - the only way I could do things for her. I miss her so much.

Surprise Flowers For Meredith & An Honor From Shauna

July 4th weekend, we went to East Texas to have dinner and fireworks with my brother and his wife. He lives in the house where we grew up, the house Mother and Dad built in the 1930s. It has been remodeled several times and the small board house is now a larger bricked one. Meredith is buried in the cemetery at "home" right next to my maternal grandmother. I take her new artificial flowers when I go. This time, there was a surprise at her grave - a small nosegay of fresh orange and green blossoms. There was one like it for my great nephew who is buried next to her. The green flowers were tiny, exotic cymbidian orchids. I was thrilled that someone remembered Meredith & Joshua and asked all the family members who had placed the flowers. No one in our family did and the benefactor remains a mystery. I am very thankful to this person who lifted a mother's heart.

The first picture above was made by Shauna who has the blog "Pinwheels From Heaven." Shauna has made pinwheel and balloon pictures for Meredith that I need to post soon. She honored me by mentioning my name in her blog with the lamb picture. Shauna, I LOVE lambs!They remind me of innocence and sweetness, of Jesus, the Lamb of God and the Great Shepherd. Thank you for associating my name with a lamb!

The angel picture reminds me of our girls in Heaven - Meredith and Shauna's babies Janessa and Hope. Someday we will get to see and hold our babies.

If I Were Rich...

I get lots of catalogues and love to shop with my daughters. These days, a lot of it is window shopping, though. All the time I see items that remind me of your babies. Lots of ladybug items for the garden, angels, bears, frogs, butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds and other things that blogging Moms have mentioned. They can be on lovely jeweled cloissone boxes, garden flags, jewelry, small statuary, blown glass - the items are endless. If I were rich, I would carefully choose a gift for each of you grieving Moms. I would wrap it beautifully and send it to you. But I'm not rich, so just know that often I think of your babies when I see a remembrance of your child. All of you Moms are very often on my mind, in my heart, and in my prayers.

What I can do right now is make you a FREE memorial scrapbook tag for your baby. One Mom called hers an "Angel tag."

I have rested up from making the last batch, so please send me your information and spread the word to others.

I will need:

baby's name and dates

colors you like

something that may remind you of your child

an address to mail the tag to.

Please email me the info - sboyette@tx.rr.com

Blessings to you all as you travel your journey of child loss.