Our baby girl ran to Jesus on Tuesday and her body was put to rest yesterday.
The love that our family has been shown is beyond remarkable.
The peace that God granted us seems supernatural.
The words and actions of everyone surrounding us have continued to sustain us.
We were given three wonderful years with our baby. In those three years I learned more about life and God and myself than I could ever imagine. I learned that love truly conquers all. I came to understand that there is so much truth to the saying that life is a miracle. Seeing Zeta struggle with the most simple things that we take for granted (like even just breathing) showed me that there is so much that we take for granted. I knew before birth that Zeta wouldn't be here forever. No one told me that, it is something I felt in my heart. After she was born, there were many times that I was told that no one was sure how long she would survive. We were blessed to have three awesome years. Three years in which we made it our top priority to give her every possible chance to ease her life and make her comfortable. Three years to feel the love she had for her us and watch her beautiful smile. Three years to show her how incredible our love was for her....and three years to follow God's plan for her life. We were given three years with the opportunity to live each day as it may be our last with her. How awesome it would be if we could live every day with every person we love in the same way.
Someone recently sent me a card and noted that it was awesome that Zeta never hurt anyone's feelings and her feelings were never hurt- what a wonderful idea.....wouldn't it be great if we all lived and died the same way?
They say weddings and funerals bring out the worst in people. They also say that having a child with extreme medical needs can tear a family apart.
I say that God has shown the world that it doesn't have to be like that. Yesterday, our family took part in the most wonderful service for Zeta. Everything was done in love. I cannot begin to thank John, Brian, the musicians, Devin, Lavonya, Tosha, the florists, First Baptist Church, Fran, our family, our friends and all that were involved in making it such a wonderful memory for us - the celebration of our girl running in heaven. The celebration of reminding us that our Redeemer lives and that faith and love most truly conquers all!
Faith and love have carried our family through some of the darkest times in our lives and I'm sure many believe that Tuesday and yesterday had to be some of the darkest. Stevie and I have continually talked about how this week, although difficult, has not been the worst that we have faced - that there have been so many times throughout Zeta's short life that we fought the inner demons. So many times that we lived in fear and the worry of not knowing what would happen. Our family has lived apart through many hospitalizations. We made it through sleepless nights and through differences amongst ourselves and Zeta's providers - but through it all we were blessed with grace and dignity and LOVE. That Still Calm Voice that guided our every decision - friends, God is who has carried us and it is God that has made every bit of this possible. Too many prayers answered. Too many miracles revealed. Too many 'coincidences' to explain. It's just ----GOD. Without question, losing Zeta's earthly presence left us heartbroken - BUT it gave us the greatest peace in knowing that her SOUL has ARRIVED in HEAVEN and that she is HEALED and that we are promised that same eternal life! We will all be re-united one sweet day.
Until that day, we'll hug a little tighter, love a little harder and continue to follow His plan for our lives!
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ReplyDeleteWhen a Child Dies
As told by Fernando and Dilma Freitas, United States
“The trauma of the death of a child is something that just cannot be explained. There can be no greater pain.”
OUR daughter, whom we named Precious, died on April 16, 2006. She was only ten days old. About three months into the pregnancy, it was determined that our unborn child had a serious heart-related condition. As the delivery drew closer, it became apparent that she would die shortly after her birth—if she lived at all. This was extremely difficult for us to accept. We had three healthy children. We could not believe that our baby would die.
After Precious was born, an experienced specialist in chromosomal disorders diagnosed her with a rare condition called Trisomy 18, which affects only about 1 in 5,000 babies. It was clear that she would not survive long. We felt utterly helpless because there was so little we could do. The one thing we could do was be with her for the short duration of her life. So that is what we did.
We are so grateful for the ten days that we had with Precious. During that time we and our three daughters bonded with her. We held her, talked to her, hugged her, kissed her, and took as many photographs of her as we could. We even talked about who in the family she most resembled. The specialist who diagnosed Precious’ condition visited us every day in the hospital. He cried with us and told us how sorry he was. He even drew a picture of Precious while he was talking to us for him to remember her. He gave us a copy.
Being Jehovah’s Witnesses, we fully believe, as the Bible teaches, that God will restore paradisaic conditions to our earth and that he yearns to bring back to life on earth those who have died—including infants, such as Precious. (Job 14:14, 15; John 5:28, 29) We look forward to the day when we will hold her and embrace her again. Every time we hear the word “paradise,” that hope warms our hearts! In the meantime, we take comfort in the fact that Precious is in God’s memory and is no longer suffering.—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10.
Www.jw.org