Nov 4, 2006
Location: Naperville, Illinois
Comments:
Dear Karen & Family,
I am praying for you, and I have little Leah in my heart. She's the Angel that gives me the strength to fight for my kids recovery, and also, I ask every Angel in heaven including mine to give you the strength you and your family need to get through this difficult times.
Please take care, my family and myself think of you every day.....and have our Happy Hearts candle forever on!
Sincerely,
Johanna Flores & Family
Naperville, IL.
Nov 3, 2006
Comments:
Hello, Karen.
Thank you for continuing to share yourself with us. I think of you often and pray that God gives you His gentle love whenever you need it, just the way you need it.
Love and hugs,
Cynthia
Nov 3, 2006
Comments:
Thinking of you and your family with continued prayers for strength every day. I will say a prayer for your Dad in the hopes he will stay strong too. God Bless You!
Nov 3, 2006
Your URL: www.jjsmiracle.com
Location: Madison, AL
Comments:
To the James Family, I just wanted to let you all know that your family is in our thoughts and prayers. I also wanted to thank you for the e-mail and the kind words of encouragement. We have linked your site(s) to JJs and are grateful for your continued dedication to finding a cure to this terrible thing. Jim
Nov 3, 2006
Your URL: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/matthewmcgowan
Comments:
Karen, You strength simply amazes me. I am so glad that I found Leah's web page, I am only sorry that I didn't find it sooner. Please know that I pray for you and your family every day, I pray for all of the other children who are battling this monster. May God Bless you and your family. Rich McGowan (Matthew's Dad)
Nov 3, 2006
Your URL: www.caringbridge.org/visit/kaitlyns
Location: Lebanon
Comments:
The Gap
Michael Crenlinsten
The gap between those who have lost children & those who have not is profoundly difficult to bridge. No one, whose children are well and intact can be expected to understand what parents who have lost children have absorbed & what they bear. Our children come to us through every blade of grass, every crack in the sidewalk, every bowl of breakfast cereal. We seek contact with their atoms, their hairbrush, their toothbrush, their clothing. We reach for what was integrally woven into the fabric of our lives, now torn & shredded.
A black hole has been blown through our souls &, indeed, it often does not allow the light to escape. It is a difficult place. For us to enter there is to be cut deeply, & torn anew, each time we go there, by the jagged edges of our loss. Yet we return, again & again, for that is where our children now reside. This will be so for years to come & it will change us profoundly. At some point in the distant future, the edges of that hole will have tempered & softened but the empty space will remain - a life sentence.
Our friends will change through this. There is no avoiding it. We grieve for our children, in part, through talking about them & our feelings for having lost them. Some go there with us, others cannot & through their denial & a further measure, however unwittingly, to an already heavy burden. Assuming that we may be feeling "better" six months later is simply "to not get it." The excruciating & isolating reality that bereaved parents feel is hermetically sealed from the nature of any other human experience. Thus it is a trap - those whose compassion & insight we most need are those for whom we abhor the experience that would allow them that sensitivity & capacity. And yet, somehow there are those, each in their own fashion, who have found a way to reach us & stay, to our comfort. They have understood, again each in their own way, that our children remain our children through our memory of them. Their memory is sustained through speaking about them & our feelings about their death. Deny this & you deny their life. Deny their life & you no longer have a place in ours.
We recognize that we have moved to an emotional place where it is often very difficult to reach us. Our attempts to be normal are painful & the day to day carries a silent, screaming anguish that accompanies us, sometimes from moment to moment. Were we to give it its own voice we fear we would become truly unreachable, & so we remain "strong" for a host of reasons even as the strength saps our energy & drains our will. Were we to act out our true feelings we would be impossible to be with. We resent having to act normal, yet we dare not do otherwise. People who understand this dynamic are our gold standard. Working our way through this over the years will change us as does every experience - & extreme experience changes one extremely. We know we will have recovered when, as we have read, it is no longer so painful to be normal. We do not know who we will be at that point or who will still be with us.
We have read that the gap is so difficult that, often, bereaved parents must attempt to reach out to friends & relatives or risk losing them. This is our attempt. For those untarnished by such events, who wish to know in some way what they, thankfully, do not know, read this. It may provide a window that is helpful for both sides of the gap.
www.caringbridge.org/visit/kaitlyns
Nov 3, 2006
Comments:
Hi Karen and family. Think of you often and been wondering how you and your dad are doing. I know he must be having a tough time without your mom. I am sorry that she had to leave you too. I will continue to pray for you and hope that sleep gets more peaceful for you. Karen and I visited Leah while we at mom's too. We love you and our hearts ache for you all. Stay warm and know that God has his arms around you always.xxoo Cousin Pam
Nov 2, 2006
Comments:
Thinking of you and your family.....hold onto the reality that you will get to hold her again!!!! Hugs to you and your family. I want you to know that reading your journal entries has made me appreciate what a precious gift God gave me in my daughter, Emily. Thank you for your courage in writing them, and for helping me to understand just how much I need to show her I care everyday. Hugs to you, Phil and Kylie. Emily's Dad Forever
Nov 2, 2006
Comments:
THINKING OF YOU, AND I AM ALWAYS PRAYING. HUGS! MAY YOUR HEART BE HAPPY.
| Amber Cantwell (Noah's cousin) | Email |
Nov 1, 2006
Comments:
Hi, My name is Amber and I am Noah Davis's cousin. I just wanted to say hello and that I have your family in my prayers. I was connected to your website through my aunt Trisha Davis. I have looked at all of the "angels'" websites and little Leah's story and picture really touched my heart. She is a beautiful little girl, and I just want you to know that even know I don't know you or have never met you, other than what Trisha shared from your conference in Las Vegas, I feel touched by your family and I ask God to give you and my aunt and all of the mothers and families with angels of their own, courage and guidance as to how to get through each day. Thank you for sharing Leah's story. Sincerely, Amber Cantwell El Paso, TX
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