Life Without Leah

It's now been 2 1/2 weeks without Leah in our arms....and life will definitely never get "back to normal". We are however pressing forward as God helps us forge yet another "new normal", that that means life without Leah.

We had a beautiful memorial service on the 4th of July, in which we were surrounded by so many friends and family showering us with their love. The stories shared of how deeply our precious Leah impacted different lives for the Lord were so moving. I don't think there could ever have been 2 parents more proud than Luke and I felt on that day.

Part of this journey with Leah, has brought me into a place of offering love, support, prayers and encouragement to others who are walking this same path...only a few steps behind us. I've become close with a woman from Georgia, named Shanna, whose story is far too similar to my own. Yet, her story is also unique. Shanna is the mother of 3 girls, and pregnant with twins, a little girl, and a little boy. The little boy, Landyn, has the same condition as Leah, and in fact even has some more severe challenges already known, than what was known about Leah prenatally. The medical professionals do not expect him to live after birth, but his twin sister Larsyn, is however expected to make it. She is less than a week away from delivery via C-Section....hoping to carry both babies to a live delivery.

Shanna and her two babies have been on my heart so heavily since Leah passed. It's been as if God has been telling me, "Leah no longer needs your prayers.....she's absolutely perfect now...but Landyn needs your prayers." Landyn's family needs ALL of our prayers! Please visit their caringbridge site, and if your prayer times have felt a bit more empty without prayers for Leah, please fill them with prayers for little Landyn in Georgia.

I hate knowing EXACTLY how Shanna is feeling, because they are feelings I wish no one ever had to experience. But I've also felt the surpassing grace of God, as He's showered it upon me in my times of greatest weakness and most immense need. I know that it is through the prayers of all of you, that God orchestrated all the events of Leah's life....each and every moment, each and every seizure, each and every heart that was touched because of her. It was because of this same God, that I was filled with joy during Leah's memorial service, truly able to say I felt more happy than sad, as I remembered and shared my love for Leah with all those in attendance. Maybe I was just all cried out by the time the service started, but I do know that the experience of Joy amidst the Pain of Sorrow, are possible with God.


Thank you for letting me share about little Landyn with each of you. I know that God has allowed you to find a place for Leah in your hearts, and because of that there must also be room for her little friend, Landyn, who shares with her the poor prenatal diagnosis of alobar HPE.

Click on the link below to visit the twins' CaringBridge site:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/landynandlarsyn