Brock's Birthday

Walking through this grief with my children has held some really sweet but difficult times. I asked the Lord to please show me the way to help them through this valley, pointing them to Him the entire way. I begged Him to please use it for good in their life and not let it leave a deep wound that just festers in their heart. I am trusting Him in His promise to do so.

Many times in answering their questions I hear myself saying the very thing I needed to hear. I want to be the one to help them even though sometimes it is the most heartbreaking thing. It has been a privilege to walk it out with them. I asked the grief counselor for any tips in helping them grieve in a healthy way. She explained to me that my children would say to themselves, "What if it had have been me?!" She said they would look at it from their own perspective. They will say, "If it had been me...would they still talk about me? Would they still remember me? Would they still celebrate me?" They talk about Brock all the time. They bring his name up often. They remember him in ways of playing with him that only brothers remember.

So, in that light, we are going to celebrate Brock. Tuesday, March 3rd is his 4th Birthday. When we reminded Barrett that this Tuesday was the day, he said, "I can't even imagine him being 4 because I did not see him on the way to 4." We knew him "on the way" to 3 as he died just short of his third birthday. We are all finding this day hard as it approaches.

We thought of a precious way to celebrate, and we are asking you to join us. At first, I struggled with this because if he were here, I would not be asking you... those of you who knew him and those of you who never knew him, to help us celebrate his birthday. But after continuing to pray, think and talk about it, it is the way we want to celebrate this year. (Last year, it was so close to his death that all I wanted to do was be alone with just our family).

What we would like to do is this: We want to have you release balloons in memory of his Birth Day. This was the day that the blessing of his life began in ours. First, before you release the balloons we want you to take a picture of yourself, your family, or your kids with the balloons. We thought it would be fun to see where all the balloons come from. You can get as creative as you want. For example, if you live in a city that is known for some landmark, maybe you could take your picture with the balloon in front of that site. Or maybe just the sky is beautiful where you are, then use that as the background. Use your imagination. Your front porch would be nice too. Once you take the picture, please email it to me at dnmeadows@comcast.net. I am going to put all the pictures together. We don't care how many balloons you decide to let go. You can even include in your email why you chose the number. The boys suggested red for the color, but then again, it doesn't matter; we just want you to take a picture and let balloons go. We also would be humbled if you don't know us but follow the blog...if you would participate. We won't think you're a stalker :) We just appreciate you caring for us enough to join us on our journey. If you have kids and participate, you may want to include your return address on the balloon for a fun idea for your kids to see how far your balloons go. We are going to put that on ours with a note about why we have let them go.

This idea is not original with me. I did not come up with it, but I decided I really liked it when I saw it done for a little girl named Ava that died. If you need some ideas for your pictures, the pictures on this show are beautiful. Her mama is a photographer, and her photographer friends did the photo release. I promise no pressure from us to pull off pictures like these.

Now I am sure some of you by now are thinking that you don't know how to email me the picture. Don't let that stop you. If you don't, just take the picture and I will help you with getting it to me.

Thank you so much for loving us and helping us to celebrate the day that Brock came into our world...forever changing it.