Happy 5th Birthday! (MEND Newsletter tribute)

Happy 5^th Birthday, A.J.! 

We have survived 1827 days without you. There have been days when we didn’t think we could make it one more day, but we did. There were days when we felt it couldn’t hurt anymore, but it could. There were days when we laughed, days when we cried, days we sat there in complete silence and disbelief. There were days when only the grace of God carried us to the next day.

We have missed you for 1827 days and will miss you each and every day until we are together again. Until then, we will serve as we are called to serve in your honor, as your legacy. Our love for you is endless!

We Love You MORE!

Daddy, Mommy, Eli & Alex

Feelings from left field...

My facebook status today is "Only a small percentage of people understand how conflicted my soul is on any given day." I chose not to post this part of what I typed as my status... This does not mean I am not joyful, happy, thankful, blessed, living and doing. This also does not make me the strongest person you know, brave, or amazing...I am merely carrying the cross I was given to carry and sometimes it gets heavy...though I'd never lay it down, abandon it, or begrudge it.

I recently had an encounter with a fairly self-centered, neurotic man I know who felt the need to tell me I needed to 'let go' of all this baggage involving my son. Difference between 4.5 years ago and now is that I listened to him rant and tell me 'how I should feel', listened to the hurts in his life, and then responded.

We say all the time in MEND that people are rude, insensitive, and self-centered in their comments and they mean well, but they just don't know. I would like to believe that he meant well. I would like to believe the best in people and their words...but I continually put myself out there and am continually disappointed in people.