For those walking the path of grieving the loss of a baby or child, we offer grace for the journey and a friend to walk with you... There are moments on this walk when we feel we cannot go on. Moments when a friend comes alongside us to point us again to the One who sustains us. A friend to lift us in prayer. A friend to allow us to lean on her as she leans on Him. A friend, who is not afraid to walk through the valley in the rain, with a storm mounting. She is not afraid, because the Lord is her strength and her shield. She is not afraid because she doesn't walk alone. And because He has walked with her through the valleys and the storms, He has sent her to walk with you. And He will carry you both through the rain, through the storm, through the unknown dark alleys to secure, dry ground. Whether you are a newly bereaved mother or a seasoned mom who has watched the Lord make beauty from ashes in your life. Whether you need someone to lean on or you are the shoulder that can bear the burden, we hope you will walk with us as we are walking with Him. We hope you will join us with our broken umbrellas, with all our little quirks and imperfections in our various stages on this walk, as His grace washes over us in the pouring rain.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Remembering at Christmas 2010 ~ SGM Christmas Extravaganza

 
 
 
 
 

Contest now closed winners announced. You may still link your post and leave a comment, but they will not count toward the contest entry. Thank you so much and God bless you this Christmas season and in the coming year.
If you are missing someone you love this Christmas, someone of ANY age who is spending Christmas with Jesus this year, I hope you will join us on this very special Walking With You. We are sharing our Christmas memories and the ways that we remember our loved ones who have gone home to heaven at Christmas time. If you do not have a blog or do not wish to link a post, you may leave your Christmas memories in the comments below. If you do a post on your blog, come back and link up on the Linky following this post.

We will also be offering several beautiful ornaments to bless a few who participate.

This first round of giveaways will be for a special ornament to remember your loved one at Christmas. We are giving one baby boy Hallmark ornament (pictured later in this post), two Hallmark Always Remembered Ornaments (a porcelain clam with a pearl in it that says, "Every life leaves something beautiful behind.") And, one person will win a very special ornament hand painted by my friend Deanna who creates beautiful ornaments in memory of loved ones who have gone home to heaven as found on her site: Payton's Precious Memories (in memory of her daughter, Payton Rose). Deanna is donating an ornament for this giveaway...thanks so much, Dee!

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. Participate by linking a post about how you remember your loved one at Christmas. (this gives an additional entry). Please put the Walking With You button in your post on your blog, or put a link to WWY in your blog post.
3. An additional entry will be given for every comment left on the posts that link up on our Linky.(I will be visiting the blogs who link with this post and tallying comments left. You must comment here to enter first, though so I know you would like to be included.)


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How do we remember our babies (Faith, Grace, and Thomas) who are in heaven?

Each year, we fill three shoeboxes with gifts for Operation Christmas Child, which we then donate to the pile of boxes collected by our church for their annual donation. We fill two little girl boxes in memory of Faith and Grace and one little boy box in memory of our Thomas. It is a small thing, but it blesses me to be able to buy some little gifts in their memory and give them to another child in hopes that it will bring some joy. It is something tangible we can do to remember them every year.

A Christmas tree should tell a family's story. Each year, the memories come flooding back as we take out the ornaments and remember all the milestones our children have achieved, the sweet hand made ornaments adorned with school pictures, baby's first Christmas ornaments, Our first Christmas Together ornaments, and for those of us missing those we love, In Memory ornaments. They are a special way to include those who have gone home to heaven in our story. For they are very much a part of our hearts and our lives...and should be in the memories when we unwrap the ornaments each year and hang them on the tree that tells our family story. I shared a great deal about some of those special ornaments on our tree last year in this post. So, I won't repost all of that, but I will show a few more ornaments that have been added to our collection. Several of them came from some of you, my dear bloggy friends and fellow mamas. They touched my heart, and are treasured among some of the most precious gifts that I have received.

These beautiful ornaments were a gift I received last year from Jess:





And these three from Sarita:


And, this sweet ornament for my Thomas...

(Also the same baby boy Hallmark ornament we are giving away on this post!)

I also hang ornaments each year in memory of my sweet mother, Kathy, who went home to heaven four years ago. She adored Christmas, and she is so much a part of every Christmas memory for me. These Christmas giveaways are one thing I do to honor her memory. Even in difficult times, mom loved to make Christmas a fun celebration and she loved to give.

From Because He Came by Kelly Gerken...


More than two thousand years ago, the world ached for salvation, swelled with yearning for deliverance, redemption, restoration...for a Savior to rescue from sin and death. And He came...a baby King, born in a lowly stable on a quiet night to a peasant girl and her betrothed...a carpenter. He was in the still, small voice when He whispered past Elijah. And He was in the quiet stable birth when He came to rescue us and sent His angels to tell the lowly shepherds the good news.


His name is Jesus...and He came for me.

His name is Jesus...and He came for you.


And Because He came...there is hope for tomorrow and a promise of a joyful, forever reunion. He will wipe away all of the tears and wash away the loss and regret. He will cleanse and forgive and clothe us in robes of white. The empty arms will be filled. The hungry hearts will be fed. Brokenness will be restored. Mourning will be turned to dancing. And sin and death will be no more.


Because He came...He will carry us through this life.


And because He came...He will come again...in all His glory...to take us home.


© Kelly Gerken, Sufficient Grace Ministries 2008-2009

Thanks for letting me share some of my Christmas memories of my loved ones in heaven. I look forward to reading all of your memories, and pray that you will find comfort and hope in the truth that He came for you, as you remember this Christmas season.



23 comments:

  1. Just had enough time to glance thru but I'll be back tomorrow to read more thoroughly and link up. Tonite though I'm spending the rest of my time with my babies! :)

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  2. Kelly, you are so sweet to have these giveaways for us! You do so much for others - God bless you! Sad to say, I'm unsure of how to link up - maybe one day I will learn how!

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  3. This comment was submitted to this post by email: Thank you so very much for thinking about our sleeping angel's on Christmas
    Jessica B

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  4. Just sending hugs and prayers to all the families out there who are missing their loved ones this holiday season. Obviously I remember my dear Payton with the ornaments I share every year with so many people, it keeps her memory alive and is still such a healing process for me. Luv ya Kelly :-)

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  5. Excited about this giveaway...and touched by this lovely post. Thanks, Kelly.

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  6. Oh Kelly... we just lost another baby this week. I am so sad, I don't want to think about Christmas at all. But this post gave me something to think about and maybe look forward to - I hadn't thought about doing something like an ornament for the baby. Thank you.

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  7. What a awesome giveaway and linky idea! I'll have to write my post and link up later if I get a chance!

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  8. What a great idea, Kelly. I have not yet started a tradition for my son. That may have made last year a bit easier for me, who knows. I also don't have any traditions for other loved ones who are gone. . . it just never occurred to me to do something special. I will have to visit some of these linked posts to get ideas i guess.

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  9. Kelly, you are amazing! This is our first Christmas without the boys (their due date was actually suppose to be a week before Christmas) so it is rough. We decorated stockings for them and I have been looking for the perfect ornament!

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  10. I remember you getting those ornaments last year. I also was blessed to receive ornaments from Jess and Sarita. I plan on putting my ornaments up again this year.

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  11. We are going to buy a special ornament and put it in Jordan's curio! Right in the arms of the comfort bear!!!

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  12. Honestly Christmas has been hard for me, I haven't bought a new ornament since we lost Isaac & Hannah because nothing seemed "good enough" but I've decided I needed to do something because it felt wrong not to. I like the idea of focusing on joy during this season & your post is a wonderful encouragement. I want to honor my babies while honoring God. I plan to blog about this. =)

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  13. What a very generous and meaningful giveaway. I am working on my post of what we do to remember Rebekah around this season and hope to link it soon.
    Your 'Because He Came' was just beautiful, Kelly!

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  14. I'm not sure that I'll have a post of what we'll do because as of now...I'm not really sure of what we'll do. Matthew had just passed last Christmas and honestly, we were still in shock.

    But we love ornaments as you do--He had several and we cherished hanging each one of them...as well as the memorial ones we've bought in remembering my mom and John's dad. Precious and priceless to us!

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  15. What a wonderful giveaway! I want to get many ornaments for Janie Beth.

    I really want to blog about what we are doing, but I can't seem to find time to blog about anything these day! I hope to link up tomorrow!!

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  16. We just lost our triplet daughters, Allie, Brooklyn and Chloe on the 17th and 18th of November. We are just beginning our grieving. I have been dreading putting up a tree this year. My other two daughter have been begging me to do it. It never accord to me that I could honor my little angels on my tree. Thanks for giving me the idea.

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  17. I remember these ornaments, and had received a beautiful ornament from Jess too.

    Even when it's difficult and my heart aches, I love love love Christmas time.

    It never gets old reading, "Because He Came." I love it Kelly!

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  18. What a wonderful giveaway !! I remember last year and then this yr getting the precious ornament to put on the tree this yr that I got from you last yr. So wonderful.

    I linked up with last yrs post plus some new things we are doing.
    Love always
    Caroline

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  19. Will definitely link up, thanks for doing this! I love all your ornaments and I love the idea of buying gifts and donating them. We have a donation box for Joey's toy box and I plan on buying something I would have bought for Lilly and donating it. To do it every year would be a great way to remember her. We have a tradition in our family where ornaments are given each year at Christmas. I bought Lilly her first ornament last year when she was in my tummy. Thank you for sharing your ornaments. *hugs*

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  20. What a great idea~ These things are making the holidays much easier for me this year. I realize now all the ways I can still keep Mikayla's memory alive.

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  21. I am late as usual, but thanks so much for doing this! It seems like it has been therapeutical for me to write this! I wrote my post before I went back and read last years post and found them to be quite similar! Oh Well, I guess that is what remains on my heart!

    Thanks again Kelly,I appreciate you so much!

    Blessings,
    Karen

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  22. What a wonderful idea this is! I wrote a post about my mother who I miss so much. It's harder around Christmas time since she loved to celebrate and bring the family together.

    Thanks for doing this Kelly!

    Blessings and love,
    Debbie

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