You are Invited to the After Party!

Today was a day for decision making.

Pretty productive day.  Second very productive day in a row.  We gave life to an angel Thursday.  And we gave business to a couple of funeral homes today!  

God has been amazing through all of it.  Talk about amazing grace!!!  Wow.  Because Emily carried Caroline, God carried us.  And continues to do so.  Words cannot express how much He has strengthened us.  God is so gracious.  Caroline's grace will be present for the rest of our lives, including our lives in Heaven.  And so shall Caroline Grace.

We have already begun celebrating her life.  The life of an angel!  I cannot wait to hold her and kiss her once again.  Our rejoicing here on earth pales in comparison to the after party we will have when we all get to Heaven!!  Will you be there?  I hope so :-)  Jesus says, everyone is invited!  "Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” -John 3:15-16


One of my favorite hymns, "When We All Get to Heaven" by Eliza Hewitt, goes like this: 
"Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place.

When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus, (and Caroline Grace!)
We’ll sing and shout the victory!

While we walk the pilgrim pathway,
Clouds will overspread the sky;
But when trav’ling days are over,
Not a shadow, not a sigh.

Let us then be true and faithful,
Trusting, serving every day;
Just one glimpse of Him in glory
Will the toils of life repay.

Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open;
We shall tread the streets of gold."

God is so good to us!!  He has demonstrated how much He loves us all through Emily's and my journey.  And He is now dancing with Caroline Grace on those streets of gold!!

Thanks to everyone for your love, too!
We have already received lots of hugs, prayers, e-hugs, e-mails, texts, tweets, FB posts, phone calls, flowers, and cards.  Thank you to ALL of you.  You have all been a tremendous blessing to us.

Sweet Caroline Grace and her own blankies

A Duck...for a Duck.  (see Emily's blog post:  I'm a Duck)

Me Holding Caroline in a blankie my Great Grandma Shelley made for me as a little boy

Still holding our Caroline

Emily, her "twin" sister, and Caroline

Pointing to our Texas soil...we placed it under the delivery bed so she could be born over Texas soil :-)

Proud Texas Grandparents:  "Honey" and "Pi"

Emily and our Sweet Caroline

Kissing an Angel

And I danced with Cinderella....

Our Family Photo. 

We invite all of you to continue in our celebration of her birthday and her eternal life in Heaven....through tears of joy and tears of grief...joy for her eternal life and grief because we can't hold her here on earth anymore.


Locally, we will be celebrating her angelic little life by holding a local service in Caroline's honor on December 29th.  Specific location and time to be determined.

In South Carolina, we have tentatively scheduled plans for a reception.  Due to the transporting requirements, we will not be able to hold a service, but please come and share our joy through photos, hand/foot molds, and other keepsakes.  Time, date, place to be determined. 

And in Texas, we have tentatively scheduled plans for a Houston service for January 7th.
 
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to any of the following organizations who have been instrumental in our journey with Caroline Grace:

Address:
The Life Center -Perinatal Program
Attn:  Heather Silver
445 Defense Highway
Annapolis, MD 21401
Please make checks payable to:  "The Life Center" and include "Perinatal Program" on the check's memo line.

Address:
AAMC Foundation
Perinatal Loss Fund
2001 Medical Parkway
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Please make checks payable to:  "AAMC Foundation" and include "Perinatal Loss Fund" on the check's memo line.

Address:
The Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation
2305 E. Arapahoe Rd., Suite 220
Centennial, CO 80122
Please make checks payable to:  "The NILMDTS Foundation."

Please keep the prayers coming.  God's grace has been overly abundant!!!  We cannot thank y'all enough!!