03 JulSadie Huish

Well, Heather informed me that I had to take a turn in posting. I don’t usually feel like I have much to say, but I’ll give it a try. Thanks to my mom coming over to watch the kids, we were able to fly to Utah on the 30th and attend the viewing and funeral services for Sadie Huish on the 1st. We’ve posted many times before about Sadie, so I won’t go in to too much background. We’ve been privileged to get to know many wonderful people who have been dealing with DIPG in their families. However, we’ve felt a special connection to the Huish family. I think it’s largely driven by the fact that we’ve had the chance to meet Sadie and her family a couple of times. Even Mara and Sadie met each other once last year. In addition to meeting Sadie and her family, there seems to be so much in common between the two. Lots of similarities in likes and strengths. Put simply, we have been so blessed by knowing Sadie and her family that we felt the only thing we could do was to try and be there for them. Well, as it often turns out, in our effort to ‘help’ we were ‘helped’ by the Huish’s far more than we could have helped them.

The funeral services were beautiful. Both of Sadie’s parents spoke and did wonderful jobs focusing on the positives and the lessons learned from their daughter. They were amazing. There was lots of beautiful music as well that added much to the spirit of the service. We even got to meet Hilary Weeks and her husband Tim and hear her beautiful voice as she sang “Take Me There” from her newest CD (see hilaryweeks.com/blog to read her account of Sadie’s funeral).  Heather and I both cried a lot and burned through a lot of tissues. It has been a little over 9 months since we did the same thing for Mara and it felt like a bit of a healing process to participate in something similar, but in a different role. It reminded us of the sweet spirit that was so often in our home when Mara was near the end of her mortal life; as well as the powerful spirit that we feel as we sing about, or hear about, the great plan of happiness that has been prepared for us. Again, the Huish family did a wonderful job and we had the privilege of meeting some of their other family and extended family who have obviously been a great support to them. It’s really interesting to consider the family connections we are blessed with in this life and ponder their continuance into the next.

We weren’t the only other DIPG family there – we also had the privilege of being with Paul and Emily Peterson and Brita Binns, who we’ve posted about previously. They are great people as well. Though we hate the circumstances that have made us friends, we are grateful to have come to know many wonderful people. We took a picture all together at Sadie’s grave.

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L to R: Emily and Paul Peterson; Zac, Sam, Tiffany, and Olivia Huish; us; Brita Binns.

Another benefit of the trip to Utah, was that we were able to quickly stop and visit Heather’s sister Kim and her family, including her new baby – Ellen Mara Center. She is very cute and a great addition to the family.

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Well, we keep moving ahead – startled by the seemingly rapid passing of time whether we want it to or not. Hopefully we can keep up well enough to continue to improve and be better each day, so that we can be prepared to join Mara and Sadie and others when our time comes.

03 JulRecent Events

Just a quick post with some of our recent events that we hadn’t provided photos of yet.

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Natalie had a dance recital recently. We had to take some photos in the same pose that we have of Mara at the same age (see below).

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Of course Katrina wanted to participate as well…

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The kids finally finished up school. Here’s the last day.

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At the school, they moved Mara’s little desk out of her classroom and put it under her plaque in the hallway. They are always doing something there to keep her memory alive.

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Thanks to some very kind and generous friends, we were given a gift to stay at a beachhouse for a couple of days. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the sand.

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Katrina also had fun – except for when she got knocked over into the water.

30 JunWe’re Off

Bryan and I are heading to Utah today to be at the funeral services for sweet Sadie. It will be an emotional experience for sure but all we feel we can do for them is be there. Please pray for the Huish family these next 2 days especially.

www.sadiehuish.blogspot.com

24 JunPeace for Sadie Huish

Our friend Sadie is nearing the very end of her earthly journey. Please pray for her family that this time can be peaceful and sacred. I don’t know what else to do for them but rally Mara’s Team to bolster their spirits. We know Mara and many others will be waiting for her. www.sadiehuish.blogspot.com. We love you Huish Family more than we can express. We wish you didn’t have to go through this. We would take it from you, even now, if there was any way we could.

18 Jun3 stages of Parenthood

Bryan and I find ourselves in a unique position right now. We are parents to the deceased, to the living and to the unborn. Yes, this means that I’m finally announcing my pregnancy here. I am 13 weeks along (due December 19) and doing well. We are apprehensive but very excited all at the same time. I finally heard the heartbeat at my appointment this week so I guess that made me ready to write about our news!

Why in the world am I apprehensive? After all, it feels so great to have such wonderful, happy news to share after so much heartache and disappointment the last few years of our lives. I guess I’m nervous about being emotionally ready to take care of another child. While I know our family will never “feel” the same as it did before Mara’s passing, I’m hoping that having 4 children in our home again will feel more natural. I don’t know that it will, but that’s my hope. I know I cannot replace Mara in any way (even though Natalie suggested we name the new baby Mara if it’s a girl) but I suppose I have subconscious fears that somehow this baby’s life was brought about because of Mara’s death- as a chance for us to create life simply because Mara’s life was taken. The truth of the matter is that we were undecided as to the status of our family’s size before Mara became ill. This could be happening anyway. So I’m doing my best to cast aside the fears that loom and embrace the great joy that awaits. I know my love will be multiplied, not divided, with this new addition to our family. I have had the privilege of physically caring for 4 children in the past so I know that I can do it again. This is a knowledge that very few mothers have going into pregnancy.

Max told me a few weeks ago that he was a little bit sad that this baby wouldn’t know Mara. I had the chance to talk with Max about how possibly this baby may know Mara better than the rest of us. I hope that they have chances to interact and be together. I hope that Mara’s telling the baby about Max’s pet peeves, about Natalie’s tendency to “mother” and about Katrina’s crazy dances. Just the thought that they may be together right now in some way is enough for me. However, this new baby won’t have the same memories with her that the rest of us do so it will be even more important that we keep Mara alive through our conversations of her. I can’t imagine that the frequency of our discussions of Mara will end and I’m glad to have even more motivation to remember her.

Many of you may think we’re crazy. To that I say, yes we are! However, part of me feels like we’ve lived in such insanity that we can surely handle this. I also know that the anticipation of meeting this new spirit will help heal our family. I know that when I die, one of the only things I can take with me is the relationships I have with people, particularly my husband and children. Family is what it’s really all about. And we’re one big (getting bigger) happy family- at least most of the time.