Happy List Saturdays #9

It's that time again! I am so glad that we've made it to another Saturday and I can't wait to read what has made you happy this week!!!! After my post yesterday I definitely am in need of a Happy List! So here's my list for the week :)

♥ Got to talk to my sweet awesome friend Tiffany last night for the first time IRL and guess what???  I love her even more now!  She's fabulous!!!  And we've got some exciting news coming soon so stay tuned!!!

♥ Traveling- love it!  And right now I'm visiting a pretty cool place- Boston!  Had some excellent crab legs last night- yum!

♥ Nygel- I swear every time I think I couldn't be going more crazy this man is there to calm me down and help me be me again.  Love you babe!

♥ God's plan for me- He keeps blessing me and I am so very grateful that He loves me and continues to hold me in His arms through everything.  I am also so thankful that He has given me clarity and truth in so many aspects of my life.  I know so much more now than I did before and I recognize the things that God needed me to see and believe. And for that I am grateful......helps me keep my life simple and stress-free......

♥ Decorating journals!!  I didn't want to post these pics before Fran but I just had the best time helping her decorate all the journal for Jenna's Journal Drive.  I was THRILLED beyond belief to write so many of your precious angel's names in the the journals you donated.  Little Juju had my hand cramping and little Addie was close to it-Lol! BUT I loved writing all their names over and over again for you! So glad I got to share in this special activity.

♥ Aiden- I am so very thankful for my precious little angel.  I swear that little boy is with me always!  Look what I saw in my hotel last night!

As my other friend Tiffany would say....a wink!  Definitely a wink from my little man.  What a cool dragonfly right? He is awesome and he has sent me so many special things.......  He always knows when his mama needs him! Love you little man!

♥ Purging.......of negative things and people......it's good for the mind and soul and I'm doing quite a bit of that right now.  It feels like a weight off my shoulders--- and the relief of that makes me happy......

♥ Mother's Day- although it's definitely bittersweet for me am I am so very thankful to Aiden that he made me a mommy......such a precious gift!

Love you guys and I hope this Mother's Day weekend is easy on you.....

xoxo

Support Group

My support group at Bo's Place has been a great source of strength for me over the last 5 weeks. The 3 women who are a part of the group with me are wonderful, strong, supportive, creative, fun, and know how to give a great hug! Our facilitators have presented us with such carefully planned activities and topic discussions each week. I can't believe my time at Bo's Place is coming to an end. But I know I'm stronger because of this group and for that I give thanks. Thank you God for knowing what and who I needed at just the right time.

So I wanted to share something from my group session this week:

This little master piece is my quilt square for a quilt that will be kept at Bo's Place. Each person who goes through a grief support program at Bo's Place creates a quilt square to remember their loved one. It can be words, pictures, scribbles, what ever you like. Once they have collected enough squares Bo's Place sends them off to be made into a memorial quilt. All the people in a support group together will have their squares placed on the same quilt so they are always together.

They have some amazing ladies that work on these quilts! Every one of them is a perfect piece of art. Once the quilts are ready they are hung on various walls throughout Bo's Place. From the first day I walked into the building I was struck by how touching these quilts are. I couldn't stop reading square after square, learning about all the love shared for lost family members. There are squares made by all ages and some of the best are the simple drawings of small children who don't quite have the words to express their feelings....their pictures say it all.

I'm so glad that Aiden will always be remembered on the walls of Bo's Place because this group has truly helped me in my grieving and healing process.

On another note I wanted to share with you all a few things that I think are just great!!! First is the Jenna Journal Drive. Franchesca at Small Bird Studio is doing a journal drive for her baby girl Jenna's birthday. The Jenna Journal Drive will provide journals to parents in the NICU to record their memories and feelings during their journey, Please check out her page and donate a journal or two or three!

I know that journaling has helped me a lot in this grief journey and I think it's great to provide other baby loss mamas the same outlet to express their feelings. I'm personally going to try to collect at least 10 journals for the drive. If you want to donate with me let me know. All the journals I send will be in memory of Aiden and will include a very beautiful sticker with his name. If you want to donate on your own go to this page for all the details. I'll be sending my journals the around the middle of March so that Fran will have them in time for Jenna's birthday on May 5th. If you want to send a journal in Aiden's memory let me know soon! You can leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Next I wanted to share Tiffany's page that offers support for those experiencing the loss of a baby because of SIDS. In His Name provides resources and survival kits for families in honor of her beautiful son Julius.

I hope you will all take a moment to stop by her page and support this project. I know that it will mean so much to the families that are dealing with this horrible loss. Also go visit Tiffany's page and enter her awesome giveaway for the month of February. It's sponsored by Franchesca which means it will be really great!!!

Finally I wanted to share some love! Mattie has arranged for herself and other bloggers to post about all about love during the month of February. This blog series is called What Love Really Means and will run from February 1st through 14th. Each day she will post which blog to visit for the day with the goal of helping other baby loss mamas feel loved- what a GREAT idea!!! Mattie is also doing some great giveaways during the month so make sure to check those out too!!! 

I think you should definitely take some time to visit these blogs each day. We could all use some love and hope and what better time to do it than February- the month of LOVE! Also it's a great chance to get to know other baby loss mamas and their precious angels.

Whew! That's it for now...this one was kinda long! I hope everyone has a great Saturday!