Today Lilly would have been 1 1/2 years old. This morning I asked Jesus to tell her "happy birthday" for me and that "mamma loves her Lilly!"Happy 17 mos. to Giuliana! Thank you J. for emailing me this morning, remembering Lilly's birthday!
In the past, whenever we ate a meal, if Lilly was awake we put her in her bouncy seat on the table. (It was where the advent wreath is in the picture.) She enjoyed being part of the meal and would play with her toys hanging across the bouncy and we would all cheer for her whenever she pulled on the frog to make music.
Right after Lilly died, the bouncy seat quickly came down, much to our son's disappointment. It was more for practical reasons though - so many people were coming through the house and we needed the room at the table to feed people. However we all missed Lilly with us at the table. So my husband hung the picture collage we made of Lilly for her viewing and funeral on the wall by the table. We enjoy looking at this while we eat now. My only regret about the photo collage is that there are not any pictures of Lilly in her last two months of life. I simply haven't gotten the pictures developed yet.
There are a number of larger pictures in the collage that are all from a photo session we did with Lilly for her 1st birthday. I started worrying the other day about several, and that if they faded from the sun then I wouldn't have them anymore. So I contacted our photographer to see about buying the images of them on CD from him. He kindly emailed them to me for free! This photographer came to our house on three separate occasions to photograph the family and Lilly. He is a volunteer photograph for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, and has his own side business. If you live in our area, I definitely recommend him! http://www.steverubinphotography.com/
I'm so grateful that I live in the age of digital cameras! I must have a couple thousand of pictures of Lilly and that makes me so happy.
"Be strong and courageous. . . . [T]he LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” - Deuteronomy 31:6
the collage is lovely! love looking at it.
ReplyDeleteIt was so theriputic to make it.
ReplyDeleteTHAT IS SUCH A LOVELY IDEA. YOU ALWAYS COME UP WITH GOOD ONES.
ReplyDeleteI REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I VISITED AND WE WERE EATING AND I SAID SORT OF ALARMED, "WHERE IS LILLY?" and there she was on the table right next to me. Wasn't like it was the FIRST time I had eaten at the table with her as the Centerpiece.
Shisshy