Lilly's butterfly in the sand

This beautiful butterfly in the sand was made by Carly, a mom who's son Christian was stillborn.  Carly has found creative ways to cope with her loss through drawing pictures and writing names of other angel children in the sand at "Christian's Beach."  I am going to make this "Lilly butterfly" into blank notecards for our family to use.  I think it is beautiful!

You can see the different options Carly offers here.  One beautiful photograph she offers is of your angel child's name written in the sand at sunset.  Click here for details about that.  You can see a beautiful example on the blog of Julia, the little girl with Trisomy 18 that became an angel the day after Lilly did.

Last Saturday night I read an article in the latest Above Rubies magazine by a mom whose sixth child who died (at about 19 weeks) in the womb.  This mom decline a D&C and delivered the tiny baby instead.  They named him Jonathan.  The article had a picture of this family and one showing Jonathan's tiny arm and hand (perfectly formed!) resting on his parent's finger.  The picture amazed me and I kept thinking about it.  I shared it with my family the next day at breakfast.  I pointed out that our rainbow baby was only about a week older than the baby in the picture.  And I shared that because Jonathan died a few days before he reached the "legal age" - he was not "worthy" of a birth or death certificate.  As I thought of this baby throughout the day, I prayed for the family.  I put the magazine on my desk thinking, for some reason, that I should e-mail this woman.

Later that afternoon, I checked comments on Lilly's blog.  There was one by a woman named Tesha.  I clicked her name to see more about her.  It took me to her blog.  I was astounded to see the picture of the family at the top of the blog.  It was the same family in the Above Rubies magazine article!  Right in front of me on my computer, and in the open magazine in front of me, was the same family!  I immediately e-mailed Tesha and got a response soon after.

You can read Tesha's story from Above Rubies here.  Also, another picture on her blog header is of Jonathan's name in the sand!  Just like one of the ones I mentioned above that Carly does at Christian's Beach.  (I love the design of Tesha's blog, from ShabbyBlogs.com, the colors and pictures are so sweet!)  You can read Jonathan's story on her blog here.  Be sure to scroll down and look at the pictures, especially the last one where you can see his teeny tiny feet and legs.  Hard to do without tearing up and feeling amazed!

I like the scripture Tesha used right over that picture:

"When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze. 
For I am the Lord your God,     the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; . . ." - Isaiah 43:2-3