With the countless offers to help us, we've been blessed and overwhelmed. If we haven't gotten back to you, please know that we are so grateful for your offer and will be getting back to you as soon as we can. We are still trying to figure out what we need. If our daughter doesn't make it, we are in the easy phase right now. We want to take you up on your offers, and for several of you, we have, but we don't want to take help unless we feel we really need it. This is mainly because the days ahead of us could be long and difficult and that's going to be when we'll need your support the most. From talking with those who've lost a child, the grieving and difficult days don't really ever go away, they just decrease some over the weeks, month and years following the loss.
If you're like me, this is totally uncharted territory and knowing what to say, how to act, how to help, etc. is a bit of a guessing game. I've been reading Molly Piper's blog for some time now and having experienced her own loss, she's shared her experiences publicly on her blog . If you've ever talked to her about her sweet Felicity, it's very clear that her love for her and the ache of losing her is still very real 3 1/2 years later. I'm thankful that she has posted a section on her blog titled "How to Help Your Grieving Friends."
For those who want to help and understand grieving friends better, I HIGHLY recommend reading these short posts as you have time. I hope and pray that our daughter will be a little miracle and what you read won't be relevant to us, but if the doctors are right, this will be information that is worth reading. Either way, at some point in life you'll know someone who is grieving and these articles will be a helpful tool for you. I loved reading them long before we were ever in this position and I hope you will too.
How to Help Your Grieving Friend Posts (these are all listed on the right side of her blog)
How to Help Your Grieving Friend
Just Know That She's Exhausted
She's a Scatterbrain
There Is No Timetable
She May Explode (But Probably Not)
She Can't Grieve on Command
Ask Her Specific Questions
Avoid the Flippant Comfort of Hallmark Answers
Always On My Mind
10 Tips for Bringing Meals to a Grieving Friend
Cleaning Her House is Next to Godliness
Thanks again for your continuous love and prayers for us. We greatly appreciate them!
16 years ago
2 comments:
Wow. Great link. Thanks for sharing.
Maybe I'll darken your doorstep one day with a bucket of cleaning supplies...but only if Kristi and Kelli come with me.
They're much better at cleaning than I am. Just sayin'. :)
Jamie, I'm praying for you, Joey, and your family.
Wow!!! What a great idea! Terribly unfortunate that it is so needed, but wonderful that someone has written it. Thank you for sharing it with us. I've recently been blogging about our loss and hoping to communicate in some way this journey of loss. I think I need to do a post asking people to go read these posts as well.
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