Thursday, April 01, 2010

Guest post by Tim!!

Hey everyone, I'm still recovering from the planning and the party and working through the balloon release pics (if you have any of you releasing a balloon please send to me!). So, my friend Tim offered to do a guest post for me and I appreciate that greatly! Thank you, Tim, for blessing me with your wonderful post and doing this for me!

So please enjoy this post by Tim!!

Tim & Carey's daughter, Taylor, standing by Carleigh's name in the sand.


For those of you who don't know me, my name is Tim and I am the author of Fort Thompson.

It is more than an honor to post here for Holly. Words can't describe what I feel writing this post. It gives me great joy to share with you what Holly has done to touch the lives of our family.

Holly has meant so much to me and my family and the following is why this will be so difficult and at the same time so rewarding......

I learned of Holly and her family through this very blog I believe around June or July of last year. I believe I found her through The Blog Frog since I have met so many great people that way. We are both now BFCL's (Blog Frog Community Leaders). More on that later.

Back up now 8 years:
It was December of 2001. Carey and I were expecting our first child and it hadn't been all that long since we had found out she was pregnant. We were excited beyond words especially because of how bad Carey had wanted it. She would often come home in tears after seeing a couple with a baby. It just had not happened for us until this time.

We had picked out clothes, bought gifts for Christmas for our parents that would let them know in a surprising manner. Everything was so great then. We were so happy and excited to be facing such a wonderful road that lie ahead.

Then it happened.....

Carey miscarried one night in the bathroom and it was very disturbing. We called the doctor who said it could just be some conception bleeding, but we knew that there was more to it. We held out some hope until her appointment the next day, but inside we knew what we were facing. It just wasn't all that real yet. I did my best to keep her as calm as I could.

The next morning we went straight to the doctors office and our world changed forever. It was the news we did not want to hear. We no longer had a baby.

The next few days were very hard. We knew that this was part of God's plan and that gave us some comfort, however it was still very difficult.

As time went by hurt and pain led to denial and we just did our best to forget about it. It seemed so much easier to let the safety of denial take over as we did not want to face the pain of what had happened.

It was this way for years. Sure there was the occasional time where she would tell me that our child would have been this age. I would just kinda say yeah and then go on to the next topic. It just seemed easier that way and we were both guilty of it.

Back to the more recent....

Then we met Holly and learned of her sweet Carleigh. I feel to this day that God led us to her for the greater good, and Carey and I are so blessed that He did.

After reading her blog and getting to know her through email, we learned that she had faced many other obstacles in her life. We also learned that she was a lot like us in many ways. However at the same time she had something that we did not.

Holly is one of the strongest people I have had the chance to know. Through her life and the journey she has taken, she taught us that we too needed to face our obstacles and accept what road we had been given to travel.

Today we openly talk about our angel too. It is with tears of joy that I tell you this. For now we are no longer in denial, but have faced our loss, torn down the walls, and honor the memory of our child as we should.

Bailey would have been born around August of 2002. It is with great pride that I share our loss with you. Not pride that we had to endure it, but pride in the freedom we now feel for facing the loss as we honor the memory of our precious Bailey. I know our loss in no way compares to many others, however it is ours and we know from experience that is was truly difficult.

We owe much to many. Holly has played a huge role in it although she may not know. Blog Frog played a role as well, as it provided the platform that brought us together. So thank you to Rusty and Holly at The Blog Frog, and a huge thank you with lots of love to you Holly.

For more info on how you too can become a member of The Blog Frog and meet great people like Holly who you have much in common with.....

Visit Holly's community or the Fort Thompson community to find out more.

Love and Prayers,
Tim

16 comments:

Holly said...

Thank you, Tim!! ♥ So glad that we have met!

April said...

What a beautiful written tribute. Holly, you have touched many people not only thtough this blog, but through your ministry work, your church and your giving heart. Carleigh's work in your life is only beginning :)

And I am happy to hear that Tim and Carey honor Bailey and have grown from their live's journey, as God had intended them to pull closer to him.

Trisha Larson said...

Such an incredibly beautiful post. Holly, I am lucky to know you.

I just love how God weaves us into each others lives to help us grow and heal. And who would have ever imagined that God would be using the internet to do that - ha!!!

Hugs,
Trisha

Elizabeth said...

That was wonderful. God Bless! *hugs*

Mary said...

It was such a touching post. Tim my heart goes out to you and Carey. I am glad that you have met Holly. Support is so important.

jules said...

So glad you two became friends through blogging. Thanks for sharing.

Mary said...

Tim, you have no idea how wonderful it is to hear how our children have impacted others. I am sure Holly is very touched to hear that Carleigh had such great impact!

Caroline said...

What a beautiful post. Holly I'm so happy I met you online and you and your family all mean so much to us.
How nice of Tim to do a post like this.
{{HUGS}}
Caroline

Tim said...

Thank you all for the kind comments. God used this post to bring many others from both of our blogs together and I have met some amazing people here already.

I cant thank Him and Holly enough. What she has done for my family will be with us forever.

God bless you Holly and all of your sweet family!

Love and Prayers,

Tim

Mom Putnam said...

Reading all the respones and what Tim wrote has touched my heart so deeply. I am so proud of my daughter and that through her upbringing she has become the woman she is today. Changed yes, but still the same in some ways. She was always the little girl who had to have it her way and no matter what. She comes from a stubborn blood line. It means more than I could ever write to tell her and anyone else what special meaning her life has and how it has helped so many others regarles of the journey they are on or going through. God has indeed given her a purpose. I love you my sweet gril, for the woman you are and continue to be. May God shine his blessings on you for now and eternity.
Love -------MOM

Jen said...

What a beautiful post. Recently, I had lost a baby cousin around the same time that my baby was born. They even had the same name. I had a difficult time questioning God's will in this and why my prayers weren't answered. It has helped reading about how other's deal with the loss of a child and how they continue to have faith no matter what.

Blessings to you Holly and to Tim!

Jen
Creative and Curious Kids!

Jen said...

What a beautiful post. Recently, I had lost a baby cousin around the same time that my baby was born. They even had the same name. I had a difficult time questioning God's will in this and why my prayers weren't answered. It has helped reading about how other's deal with the loss of a child and how they continue to have faith no matter what.

Blessings to you Holly and to Tim!

Jen
Creative and Curious Kids!

Jen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Debby@Just Breathe said...

Very nice to meet you Tim. I have known Holly for about 8 months now.
I admire her too. What a wonderful post you wrote. I am sorry for your loss. I am coming over to visit your blog now. God Bless.

Holly, rest up and I am praying for your comfort. ((HUGS))

Lisette said...

What a beautiful post. Holly and Carleigh have touched many lives. Thank you so much!!

Robynn's Ravings said...

Tim and Holly, this was beautiful. I found myself longing to look into the faces of the babies I have lost when I get to heaven. I felt comforted knowing I will have them while leaving my other children behind when I go to be with the Lord. I have never thought of naming them. I carried one baby over three weeks after they told me it had died because I was so afraid of having an abortion and that they had made a mistake.

Only when the baby started to break down did I let them do a d&c. These were VERY hard times I sometimes thought I wouldn't survive. I even wrote about this (in a very limited way) on today's blog. Wow.

Many blessings on you for all you're doing to reach out to those who are desperately hurting.

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