Something's Missing

Cuddles From the Heart MI is starting to collect blankets for newborn through teenagers!  We give out the blankets in December and we would like to have 500 by then.  We are a bit slow in starting to ask for them as last year we began asking for them at the end of July and it is now mid August. 

Cuddles From the Heart (CFH) started two years ago in Iowa by heart mom Stefanie Jacks.  Last year she opened it up for any state to do.  In June I told her I would like to do it for MI and after Ethin passed away later that month I still said that I wanted to do it!  I am so glad that I did!  It was rewarding and amazing to see how much people truly care about others!  So here we are this year hoping to do the same thing.  Our goal last year was 500 and we did just over that.  Same goal this year 500!!!  We can do this!! 

What we need is new homemade or store bought blankets ranging from newborn to teenagers for boys and girls to give out at U of M Mott Children’s Hospital in December.  The blankets are a very comforting thing to many families while they are in there and sometimes just one blanket can make the hospital feel a little less like the hospital.  Ethin’s Heart Still Beats board members are all ready to go to Ann Arbor in December and as a board we decided that we want to do this so you can mail your blankets to
E.H.S.B
9172 S. Croswell Ave.
Newaygo, MI 49337
If you have any questions you can email me at chdhlhs09@yahoo.com




Summer really does fly by!!!  Yesterday I had my kiddos and we went to the beach with my dad.  What a great time!!!

So here we are one summer later all smiling and genuinely enjoying life.  On this stump that I am sitting on Jessa looked down and said look a heart.  I looked and somehow on that stump it looked like there was a heart.  Jessa said Ethin is here mom!  I just smiled and told her yes he was.

This was a hand pump there and here is Jayde making it go!  To funny not to share....It really took all she had to accomplish this! 

As summer winds down and I anticipate the fall weather and activities I also still think about Ethin too.  Yesterday was a great day at the lake with the J Triplets.  However as much fun as it was and as perfect as it felt there was something missing.  There was SOMEONE missing.  No matter what things we find that remind us of Ethin he is still physically missing and at times that is hard.  It truly has been a delicate dance over the last year to figure this out and I have not figured it all out yet.
I am having a hard time keeping this positive and have seriously written and deleted about 8 paragraphs so I am going to share this poem that I wrote and call it a day.....
Blessings,
Jessica

The Age You Should Be
Today like most days you certainly crossed my grief stricken mind
The world has a way of bringing me down my weakness is not hard to find
Someone will appear with a little boy about the age you should be
And I always wonder what you would be like if you were here with me
I can hear that little boy throwing a fit and his parents getting irritated
How I wish I too had you here to throw a fit and make me frustrated
To hear a little boy about the age you should be cry for his mommy
How I wish that I could hear you say those words and look up at me
I wish I was the parent who was able to bribe you into eating things you do not like
I wish that I was able to help you learn to ride your very first bike
You would be walking by now and how I would love to walk with you and hold your little hand
It’s summer time here and I wish we could go to the beach and we could play in the sand
I try to imagine what you may look like and how big you would be
I wonder if your smile would still be the same and if your eyes would still be bright when you looked up at me
I would love to tuck you into bed and teach you how to pray
You are about that age where you would be learning new words you would have much to say
So many times I see a mom pick her little boy the age you should be up and hold him tight
Sometimes it brings a tear to my eye knowing I can not do that sometimes it is a hard sight
So I am trying when I see a little boy about the age you should be to think of where you are and what you may be doing there
Though it is hard to do and most days I still think that this is unfair
I think that in Heaven you are walking with Jesus holding his strong firm hand
Perhaps you are up there with other little children building castles in the sand
Maybe you are playing hide and seek and running through fields all day
I bet you talk a lot you would get that from me I am sure you have a lot say
On Earth I see things all the time that remind me of you
Does that happen in Heaven do things remind you of me too?
Son this Earth seems cruelly unfair while we seem so very far apart
But I know we are together you are forever in me with memories and living in my heart
One day I know that this too shall pass that we are separated like this
But until the day I come to Heaven I will be here on Earth and you I will miss
I know that there will always be times when I see a little boy about the age that you should be
And while I am here and you are there those times will always be hard for me
I am glad that you know of no sadness there that you never have to cry a single tear
You are perfect with a whole heart you never are lonely and you know nothing about fear
I miss you Ethin and life is nothing like it used to be or the way it would be if we were physically together
But we will be one day in Heaven together and until then we are in my heart forever
Jessica Twigg
8-11-10