One Year

      I can't believe it has been one year.  I was really worried that this would be a difficult day, but it really wasn't too bad.  I hear that the first year is always the hardest.  I hope that is true, because I can't imagine a more difficult year than what we just experienced.  It has really helped us a lot to know that we are expecting our rainbow baby right now.  It has been such a wonderful blessing.  Jackson can never be replaced, but expecting this new baby has definitely taken some of the pain away in recent months. This has been a crazy year for our family!  
     We tried to stay busy and do positive things yesterday and I think it really helped. We went to the cemetery first thing in the morning to decorate Jackson's grave and spend some time together as a family.  Elise really wanted to sing 'happy birthday' to Jackson, so we did!

   We decided several months ago to do a group service project on Jackson's birthday.  We made little bereavement diapers for a non profit organization called Teeny Tears.  We received some of these diapers last year and it was a really special experience to be able to 'pay it forward' and make some for other families of angel babies.  It was actually lots of fun and it really kept us busy and took our minds off of the hard things about this day.
     We invited lots of friends and family and I was really surprised to have such a great turnout.  There was a constant stream of people coming and going and everyone worked really hard to make it a success!

     I was particularly amazed with all the sewing!  The machines were constantly running!

      My Grandma came and stayed the whole time.  She did a lot of work and we were so grateful to have her there!

     The tracing and cutting table became 'the guys table' at one point.  It was really neat to see the guys working so hard to make little baby diapers!

     We were able to make about 70 complete sets of diapers and we have many more that are almost finished.  Each family will receive 2 matching diapers.  One to keep, and one for the baby.  I can tell you from personal experience that you can't have too many keepsakes!
     I was amazed that we were able to get so many done!  Thank you so much to all the hard workers that came to help out!

     I am so glad we were able to hold this special event in honor of Jackson and make these adorable diapers that will benefit so many families who are put in the same difficult situation that we were in a year ago.  We hope to do something special like this each year on his birthday to honor Jackson's memory!

We love you Jackson!