Threads of Hope, Pieces of Joy Bible Study: Week 1

Walking With You is an outreach of Sufficient Grace Ministries, led by Kelly Gerken. We are a group of mothers who have lost a baby or child. We gather together from different places on our journey, each month to share our stories, to encourage, and pray for one another as we walk this path together. Our hope is that you will be comforted when you join us here...and maybe that we can offer some grace for the journey as we look to the Lord for comfort and strength.


This month for Walking With You, we are starting something new. We will be going through the Threads of Hope, Pieces of Joy Bible Study for the next nine weeks. Even if you have not joined us previously, I hope you will join us for this. All are welcome. My prayer is that it will bring hope and much-needed encouragement to hearts that are grieving. 


I'm truly looking forward to walking through this study with others who are on the same journey. There is comfort in knowing you are not alone and delving into scriptural promises. Since I have not shared Ethan's story completely before, I thought I would start out with a short summary. I'm hoping to write out his full birth story soon and record some of the memories we have leading up to his birth as well.


April 2009 was a big month for us. Brian received his Doctorate, we sold our house, sold one of our cars, I resigned from my job, and we packed to move up North. We had normal doctors appointments and had been given approval to travel with stops to stretch. We were stopping in Georgia for Ethan's showers and then making our way to New York. Moving was a whirlwind and we made it to Georgia safely. Saturday we had a shower in Ellijay and Sunday we had one in Dacula. Since we knew we were moving we had not made many purchases yet, so it was neat to pack up all the goodies we received and put them on the truck. Early Monday morning, the day Brian and my brother were going to start driving the truck (I was staying in Georgia to rest a few more days) I woke up and knew something was wrong. We rushed to the emergency room and they found out my blood pressure was dangerously high. Because of other symptoms, and ultrasound was performed and I could tell by the looks on their faces and the silence in the room that something was wrong. A doctor came in and told us I had preeclampsia which caused placental abruption and that Ethan had passed away. They admitted me, started the induction, and we were in shock. Twenty nine precious weeks with him, and he was gone. They confirmed I also had HELLP syndrome and that Ethan potentially had IUGR (different doctors have different opinions). I delivered Ethan on Tuesday and we got to share him with our families and have NILMDTS pictures taken. I was discharged from the hospital on Thursday and we had a graveside service on Friday morning. We celebrated his life and were loved on by our friends and family.

There are several questions and scriptures to read in the second chapter, but I am just going to focus on what meant the most to me. The book talks about the questions you ask in the beginning, primarily 'Why'. I do still wonder why sometimes, though it comes in shifts. I have mostly come to terms with the fact that I will probably never completely know why. Sure I know what physically went wrong, but I will probably never know why we didn't just have a preemie in the NICU or why having children comes so easily to others. I realize that it's just not something I'm going to know, but I'm glad that God does. The author points to Ecclesiasties 11:5 and Isaiah 55:8-9. I also believe that it will all work together for good (Rom. 8:28), and that is a big comfort.

One scripture that I had not studied in particular was from II Samuel 12:15-23 when it talks about how David reacted to the death of his son. He grieved while he was ill, but after he died he worshiped and spoke of being with him again in Heaven. I don't always have that attitude, but I do cling to the fact that we will be reunited one day. This passage was a good reminder of that promise.

Neato Snowflakes

I know I seem a little snow obsessed lately, but I just thought this was really cool. Last week it was snowing (nothing unusual there), but I looked down at Toby and saw how cool the snowflakes looked. They aren't usually this big, but it was really neat because some of them looked like perfectly shaped stars! I had a hard time photographing them, but hopefully you'll be able to tell.

Pretty neat if you ask me!

T.E.A.R. study

Molly Piper posted about the TEAR study on her blog awhile ago, and I signed up (she gives a much better description here). I just got an update from them, and I was thinking that perhaps some of you have suffered from a tramatic loss and may not have heard of the study. It sounds like a unique opportunity to participate in grief research, so I wanted to pass it along.

TEAR Study information

In real life

I didn't blog much while I was in Georgia so I'm pretty far behind on the happenings. One of the neatest things that happened while I was 'home' was that I got to meet another babyloss mom in person. Tonya is such a sweetheart, and is a good friend of my Aunt Lori. She was tender enough to send me a very thoughtful email after we lost Ethan, and it was a big comfort to know someone else understood.

Tonya, Aunt Lori and I met at Tonya's house and it was just what I needed. One of the things that I've realized about how I've changed is that I have a very hard time showing my emotions in front of others. Not necessarily the best habit, and poor Bri ends up dealing with the aftermath. Talking with Tonya, the tears just flowed. She got it! With the stress of the holidays and being back where we lost him, it was a time that I very much needed.

After I calmed down =), we ate at a cute little place called Sugar and Spice (I think that's the name) and I had really yummy Chicken salad. We also looked around Real Deals, a cool place with all kinds of nic nacs and furniture. If we lived closer, I might have gone home with some goodies =).


Thanks for letting me just be me, Tonya. It was great meeting you and I hope to see you again!!

(ignore my cheesy grin and windblown look, I had to share the picture!)

Saving Cicadas

Saving Cicadas by Nicole Seitz is the latest book I have read for Thomas Nelson book review bloggers (now booksneeze.com).

There are many things about Saving Cicadas that I loved. I have read a decent amount of Christian fiction, and after awhile, they can start to sound the same. This book broke from that mold. The characters were engaging, well developed, and thankfully not perfect! The drama between family members was believable. The voice of the book switched between Janie, an eight year old, and Mona, the grandmother. Sometimes that can be distracting, but in this case it actually helped deepen the story. I love when I can read a story and get caught up in the everyday details that are shared without feeling monotony. To me, everyday details make the story engaging, and I felt that way about this book.

Without spoiling the book, there were some theological issues with the book that I had a hard time getting over. Honestly, I think that has a lot to do with being a mother of a stillborn child (I don't know how to further explain without giving major plot twists away) so they may not bother everyone, but they took away from the message of the book for me. The author does have a disclaimer at the end of the book which does acknowledge the discrepancies, and I do admire how she took on controversial topics and I agree with the message she was trying to share. All and all, though I did not completely agree with the book I did love the author's style and will be checking out her other books.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”