What a wonderful weekend at the national gathering of the Bereaved Parents of the USA. I was honored to be asked to speak twice: 1 keynote, 1 workshop. I was stressed going into Friday because I wanted to honor each parent's experience, and be a light if I could. But with Andrew having a scary accident in the driveway last week (he's fine but oh my!) and Tim being out of town, I was afraid that my talks wouldn't come together. Fortunately, prayer helped, and by the time I got up in front of the amazing parents of BPUSA, it flowed.
It was awesome spending time with online friends I know from support groups, and Tim even made it back in town to join me Saturday night for a long-overdue date night. If you had told me a few years ago that our date night would be at a convention for bereaved parents, or that I'd be asking my 40-something girlfriends for overnight childcare for a TODDLER, I would have thought you were NUTS!
One of the highlights was meeting and talking to Pam Vredevelt, author of the well-known book, Empty Arms. She has helped so many grieving parents over the years after baby loss. We know a bunch of the same people in the Christian publishing world, and it felt like I'd known her forever.
I was able to take look at her latest project, Empty Arms Journal: 21 Days of Good Grief Exercises for Healing After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, or the Loss of a Baby and was so impressed. Pam also offers an Empty Arms Online Course.
I'd love to mail a copy of the Empty Arms Journal to a reader for herself or a friend who is experiencing baby loss.
If you would like to enter this giveaway, please do so below. There are no requirements other than leaving a comment on anything you wish.
Love and Hugs,
Anna
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That sounds like a very thoughtful book.
ReplyDeleteOh - my mom has a dear friend whose daughter has just lost her baby due to still-birth. I would love to be able to provide this to her. Thank you for the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reference. I would love to share this book with my SIL. She lost her 1 year old a few months ago. She was a precious T13 baby.
ReplyDeleteI felt almost as though I didn't have a right to grieve because I was only 12weeks along. Still wish I could know whether our baby was a son or daughter. A friend of mine pointed out that I'll know some day.
ReplyDeleteI would love to provide this book to dear friends who recently lost a baby.
ReplyDeleteDear Anna,
ReplyDeleteIf I happen to win the journal, it will go to our TCF chapter library. Mostly I'm writing a comment here because it was today that I discovered your blog, via the a thread in the TCF chapter leadership FB page, and this is your most recent post.
In October of 2008, my son died in a freak accident at the beach, in a collapsed sandstone cave. He was 11. I was 40. He was our only child.
In early 2014, I unexpectedly became pregnant, at age 46. My second son is now an amazing almost-3-year-old, and I am almost 50. I can really relate to your posts about being a Very Old Mom!
I also happen to have gone to junior high and high school in the DC suburbs of Northern Virginia. We have some interesting parallels!
Thank you for writing honestly, with grit and humor, about loss and life and the sometimes astonishing intersections of the two.
Best Wishes,
Anne
Would love to give this book to a friend who has experienced several miscarriages over the past year.
ReplyDeleteI had 2 second trimester stillbirths. The first was over a year ago and the (emotional) pain just doesn't go away. i live with it but i didn't know i could heal from it. i wonder what the book says.
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ReplyDeleteWow. I wish I had access to that book during my miscarriage. What a great resource to have. God bless.
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds great. Sept 5th marks 6 years without my son, Aidyn. ðŸ˜
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