SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER

This September found the Mom's Who Lost Children", adding some more mom's into its family. In so doing, we decided that in order to maintain the integrity of our "Mom's" weekend, and its purposes, we have chosen to establish some founding principles to help us along the way......
In our quest to glorify the Lord, through our losses, and further honor our children, we feel that following a framework of guidelines, will provide a safe and constructive atmosphere for healing.
We have listed these below:
1.) The main thing,is to keep the main thing,the main thing......and that's our Lord & our children!
2.) God is our centerpiece.....our speech and actions will reflect this!
3.)Our childen are the guest of honor!.....Let's give "them" the honor they are due!
4.)There is a code of confidentiality!.....It is imperative to keep our thoughts within our walls!
5.)Protect the integrity of our group!....Respect the view points of others as pertaining to their child!
6.) This is not a place to air our dirty laundry, but to share empathy,peace & comfort!

We listed below, some very helpful tidbits for us......
I hope they will be of benefit to you.
1.)We found that watching the "Chonda Pierce" DVD, and sharing her comments were a must.We needed to laugh, and she is a wonderful christian comedian.
2.)Giving to the J9 Foundation (Check it out on michael@j9foundation.org )The son of one of our Mom's
3.) Watching the Ken Davis"Good News" DVD.( He is an exceptionally funny comedian too!)
4.) The following list of helpful books:
Heaven by Randy Alcorn
When I Lay My Isaac Down, by Carol Kent
Intramuras,by Rebecca Reuter Springer
Shattered Dreams,by Larry Crabb
Streams In The Desert....my favorite!
Hope For The Hurting Heart & Eat Your Peas for Tough Times,by Cheryl Karpen

Take the time, many months,later, to speak to that mom, and tell her how much you miss her child. That in itself, will encourage her so very much!
Another neat site to go to, is a website called http://www.memory-of.com/ . This is where you can create your own memorial for your child, with your own background. Several mom's who have done this, have said it was great therapy for them!
Now, this next thought, is a winner............
We have all had those dear friends, who, through no fault of their own, have said those words that have hurt us. They just weren't thinking,or just haven't been down our road before.......
This is where God really calls upon you to do what you don't think you can, ..........and without Him, you can't!........We liked the phrase......"Forgive "Job's" friends! They offered him all kinds of advice, for his own good(yeah right!), but Job, still trusted in God, so forgive those who keep harping at you to "get over this time".............You will get through it, when God is ready for you to get through it!
The mom's are all in agreement that we want this to be a safe place to gather, and express ourselves.
We all have different thoughts on what helped us heal, along the way, but this time of fellowship, has truly been a blessing for all of us.
Liz said it best,I think.......
The first time she came into the house, she was nervous, not knowing anyone, but by the time she crossed the room, she was family!.....How true! How true!
We reminded each other to follow up on those thoughts we have,several years after someone dies, and to contact the parents with our thoughts. This is a big step!
We enjoyed our long hours of talks, but really enjoyed the rest too!
One of the Mom's suggested, that as years go by, if you have a need to speak with someone about an objectionable issue, that you speak quietly to another individual in more private setting......
We are thinking of changing our name to "Good Grief", and since we seem to be adding more mom's all the time, we would have chapter's all over.....Like "Good Grief-Aiken";"Good Grief-Beaufort,".etc.......
This will be an interesting change,if this 'ole girl can figure out how to change her blogsite!!!
We are looking to March,'08, now, with adding even more Mom's!
Hope these thoughts have helped you some......
Becky