A Letter to Faith

Faith's memorial service was yesterday. It was perfect in every way. I wanted to share the letter that we wrote for Faith. Our dear friend, Bryan, read it for us. I will blog later in the week her birth story, and about the memorial service.

Our Dearest Faith,

There are no words to tell you how proud we are of you. You have changed our lives forever. The last nine months have been spent preparing for your arrival, but nothing could have prepared us for the impact you would have on the world.

We will never forget the moment we were told that you were not perfect in the eyes of the world. As your parents, we ached for what you may not experience here on this earth. The next six months brought many emotions, as doctors struggled to tell us what to expect. Every doctor’s appointment, ultrasound, even MRI brought something new for them to help us understand. But the Great Physician was working in a mighty way to show them that none of us knew what He was up to. Everyone got to witness miracles first hand, as Jesus continued to knit you together, day by day. We were told not to expect to ever carry you full term. But as you grew each day, we were reminded with every kick, punch and somersault that you were fulfilling God’s purpose for your life.

It has been such a blessing to see Cade and SaraGrace pray for you every day. They both hugged and kissed you through your Mommy’s tummy all of the time. They love you so much, and you have made them so proud. When they finally got to see your beautiful face, they knew they had seen an angel.

The day you were born, so many people came to pray for you and to see the miracle of life that God had given us. As we waited for you to be born, many emotions overcame us, but the one that we felt the most was love. Love of the Savior, love of our family and friends, and most of all, love of our daughter that fought so hard to share the love of Jesus with so many people. We were scared of what may come at the end of that day, but we knew the Lord had all of us, even you, in the palm of His hands.

As the doctors handed you to your daddy and told us that you would not spend much time here with us, our Heavenly Father covered us with a peace that only He can provide. We knew that you would never know the hurt of the world. You would never have to feel the sadness we would feel when we would have to let you go. When your Mommy finally got to hold you, we just sat there together and loved, kissed, and hugged you endlessly. You were so beautiful and peaceful. You were so strong. The 42 minutes you spent in our arms were the most precious 42 minutes of our lives. We got to see how God’s plans would unfold for you, and knew without a shadow of a doubt you would be in a place far better than we could offer you.

Though we are sad, and we feel an emptiness without you here with us, we rejoice to know that God is Good all of the time. We prayed that His will would be done. We prayed that if it was His will that you go to heaven, that He would allow you to be peaceful, and that He would give us some time, no matter how short, to spend with you. He answered our prayers. He gave us the greatest gift in knowing that our Faith has been renewed. You are now in heaven, with no pain, no suffering and your body has been renewed. But our faith in God has also been renewed. Though this journey has not been easy, He has never left us alone. He has held true to His promises, and carried us through the storm. We now stand stronger with Him knowing that He loves us so much, and that He chose us to be your Mommy and Daddy. We are forever changed by the blessing of knowing you as our daughter.

Our time on earth may seem like an eternity, but in reality it’s only a snapshot. This life is not our home. We can rest assured that because of the gift that God gave as his son on the cross, we will see you again, and spend forever holding you in our arms. But we can promise that this is not the end of your story. God will continue to use us to share how you have changed us all, and we could not be more proud to do so.

With all our love,

Mommy and Daddy