I sit on our flight to Hawaii and think about our beloved baby girl Mari who left us in July to go to heaven before her time. I know some people will say that it must have been her time because she is gone. In my heart, and my soul, and my mind it was not yet her time. Her time would have been after daddy and mommy were gone and not a day before. Daddy and I are going to Hawaii today because of a dear, loving uncle of mine who gave to us hotel accommodations for a one bedroom condo for 11 days … [Read more...]
Mari’s Song
I wrote this the other day while sitting on our flight from Chicago to Honolulu. I wrote this song to the melody of this song: I love you Lord And I lift my voice To worship you Oh my soul rejoice Take joy my King In what You hear May it be a sweet, sweet voice In Your ear This is my song to Mari called "I Love You Mari": I love you Mari And I sing to you I miss you now And forever more Take joy my daughter In all that you do May our love show you That you are our everything To love you … [Read more...]
A Poem to Mari
This is my very first poem I have ever written. I know it is not like some of the great poetry out there today by some of the greats but it is from the bottom of my heart and in complete dedication to my beautiful baby girl. I love you sweetie and miss you very much. When I lie awake at night All I do is think of you as my guiding light You helped me to see That my life became complete because of thee To have known you Is to have loved you And to have loved you Is to miss you I can envision … [Read more...]
A Dedication to My Other Half
This is dedicated to the man I love with all of my heart. I write this for the one man in my life that has shown me what love is supposed to look like. We have our good days and we definitely have our bad ones as well. We have times of happiness and times of trial. But mostly we just have each other. The love we have for each other runs so deep, so strong it is hard to describe. To trust him is like nothing else one could experience. I trust him fully. I know he will always be there for me. I … [Read more...]
A Dedication to Mariana
This video is a dedication to our daughter Mariana. It was created by a friend and it was played at her wake and before her funeral started. I wanted to share it with everyone because of how much it meant to Keith and I and our family. Please let us know what you think. … [Read more...]
A tribute from a very special teacher
This tribute was written by a very special teacher. She was not Mari's first teacher but she was the first teacher to truly help my daughter like no other teacher had. Her name is Julie Ahlbach. Before Mari came to her classroom I don't believe she had a lot of experience with children who had autism, let alone as severe as my daughter’s was. I was always the advocate for Mari and I fought to get my daughter into an all day program before most children were aloud to. Mari's teacher before Julie … [Read more...]
Letter from Heaven
This poem was first introduced to me by a friend. He created the dedication video of Mari's pictures that were put to music and then at the end he had a neat surprise for us. He had his daughter say this poem at the end of the show with Mari's' picture there. His daughter was going to read the poem at her funeral but it was just too hard for her to do because the reality was a little girl about her age had died and just too much for her. So her daddy read the poem. This poem meant so much to me … [Read more...]
What if I could have what I wanted
What would tomorrow bring if life could be the way we want it. First, Mari would be here. She would never have gotten sick to begin with. She would have stayed perfectly healthy. She would be laughing, and playing, and simply being Mari. She would watch one of her favorite shows or one of her favorite movies and then start to flap her arms in excitement because she is just so darn excited she doesn’t know what to do with herself. She would still be here to let us know when she is hungry … [Read more...]
4 Months…
It’s been 4 months since the loss of our beloved baby girl. 4 MONTHS!!! How can that be? It does not seem possible that just 4 short months ago we had made a decision to permanently take our daughter off of life support and let her go. Who would have ever thought that something in this life could ever be THIS hard. No one can ever imagine what it is like because we are not capable. As parents, it would drive us nuts. It would hurt everyday over something that probably will never even happen to … [Read more...]
Communication, How Hard Is It Really?
I wish I understood the secret to good communication. It does not matter whether it is verbal communication, silent communication, or through someone’s body language. In marriage it is vital. Without good communication you basically have nothing. You basically have a lifeless marriage. The only way a marriage will survive is through good communication. When you are grieving for the loss of your daughter you find out just how hard it can become to communicate between a husband and wife when … [Read more...]
