Ye, though I walk in the Valley of Death
I will fear no evil, for the Lord is with me
This is an Update on the Life
of Trish and her family.
How she has coped after the loss of her baby.
and what has been happening,-in her own words.
My children are pretty grown up today.
My son, Charles, is 26. We call him Chuck.
He was an ADD child, and I watched his struggles as he grew up.
I knew all I could do was be there for him, to love him,
no matter what, as he had done for me.
He stayed by my side every step of the way-
helping with the other children,
working and helping me support the family,
and bringing all his friends home to mom.
Through Chuck, I acquired about 10 new "children"
who basically had no one.
They all call me Mom and almost every one
is still in our lives today.
Today he is in a very strong marriage
to a girl I proudly call my daughter.
He and Laurie have two sons.
He also has a 5-year old daughter,
who I got to deliver myself!
The Lord works in strange ways-
the doctor didn't make it in time,
and Grandma got to deliver this little girl!
My 24 year old daughter, Kelly,
almost didn't survive her birth.
She couldn't breathe on her own for over 30 minutes.
But She grew up the most sun shiney child,
bringing smiles to the heart of everyone
who ever knew her -she still does.
She graduates college in May, to be a nurse.
She took her sunshine where it will be needed the most.
Today she is married to my son-in-law Wayne-
a man who treats her exactly how
I wanted her to be treated.
He "jokingly" tells everyone
I picked him out for her.
It's no joke- I DID.
My eighteen year old, Lysa, had it the hardest when Chad died.
She was only 8 at the time and already had
a 2 year old brother with problems
competing for mom's attention.
Then a new baby- and no mom.
Thankfully,Lysa and my friend's two boys (at the time)
were all the same age area.
They did all kinds of things together,
and Lysa didn't feel the loss that bad.
She just had a new set of "parents" for awhile
and fondly still feels that way.
She has a daughter of her own now,
and is the most wonderful young mother!
She is young to have a child, but somehow I
cannot picture her life without her precious Demi.
It's like she lived her whole life for this moment.
She is with Matt, another young man
I would have hand-picked.
I didn't tho-she met him first. They are planning a summer wedding.
And he treats both Lysa and Demi like princesses!
Myles who is 12 now,was diagnosed
in infancy as having microcephaly.
No one knew anything about it.
At the time of Chelsey's birth, he could not walk, he was 2.
They told me he would never walk, talk or sit up.
They didn't plan on Chelsey!
She taught him to walk, to talk, to climb, to ride a bike...
She challenged him every step of the way?
I will always wonder what his life would have been without her.
Would he do all the things he does? I don't think so.
Today, you can't tell him from any other 12 year old,
unless you know him very well
He reads and writes at grade level, and aside from needing
a little more self control, is truly a wonderful child.
He loves to cook, and feeds the animals
and has lots of friends.
The teenagers in our life and
my teen-agers get a lot of credit, too.
They all worked intensely with Myles
to get him to crawl, walk and play.
Even to getting down and crawling with him for months!
He and Chelsey have a different kind of closeness, tho---
its almost like they are twins.
He helped to fill the empty place in her-
she never cried when she was with him,
even as an infant, and they are the best of each other's friends.
No one is closer to either of them.
They seem to read each others mind
and when they gang up on me, I don't always see it coming-
there is no spoken word to warn me-
they begin with a look: at each other !
And what about Chelsey?
Chelsey is an angel.
She is sweet and kind and adorable.
She has a freshness and a perkiness
that is hers and hers alone.
She loves the world, and the world loves her.
She is such an easy child to raise.
We have lots of talks about Chad,
and we've had several tearful, emotional sessions.
But on the whole she has a total acceptance and faith,
so strong that it still amazes me.
although I don't know why it does,
because I know she is an angel.
My children, and my love for them, amazes me.
But some things you don't question.
Chelsey has the voice of an angel,
and wants to sing for Jesus when she gets older.
She has my full support.
All of my girls have beautiful voices,
and the older two soloing-
high school graduation, for their friends,
in church- their voices make me cry.
I have no doubt that whatever Chelsey
wants to do in her life, she will do.
And I also know God has a plan for her.
As I raised my children, I acquired a strength
and a peace I had never known before.
People say I had courage--no,
courage is not what I had---
I had 5 of the most beautiful angels
God chose to send to me,
and I had learned to cherish them
and never take them for granted.
Three years ago I lost my sister-
it was the second hardest thing in my life.
She was in a car accident-
her two girls survived, but she did not.
I was able to draw on the faith
I had learned at this dark time,
I miss her intensely.
Not a day goes by I don't hurt for her.
But I was able to find comfort
in the knowledge that she is with my son
and now he has her there.
I was able to feel her peace-
we have always communicated in our hearts,
and that has never ended.
My peace helped her daugters to heal.
They would ask me to reach in my heart
and "feel"mom, to make sure she was o.k. She always was.
And they knew I believed what I said,
so they were also able to believe it.
They are 16 and 18 today-and beautiful girls.
I know the two most special people are watching over my children.
And I know someday I will be there.
I know God has a place for me with my son.
We almost lost Chuck in a car accident
6 months before his daughter was born, in1994.
I had the courage and the faith to give him to the Lord.
ThankGod I didn't have to,
but I realized then how far I had come?
inspiritual strength and faith.
My sister and my baby are still here.
I just can't see them. but they are here ?
.We're not done yet --
we all have roads to walk and share together.
Thank you for your interest and kindness.
I hope my story can be of some help to others
to gain faith, strength and hope.
God Bless.
~~~~~Trish~~~~
to see a full picture of Trish
and the family
click on FamnFriendPics below.
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