A Balloon Release For Our 3 Angels...

After a great night spent visiting with my dad (I rarely get to see him), I ended up spending some time on the phone with my mom, too. We haven't been able to catch up that much since the move, so, as you can imagine, we were on the phone for quite awhile! (Thank goodness for free cell-to-cell minutes, ha!) Well...of all the things that were brought up, we got to talking about one particular event that recently occurred that meant SO much to me! So much so that I felt the need to get on here and blog about it...

With falling so far behind on this blog due to the move and getting settled, I never got a chance to mention this in depth. However, it's fresh again in my mind so better late than never!

As some of you are aware...October 15th is the official Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. As this day passes each year -- ever since we lost our first son, Jacob -- we've always lit a candle in his honor (and now our other two, as well). While we've always made it known to others what this day represented, we've never expected them to follow suit and light a candle of their own. I mean, if they did, I would TOTALLY appreciate it and it would mean the world to me, but I would understand if they didn't.

Well, this year was very different. Much to our (huge!) surprise, we found out via text with pictures attached that my mom decided to do a balloon release in honor of our three angels! How incredibly thoughtful and SO sweet! We were both shocked when my mom texted us pictures of this event, as we just couldn't believe that she did this for us -- we just never would've expected anyone to do something like it! It still brings a smile to my face when I think about it. I just love that she did this in memory of our babies that we miss so incredibly much.

When I received the pictures, and soon found out the whole story behind it...I don't know...it just melted my heart (and I think James' too, even though he may not come out and say it, ha.). Come to find out, she called around to several family members so that she could gather those together that were available -- including sisters (with the nephews and niece), cousins, etc. Due to busy schedules, only a handful were available, but that didn't matter -- even if only one was available, it still would've been just as great!

So once she got that handful of available family members together, they went and picked out balloons. Once they bought those and got some pictures taken, they headed on over to Liv's grave for the launch. After they all said something special there at the grave, they then released their balloons up to Livy, Jake, and Jordan. Once the balloons were up in the air, they just stood quietly and stared up at the skies as the balloons disappeared. I love it. Just love it!

On a side note, I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I got on Facebook later that night. My mom posted something along the lines of being off just a beat...instead of lighting a candle, she did a balloon release, ha! I love it. I think the balloon release was way cooler if you ask me! ;)

With Liv's 1st Birthday/Angelversary coming up in December, I hope to do a balloon release -- if not a couple if we can't be there in Indy...one here in GA and one there in IN. I just love that Livy (and Jacob and Jordan) already received one on such a day as this. Below are the pictures from that day...

Here are a few of our angels' cousins with my Mom...

There at Liv's grave, saying a few words before the release...

There they go!

As they were leaving...

Thank you, Mom, for such an amazing gift to our three!