Ten years ago today...

Ten years ago today...

I will remember it always.  I was sitting on the bed, in the Ronald McDonald house, in Roanoke, Va..  Finally having the confidence to send my daughters birth announcements, after 3 long months in the NICU.  I was wrapped in a blanket of bliss, attaching her little pictures, threading pink and yellow ribbons through pastel vellum, waiting for noon, when I could get into the NICU to spend another day staring at her sweet little face. 

When the phone rang, I was relieved to hear my mothers voice on the other end of the phone, as any parent with a child in the hospital will know - hearing the phone ring makes your stomach go up into your throat.  My mother told me to turn on the news and we watched in horror.  I set frozen watching the news as the story unfurled.  I tried desperately to reach my husband who was more than an hour away at work.  I was worried about my friends in Northern Virginia and DC, a place which I had called home, until just a few short months earlier.  All sorts of fears were racing through my head. 

For the last three months we had been prayed for nothing but our daughters survival, now I found myself praying for the world we had brought her into.  I quickly readied myself and went to the hospital, not knowing how far this meanness would reach.  

Today and many times in the last 10 years...

I pray for the precious lives lost that day and for their family and friends that were robbed of their loved ones - may they find some peace and comfort.  I also pray that WE do not forget that tragic day and may nothing like it ever happen again.  I pray for our military and all the hard work they do to protect us.  I pray that the powers in charge are looking out for are best interest. 

Signing Time "The National Anthem"

Why am I posting this you may ask?  Well...we owe a great deal of credit to the Signing Time Videos and their wonderful creators for helping us, to help our daughter,  become more verbal.  They have the "Big A" stamp of approval!