Yesterday, we had a wedding shower here for Andrea. I had been planning to host one for her; when she and Mike changed their wedding date to ensure that Katie could be a bridesmaid for them, we didn't have time for a shower before the wedding. Andrea's mom, Cheri, has a lifelong friend, Mariann, who partnered with me in giving the shower. Mariann and her daughter, Tarah, did all of the cooking, and I provided the beverages, the venue and the cake (again, from T&C's fabulously talented Tina L.). It was fun; Grandma, aunts, cousins, in-laws, nieces and friends gathered and got to visit and get better acquainted. This will make the formal event and reception in February even more fun.
Tina is a fondant genius. The cookbooks, recipe card and oven mitt, bird, mushrooms and chives were all edible. Andrea took the recipe card and a mushroom, along with a big piece of cake, home to Mike.
Today, David and I went to Bellevue to see my sister-in-law Caroline (see the photo at right), who is recovering from surgery. We took magazines, treats, lunch and lattes to their house, and had a good visit with her and Jim (my brother). From left to right in the photo: Caroline, Jim, David, Gregg, me, my sister Debbie, my dad and mom.
On Saturday, Karen T. (a chaplain from Children's) was in town giving a talk, so I invited her to stop by for a visit. She very kindly took the time to come, bringing with her a lovely wreath that had different colored ribbons tied all over it. Each ribbon was tied by a staff member who had helped to take care of Katie while she was at Children's. Karen also brought two good books, one called "Tear Soup" that I highly recommend for anyone, of any age, who is grieving. She included some bookmarks that she made for the staff. The bookmark has a photo of Katie and a quote from "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." The quote is: "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light" (Albus Dumbledore).
I should mention, too, that the Make-A-Wish Foundation donated a copy of each of the Harry Potter books and each of the movies to Children's Hospital in Katie's memory. Those stories gave her enormous comfort and pleasure while she was a patient, and I hope they will do the same for other children. We appreciate this gift very much.
3 comments:
I will never tire of photos of those AMAZING cakes! :) I'm glad you were able to do the shower and glad you had help with it.
Thank you for sharing the quote, it's perfect.
I can't remember if I told you or not that we did recieve your card. The photo of Katie and prayer are perfect. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and kind words.
That makes me very happy that Make-A-Wish did that in honor Katie. I know that would make her happy too. What a great gift for other children to have a little bit of that joy that Katie had from reading those books/ watching the movies.
Recently we were out of town and had someone checking on our cat. Well, she came over one night and the cat, Allie, couldn't even get up. She lovingly took Allie to the animal hospital, and Allie almost didn't survive. Miraculously, she recovered and is doing remarkably well. She had a UTI, and was going into kidney failure. She is home, and making progress. Here is the part I wanted to share with you, Karen. The night after we got home, we went to see her, and she didn't look well at all. I thought we were going to have to put her down. My daughter sobbed and said I can't do it mom, so close to after Katie died. She later shared with me that she had seen Katie in a dream the night before and Katie had returned to school. Kate said that Katie looked so happy and my Kate was so happy to see her. I know how much Katie loved her cats, and we believe that was Katie's way of saying that Allie was going to be ok.
I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now with the holidays coming up. Take it slow, do what you feel up to, and everything else will fall into place. We continue to pray for you and your family, and I'm sending a hug your way.
Jill
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