Gracie's Funeral

Together Forever

Daddy's other 'little sweetheart'


Our matching bracelets

Goodbye my love
Sisters

My precious children, together for the last time.

The table settings were amazing. So sweet and precious. The flowers were gorgeous.
The scrapbook signing pages were INCREDIBLE. The tables for the luncheon afterwards were just beautiful. The food was delicious, everything was great!!
My growing boy
Tom and I love this picture. Cute Tay Tay!

Callie with 'pinky' the bunny, taken off the floral arrangement given to us by my dad.

347 balloons for the 347 days that Gracie lived.

I know I have posted a lot of pictures but I hope they portray the feeling and story of Gracie's day. The viewing and funeral were just beautiful. Gracie looked so perfect. Just like a little doll baby. There she was, free of tubes, free of pain, free from this life. Peaceful and perfect.

The viewing and funeral were like a really bad wedding. It was really great to see all of our friends and family at the same time, but really sad to see everyone hurting so much. I told some of my friends that there had to be another way that I could get them to come and see me other than having a funeral!

The kids seemed to do surprisingly well. They were sad but I feel like the whole experience brought them some closure. They do not question where Gracie is. They know that her body is in the cemetery but her spirit is up in heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus. My two little ones have surprised me with their knowledge as to what has happened and both have told me that they will see Gracie again when they die.

A lot of people have asked us how we are doing. That is a tricky question. I think we are doing pretty good. I feel the power of everyone's prayers carrying us through this trial, I really do. I think we will look back on this one day and know that we were literally carried through the hardest parts of this whole experience. For me, it was MUCH harder saying goodbye to her when she was alive than all of the days following her death. Those last few days were extremely difficult. Her last day in particular was a day that naturally, I will never forget. Donor Services had asked us the day before if we had any type of time frame that we were thinking of. We said that we would probably like to have her until the evening, maybe 7:00. So the next day (our last day with her), they told us that there was a plane flying out at 9:00p.m. and that we had to get her organs on that flight. To do that, we needed to be done at 6:30p.m. They had to prep her for the OR for about 45 minutes before that so that when she passed away, they would be able to take her directly into the operating room. I get anxiety even typing this. I was able to hold her (while on ECMO!) for about three hours that afternoon and Tom had her for the last hour. It was heart wrenching counting the hours down until we knew we would not see our sweet Gracie again in this life. It is something I hope I will NEVER have to do again.

The funeral was absolutely beautiful, just like Gracie. The spirit was so stong there, everybody commented about it. My sister spoke and gave a wonderful tribute of Gracie's life, her blog and her lasting imprint on everyone's lives. My friend, Michelle's sister Jennifer sang and absolutely gorgeous song (that left everyone wanting to hear it again on a CD or something!). Then Tom spoke and did a great job getting through it. Something I know I couldn't have done. Then Paul Cardall played 'I Am A Child Of God' which is something I can't really describe. To hear the song being performed live that played for Gracie over and over until she passed away is quite a sacred experience. It was the most emotional part of the funeral for me. Thanks again Paul for creating such an incredibly memorable experience for all of us. Then our Bishop made a few remarks and we left the church for the cemetery. (While Paul played more music on our way out. It was so beautiful that I didn't want to leave, I could've stayed there and listened to his music for hours!)

At the cemetery, my dad dedicated the grave. Afterwards, we let off 347 balloons in honor of the 347 days she lived!!!! Isn't that wonderful? (My neighbor, Stephanie Adair was the one who thought the whole thing up. She and many of my wonderful neighbors spent the entire night before, filling hundreds of balloons up with helium!!)

Oh yeah, and the picture of the bracelets........oh, so precious. My friend Suzy Smith gave me, Callie and Gracie matching bracelets. Mine has Gracie's bracelet design intertwined with mine. All three of them had little heart charms with the initials 'GG' engraved on them. Also, she had a little angel charm on each one too. She gave Tom, Max and Taylor, hankerchiefs with angel pin tie tacks on them. They each wore the tie tacks on their ties. So the whole idea is for Callie and I to remember that every time we wear our bracelets, Gracie is too and we can think of her. I can't believe what a thoughtful gift that was, just priceless. Thank you Suzy!!

I know that I sound like a broken record but we seriously could not have gotten through this last month without the support of our friends and family (and our blog friends!!). The outpouring of love to our family is unbelievable and very humbling. We have received the sweetest gifts, cards, notes, emails, flowers, food, donations to Gracie's tree (we have raised about $2,000!!!)..........the list goes on and on. I heard someone say that we might look back on this past year and think that it was the worst AND best year of our lives. I think I know what they mean.

Some of you have written the sweetest tributes to Gracie on your blogs. I don't even think I have read them all. I was wondering for those of you who would like to........would you copy and paste your blog posting into a word document and then email it to me? My email link is on my sidebar. I have saved all of your emails over this past year and plan to someday, print them out into a book of remembrance. I think that some of your sweet tributes would be a great addition to Gracie's book.

Thanks again, we love all of you!! Now I need to go to bed! This post has taken me about 3 hours :) :) :)