Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Remembering J {A Special Birthday Request}

Last week I celebrated my birthday. It was a beautiful day of being with my loved ones. Today I am cherishing the life I have been given. The older I get the more I realize how precious each day is.

Which brings me to why I am writing this post. On December 16, J will celebrate her 33rd birthday. Her first birthday in heaven. I have spent the last month praying, and talking to God about how I can honor her for her birthday.

One of my biggest fears is that people will forget J. So as a birthday present to me, or just out of the goodness of your heart, I'm wondering if you could all help me honor J on December 16th.

J's favorite color was purple, and so if you own something purple, can you please wear that? Wearing purple is a great way to remember her, but I also want to honor her and spread love to others. I can think of no better way to honor J's memory than by spending the day gifting those around me. J gave me the best gift ever: my daughter. That little girl has brought more joy and love into our life than any of you could possibly imagine.

If you would like to honor the memory of J, all I ask is that you present a gift to someone. Sometimes a gift can come as buying someone's coffee. Sometimes, it can be giving money in support of someone's adoption. Perhaps money is just too tight and you can't gift someone with money, but you can with your words. When is the last time you told someone they were beautiful, or encouraged a young mom, or listened to someone going through a hard time? Your words have the power to be a gift. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times words spoken over my life have been the sweetest gift to me. Also, let me just remind you that no gift, either in money or words, is too small. What you may view as little, the person you gift it to may see it as the biggest and best gift they ever received.

My goal would be to have at least one person from every state participate in this day of honoring J. If you want, I'd love for you to mark the day on social media using the hashtag #rememberingj. You don't have to tell me what gift you gave, but you can show me your purple and at least tell me what state you are from.

At my age it seems taboo to ask for a gift, and I so fear that people will read this and do nothing, but all it takes is one person doing something nice for someone, that can bring about change in the world. Xiomara is living proof of that. If December 16th comes and only one person wore purple and did something kind for someone else, then I know I don't have to be disappointed. I know that God can use that one to impact many.


J has a mama and two other children who love and miss her so much, and I would love nothing more than to brighten their day with this. Would you please share this post with your friends? I know not one of you knew J personally, but I know each of you reading this has lost someone you loved, and can relate to the pain that follows death. Lastly, would you please uplift in prayer everyone who loved J? Between her birthday, Christmas, and the anniversary of her death quickly approaching, this is a time in which I would appreciate all love and prayers going to her family.

Each of you reading this is a blessing to me, and I thank you! I can't wait to see lots of purple on the 16th and one day, either here on earth or in heaven, to see the beautiful gifts you gave in honor of J.

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