Wednesday, December 12, 2018

A few days-


of trying to find the words I promised to write.
Words that are stuck in my "throat," because there are SO MANY things I want to say.  Things I've tamped down, hidden away, shoved in the feelings closet.  OR-simply haven't had the energy to share.  

Christmas shopping when 2 of your kids are dead sucks.  
No way around it, no silver lining or cute emojis that can make it suck less.  
No amount of "being thankful for the kids I still have..." can even remotely touch the fried endings of my nerves.  
I still have to hang their stockings, knowing they won't be filled with anything because they don't need anything here on this earth anymore.  
I still have to open the boxes of ornaments and Christmas projects, fully aware that we are one Christmas away from having more Christmases without Sam than with him.  
I STILL HAVE TO-
do all the things for the ones I have left.  
Because they have suffered enough and they deserve to know that joy is still real.  

Going to church when your kids are dead also sucks.  
Especially when you just don't want to go.  
Not because you don't love Jesus, or want to worship or spend time in the Word.  
I don't want to go because every single Sunday, without exception, when I usher my 3 living kids out the door, I still feel like we're incomplete.  Because. we. are. 
Of all the chaos in our lives before Sam & Mercy left us, the one constant was our church.  

SO-After nearly 9 years at the same church, we stopped attending last spring.  Much to the dismay of our surviving kids, who couldn't quite grasp why we would do such a thing.  
Walking into that place, incomplete-finally just became too much for this mama heart to bear. 
To be frank-it was also the raw scraping of being in that Family Life Center where people eulogized my kids and "celebrated" their lives, it made me SO FREAKING ANGRY that I was physically ill when I would force myself to sit there and ride out the service.  
Period.  

For much of the last year, my life has felt like it was falling down around me.   Dominos falling in sequence, faster and faster, with no chance for me to flick one out of the way to-
make. it. stop. 

BUT- walking into this season, one that absolutely isn't about presents, trees, lights, cookies, ugly sweaters or hallmark movies-
I'm going to kick the dominos out of the damn way.  
To focus on the true gift.  

Even though-
It's our first Christmas without any family here to help fill the holes.  To create noise where there is none now.  
It's our first Christmas in 8 years without our closest pals.  
It's our first Christmas without unit parties and Gunny Claus. 
It's the first time we'll wake up Christmas morning with-
just. the. 5. of. us.  
And eat Christmas dinner with-
just. the. 5. of. us. 

It hit me last night that in this year, with all of it's chaos, our focus as a family hasn't even been close to the way we used to celebrate this season.  In the last 3 1/2 years, we've all just been trying to survive.

In my sewing cabinet last month, I found a beautiful, unfinished Advent Calendar that I started sewing for the kids the year before the accident.
The irony of that unfinished calendar coupled with our incomplete life has been stewing in my spirit-reminding me of all that has been lost in the time since Sam & Mercy left us.

Slowly, but surely, each tradition has fallen away-too painful to continue without all 5 sweet faces and hearts.
Gradually, we've learned it's often easier to fill our time in ways that require no thought or planning, no emotional engagement, no little pieces of our hearts and NO reminders of the people missing from our family.

And I hate it.  My spirit and my soul fiercely miss the beautiful traditions, the simple joy of keeping our focus and our hearts on Christ.

Will you pray with me?-
Pray that each heart in our family can seek ways to build new traditions.  Pray we find ways to be a blessing, to serve and to demonstrate the miraculous love that Our God showed us when he gave us-

the true gift of Jesus Christ.  

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 
John 1:14

love, 
clan mac mama





Wednesday, December 05, 2018

Hurting all over-

so yesterday evening, for some reason, Charles and I decided we'd have dinner at the restaurant we were headed to the day of the accident.  The one we were merely steps from when our lives irrevocably changed and our world was shattered.

That was probably stupid.

I've plowed through an incredibly emotional weekend with my "face" intact...and I capped it off by rubbing salt in a festering wound.
Oops.
I've also added in a nasty flare up of my auto-immune disorder and sick kids.
Nod to the master of chaos for the crazy carnival music...

I finally had no choice but to listen to my body and my heart today-which were nearly impossible to ignore since I'm currently a crabby butthole, I'm so exhausted that breathing takes too much effort and my joints feel like they are on fire while being hammered with a thousand tiny, ultra sharp, tack nails.  Thankfully, I've managed to keep the irritation at bay and NOT take it out on my kids.
Um...Sorry, Charles.  You know I LOVE YOU.

I have plowed through this fall, with all of the chaos and destruction and uncertainty, with my "face," again, mostly intact.  I've managed to perfect walking into "my" house in Swansboro without crying every time I step in the door.  I only embarrassed myself with tears and oversharing to contractors a couple of times...(that I can remember.)  We said "see you later," to the dearest friends who walked beside us in the burning flames of life after Sam & Mercy died. I compartmentalized paralyzing fear and worry for precious family walking through tremendous trials.  And I survived the emotional minefield of -
The Nutcracker.

And today, I just needed a minute.  So, I'm taking it.  I'm going to cry, eat chocolate, watch crap tv to shut off my never resting mind and go to bed-VERY early.  And pray that when I wake tomorrow, I can slap the "face" back on.  And if I can't?  I'll just pray that there will be some hands and hearts to catch me when I fall and help carry the load with my sweet kiddos for just a bit.

I used to think my life was so exhausting when the kids were all little-For REALS, they were all under 7 when Sam was born.  And I thought cloth diapering was a GOOD idea.  (It sure saved some moo-lah, but I'm not certain Charles will ever recover from the poop sprayer attached to the toilet.)

I had no idea. 

No clue how much mental, physical and emotional energy it would take to keep going just a few years later-when the shrapnel of June 11, 2015 would shatter my world and forever alter-
every. single. minute.

So, I'm trying to learn.  To take the time I need.  Step away when it all rubs my heart too raw.  Be honest and blunt about what I can and can't do.  Speak truth when I'm hurting or need some extra love.  And accept that how I deal with the death of my kids only truly matters to the people in these 4 walls and The God who brought all of us together.
This house and this heart?-got to be judgement free.
I DO NOT need to bring outside opinions into how I walk this rutted, pitted and treacherous path.  
I DO NOT need to concern my heart with how my grief looks to anyone other than the husband I'm committed to and the children I am blessed/charged with guiding.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in.  Study how he did it.  Because He never lost sight of where He was headed-that exhilarating finish in and with God-He could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever.  And now he's there in the place of honor, right alongside God.  

Hebrews 12:2, The Message

To be truthful, I've never been a big fan of The Message translation-it's often seemed a little too "popmusic" for me. 
But this one? 
This said EXACTLY what I needed to hear today. The only "self-help" that I need in my life is to keep my heart pointed right where my children are rejoicing today.  
WITH JESUS.  

love, 
clan mac mama 




Monday, December 03, 2018

I WANT you to tell our story.

Did I ever want to be the cautionary tale you tell?
Not just no, but HELL NO.
But-
IF it saves the life of just one child…
I will gladly tell it over and over again.  I will share it with you so you'll share it with others.  I will stand in front of crowds and watch as videos of our story roll across a screen.  I will endure uncomfortable questions and comply with requests to tell my story over and over again, even when I'm so emotionally exhausted I just want to die.

I'll find a way to make this new "dream" of mine, a dream I never wanted but have accepted, be that thing that every bereaved parent wants.

A purpose out of seemingly infinite pain.

because it could save the life of-
just. one. child.

We celebrated Thanksgiving a few weeks ago at Eva's school.  Yup, you read that right.  EVA GOES TO SCHOOL.  Being the dorky and over attached former homeschooling hoverer that I am, I decided to take the invitation to attend the school Thanksgiving Day luncheon seriously and actually go.  Well, aside from the parents serving, only one other mama decided to embarrass her kid and pop in.  And she just happened to be a friend from "before." A sweet mama who graced my life in overlapping social circles.  Ones that usually involved funny mom's nights with my ridiculously entertaining pal, Misty.  We'd seen each other in passing and chatted for a few minutes here and there during school events in the last few months.  She'd gracefully reminded me of how we met and shared some laughter when I couldn't recall.  (Happens way too much now.  Grief brain is real, I promise.)
I know she was nervous as she shared that she had spent some time waiting for the right moment to tell me how my story had hit home in her life.   Today was that moment.
And I am so glad she did.  Beyond glad.  GRATEFUL. SO VERY GRATEFUL.
After she shared how much and how often she prayed for our family, she looked me right in the eyes and said-"I don't know if I should say this or if it's the right thing to tell you, but I tell your story.  I use it as a cautionary tale."
Her honesty just about took my breath away, but so did her willingness to be transparent and truthful.
The Holy Spirit convicted me through her again that day-
As much as it makes people uncomfortable to even imagine what it's like to walk in the shoes of a family who lost TWO sweet babies in one single day, it's not my job to make you comfortable.  It's my job to be a mama to all 5 of the precious children The Lord blessed me with.  And part of that job is honoring the 2 who left all too soon.  To let their deaths change nothing would shatter my heart beyond what I could bear.  The other part is raising my surviving 3 to be convicted in what it means to own your choices, own your history and to not even consider allowing the enemy to steal the life God has planned for them.

So I WILL share my story.  YOU share my story.
Don't assume it won't happen to you or your kids just because they've grown up around ATV's/UTV's or dirt bikes.  Don't assume it won't happen to them because it didn't happen to you when you were a kid.  News flash, Sherlock.  Those vehicles didn't exist when you were kids and the ones that did sure as hell didn't go 60 miles an hour.
LEARN from what happened to Mercy and Sam.

Use safety gear.
Take safety classes.
Wear the seatbelts!
Don't let an unlicensed driver operate one.
Follow the rules.
And YES, I understand that all those rules are not super fun, but neither is dealing with dead kids and the shitshow it leaves behind.

Accidents happen and people get hurt.  I get it, I really do.
But.
You wouldn't throw your baby in the pool without teaching her how to swim right?
And you'd teach your kid to drive before taking them to get a license and operate a car?
And you'd make sure they lock all the doors when you leave them at home and know how to dial 911?

Enough said.
Share. our. story.  and ALL the stories you know that might save a life.  Trust me, it'll be worth the words, and the breath, and the time.

Thanks, Kelli.  My heart needed that.

love,
clan mac mama
#Stand4SaMercy
#TheSaMercyFund


Sunday, December 02, 2018

23 years-

As Charley pointed out during our gift opening today, Charles and I have been married to each other for almost half of our lives.
Dude.  That is a LONG time.  That means I'm creeping up on FIFTY!

We literally had not one clue what being married meant when we planned that big, beautiful shindig and got all dressed up and said some I Do's 23 years ago.
And when I say not one clue, I am NOT KIDDING.
Sometimes I think we didn't figure it out until kid #5 and deployment #2.  We may have started to get a clue when #3 & 4 were incubating and hubby was deployed...
but seriously.  I don't think we really got it until our kids died.
Because that's when the proverbial "rubber hit the road."
I will NEVER forget the brutally honest conversation we had with close friends just a week after Sam and Mercy ran ahead to Jesus.
My precious friend and fellow loss mom looked right at me and told me a day would come when we'd want to walk away.  That the anger and the grief and the pain would all tie themselves around each other and the enemy would convince me that I'd be better off without him.  Or that he would be better off without me.
I wish I could tell you she was wrong.
But she wasn't.
Marriage under normal circumstances is hard, under the kind of circumstances we've walked in the last 3 1/2 years-I'm not sure there's a word that encompasses that kind of challenge.

Hanging on to your marriage through the devastation we've faced?
Walking through child loss (x2) and coming out with your marriage intact?

That's just about miraculous.
And if I want to be completely transparent, I'm not sure I really believe in miracles.
What I believe in is this-
Holy Spirit led transformation.

That is the ONLY explanation I can truly believe in.  I. KNOW. with all I am, that it is not in my own strength, or my husband's, that we are still standing.  It is the groans of the prayers that we couldn't put into words, the fragrant offering of appeals on our behalf, and the tenacity of a Heavenly Father who strengthens us to persevere when we have nothing left. 
It is an alternating yin and yang of who refuses to give up-when my reserves and my spirit have hit the bottom, Charles will pick up the pieces to push the enemy out of our home and our union.  When he is depleted, it's me who stands in the gap and finds the will to keep fighting for our family.
I promise you, there is no greater victory for evil than the destruction of a family that loves the Lord.



HA!-Guess what?
I'm a sore loser, so losing this battle is not an option.

Charles-I love you, I love all of our children and even with the pain, I really do love our life.  Do I wish it was different and ALL of our babies were celebrating with us today?  Of course I do!  I will never stop yearning for what should have been.  But while we wait for what will be-a glorious reunion at the feet of Jesus-I'll keep loving and living THIS life with you.


Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, 
write them on the tablet of your heart.  
Proverbs 3:3

All my love,
Always-
clan mac mama








Saturday, December 01, 2018

I promised-

and man, this is hard.
Writing every day is no joke.
And, for the love of pete, I'm ONLY ON DAY ONE.

Granted, day one of said writing challenge happened to coincide with the final day of Nutcracker chaos.  For any of you who have been alongside or been through the "Nutcracker Years..."
You TOTALLY get it.
For the rest of you, suffice it to say that it's 90 miles an hour with your hair on fire, while you're juggling flaming bottles of hairspray, glitter and hot glue, smelly costumes, multiple pairs of rancid dance shoes, crowns and crazy headpieces...
I was wearing a TOOLBELT, for crying out loud.  It might have been loaded with bobby pins, hairspray, red lipstick, safety pins, bandaids, headpieces and a headlamp, but a TOOLBELT always makes a mama feel like a rocking superhero.  
And I really needed to feel like a superhero.
Because when you spend copious amounts of mental energy feeling like you've somehow failed because you have dead kids and your living ones are heartbroken, you NEED to feel like you aren't failing sometimes.
And I didn't feel like I failed this time.
I felt...
Good.
Like maybe, just maybe, I AM a good mama.
And, Jesus knows, I NEEDED to feel that way.  I NEEDED to know that I'm doing all I can for my babies, to help them heal, help them grow and lead them-
every single day-
right back to Him.
I pray that who I am and how I love them shows them what Christlike love truly is.  What it means to set all your own crap aside and love your kids-
FIRST.
ALWAYS.
UNCONDITIONALLY.

Christlike love was all over the place this weekend in our little world.
Precious and thoughtful gifts to remember my sweet Mercy from other mamas.
Hugs and whispered words of encouragement.
Unexpected Sammy memories shared-and, I really needed that!
The gift of friends who aren't simply friends, but family, who took the time to come out and love on my sweet girl and all of us with their presence.  

This mama is once again-
so. very. blessed.

love,
clan mac mama



Friday, November 30, 2018

Every day-

I'm going to write something, every. single. day. 
and guess what?!-you're all going to be my accountability peeps.
You. Are. Welcome.

I needed a good laugh today...

I spend all day writing in my head.  Telling stories and storing up memories, cataloging the moments, composing the words that I want to share.
And then I forget them all.
Because I don't write them down.
And I don't take the time because the sheer weight of living with ever present grief and pain, coupled with painful circumstances that have separated us from those we love, has short-circuited so much of how I used to deal with life.  And revealed with startling clarity the flaws in how I do now.  

As I was looking for pictures recently to put in frames for the past 3 Christmases, I was shocked at how few pictures I take now.  How often I let the moments slip by, because taking pictures that don't have all of my people in them sometimes feel like a betrayal.  It takes a tremendous amount of emotional effort to keep myself together, so the fluff of life tends to get overlooked.  A LOT.

Last night, when Eva and I rolled in from performance #1 of Nutcracker weekend, the freight train of emotions that I've held (mostly) in check through the last few months slammed into my heart and spirit.  As I watched Eva dance in her first queen role in 8 years of Nutcracker seasons, the pain of knowing I'd never see Mercy do the same or watch Sammy's eyes light up watching them both took my breath away. And all over again, I'm on my proverbial knees trying desperately to catch my breath and not literally die from grief.
Eva's Lead Maid too-and this year, Mercy would have been just the right age to play Clara.  Maybe they would have been on that stage together. No-I know they would have.  Because Mercy would have been the perfect Clara.  Bright and beautiful, graceful and elegant, eyes filled with wonder and joy.  She probably would have convinced her brothers to get on that stage with her.  Maybe even Charley, although that would have been a miracle in and of itself.

My Eva should be dancing with her sister, dazzling with their bright smiles and sweet sister love.  

Yesterday, as we drove to Nutcracker, both a little dreary from hurting hearts, we started listening to music for Eva's solo this year.  Every year since Mercy and Sam left us, Eva has poured her heart into dancing for them at recital.  Some years it's flawless, other years it's painful and stilted as she tries to dance through the weight of grief and teenage angst.  But-it takes my breath away, every. single. time.  She doesn't speak her grief the way I do.  She dances it.  She processes it through music that touches her spirit and speaks for the holes in her soul.  And she always surprises me with the depth of her thoughts and how she remembers them.

My life is hard.  and painful and exhausting.
But-
it's also SO. VERY. BLESSED.

And NO-not, #blessed because I just got a free coffee or my outfit is just right.
Blessed because I am a child of God, a God who loves and cares for each member of my family by using the Holy Spirit to speak love, grace and fellowship into our lives through others.
Blessed by the family and friends, fellow bereaved parents, and even complete strangers who seek to find ways to love on us.
Blessed by my steady as a rock husband and my incredible children.
Blessed by the abundance of "gifts" He continues to give, even when I doubt, when I'm angry and when I push Him away.
Blessed.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 
James 1:17 


love,
clan mac mama

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Mean girls-

always suck.
I am FORTY-SEVEN years old.  You'd think the mean girls days would be oh-so-far behind in my rearview mirror.  Seriously.
And yet, apparently, they aren't.
In a few recent social situations, I've found myself to be the target of some behind the back whispering and some very clear "turn the back" snubbing.

Adding a bit more salt to the wound...
my daughter, the one who would literally lay herself down in front of an oncoming train to save another soul, has been the intended target of some teenage nastiness specifically intended to hurt.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

Hold on-  I almost forgot to mention the intentional hurt that was shoved into my face for the second year in a row on my birthday.

WHO does that?
And WHY?

Does it make you feel better about yourself to spew nastiness and gossip?
Is your heart "healed" when you hurt others?
What hole are you trying to fill when you intentionally exclude someone or say things to tear them down?

Did you ever stop, for just one moment, to ask yourself if the target of your spite might need grace, or a smile or just a kind word?  Did you take just one minute to think, to REALLY think, about whatever perceived slight caused you to react the way you did and maybe consider offering a moment of mercy?  Do you understand that the person you are hurting may be hurting enough already?

Of course not.  Because if you did, you wouldn't be a mean girl.
You wouldn't spend your time finding ways to intentionally inflict your ill will AND spread it around like a nasty fungus.

I may be a lot of things that aren't easy to handle.
Angry, sad, impatient, and quite frankly, extremely emotional.
Impulsive at times and often, incredibly forgetful.
But one thing I AM NOT-
intentionally mean.  Ever.
If anything, I am overly sympathetic/empathetic, too quick to find the good when sometimes I need to be aware that there isn't good to be found.  I'm a bleeding heart for the underdog and always willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
NEVER, EVER, am I intentionally mean or hurtful.  And for my daughter and myself to be the target of someone else's nastiness?  It just makes my blood boil.

But, at the end of the day, the only thing I can do is slap a smile on it, be graceful and know that at the core of the need to hurt others is the brokenness in the heart of the one who inflicts the hurt.

So, pay attention, mean girls.  I'm gonna slap a smile on it when I see you, I'm going to pray for your hearts and the hurt that lives in them.  And I'm going to rest in the fact that YOU and YOUR ugliness don't define me or my daughter in any way, shape or form.
Christ defines me.
He defines my daughter.
And He is my strength, my shield and my armor.  

You can take your nasty and shove it where the sun don't shine.

love,
clan mac mama


 


Saturday, October 06, 2018

Ripping open-

soaking wet boxes of my dead child's things.
Ripping open wounds I bury under layers of pretending.
Surrounded by destruction and devastation in my community, my senses feel like they are on fire.  Little exposed wires that constantly get zapped and pinged.
Every morning this week, when I wake, I'm back in that "in between" after they first left us.  There is that moment as I drift awake when I have to realize that I'm not at home in Swansboro and they aren't out in the kitchen raiding the pantry and sneaking TV shows on the iPad.  My brain has to kick into gear and acknowledge that I'm in THIS house, with Eva, Charley and Max.  Mercy and Sam are in their boxes and THEY. ARE. NOT. ALIVE.
It's like a little piece of hell on earth to be back in that place.  The one where my disbelief at what has happened feels so fresh, so raw and so completely consuming.
It was the boxes.
They contained the pieces of her life, the reminders of the way she loved to sit on her floor and read her favorite books-the bags and purses she'd pack with a crazy array of little girl things-the dolls she cared for like her own little babies, that she'd tuck into her doll bed each and every night-the fuzzy socks that covered her long, skinny little feet, -the snow baby costume she treasured from her one and only Nutcracker season,-the lip gloss she constantly covered her lovely little rosebud lips in-the pillow pet she laid her head on every night and hid her binkies under, the towel I wrapped her in when she was freshly washed and ready for nighttime snuggles...
SO MANY THINGS.  And she touched every one of them.  They hold her DNA, her touch, maybe little pieces of her hair, a smudge of lipgloss or a pen mark from her insatiable desire to write her beautiful name on every surface she could find.
It was the boxes.
And they are still there.  Because we couldn't go home and we chose to live somewhere they didn't fit.  Probably because somewhere in the back of our minds, we didn't want a house big enough to remind us that we weren't that big family anymore.  We didn't need all those rooms and all those closets and all that open space for crazy little people to march around, dress up, play hide and seek, build forts and train tracks and puppet theaters....
We didn't need a house like that anymore.

But.
maybe, just maybe, we do.  Because they are still my children and I still need to feel like they are with me, even if it's just because I've unpacked the damn boxes and set up a freaking shrine.  And Charles, Eva, Charley and Max need to feel it too.

While this sweet little house has held us close for the last 3 years, I realized something when those boxes were ripped open. I have to find a way for my life and my home to hold ALL of my children.  I don't know what that looks like, but I'm going to pray every single day that I can figure it out.
I KNOW that not one of those things will bring my children back, but I can't live like this anymore.  I can't abide each and every day with this fractured and disjointed place in my soul.  And the feeling that I've failed them because I simply can't make myself deal with those things, those pieces, those memories. 

And I know that the only true peace I'll ever find will be in the presence and the arms of my Savior.  Sometimes it's just so exhausting to know that I'll live with this pain and this fractured family for so very long on this earth.  
Show me, Lord, how to honor You, 
how to honor them, 
and quite simply, 
how to survive.  

One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple. 

                                              Psalm 27:4


love, 
clan mac mama



Friday, September 07, 2018

Unspoken fears...

in the loss community, there are a million different ways we cope with our fears about our living children.  Some talk it about it all the time, others never at all, and many fall somewhere in between.  I'm in the never category.  I almost never mention that persistent and powerful terror that lies just below the surface of my soul, the needling sensation that something will happen to one of the precious children I still have on earth.
Last night, my dreams were filled with the most awful images and sounds, the true stuff of nightmares about my Max.
And I truly believe it was the lies and deception of the enemy, the crafty and cruel way he torments us when he senses we are drawing nearer to God.
Because so often in this awful journey, I've withdrawn from God.  I've cut Him off and shut Him out.  Because I simply couldn't wrap my brain around how or why He would allow not just me, but my husband and my children to suffer so greatly.  To bear such pain and live with this immense grief.
BUT.
Because the God who loves us and never leaves us has always been by my side even when I refused to acknowledge it, my heart has once again softened and sought Him.  I find myself seeking Him in prayer all day, every day.  Waking with Him on my mind and drifting to sleep as I confide in Him.
And the enemy sees this and hates it.
So he attacks me in the place I am so vulnerable that it causes me physical pain to even consider the what-if.
What if another of my children leaves me?
Lately, Max wakes in the night often.  He wanders in to our room, just needing a little hug and to be tucked back in.  He's never done that before, always sleeping soundly and waking like a chipper little bird by 7 am at the latest.
But do you know what?
In the 6 months before they left us, Sam and Mercy constantly woke in night seeking our hugs, our snuggles, our prayers- and just wanting to be tucked back in.
It feels like groundhog day around here, only now I have the worst. fears. realized. aspect to add to my plate.
Today, I'm going to have to choose again.
Do I let the fear win and the enemy triumph?
Or do I trust the One who, even when I push, shove and curse,  never leaves my side?
You might think it's a simple choice-even an easy one.
I promise you, it's not.  It's BEYOND not easy.
I want to go back to bed.  Curl up under my covers and hide.  Cry my eyes out and shut everyone out.  I'm so tired, so very tired.  Mama grief and all it's parts are simply eviscerating-because it feels like my heart has literally been ripped and removed from my body.  And I'm left with these pieces of pain that slowly stitch back together into a jagged little heart that pumps its fear and longing all through my soul every single day.
And the enemy knows this.
...SO. DO. I.
I'm choosing trust today.
But-I need my army of prayer warriors to cover that little man of mine and my sweet girls with so many prayers. And I need prayers-ones that will shield my soul a little from these attacks and give me some peace and some rest.
I desperately need that rest.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15 

love,
clan mac mama

Sunday, September 02, 2018

Grieving was so much easier in the beginning-

when it was expected.  When it looked the way you thought it should.  When it fit the mold and had a response you knew how to give.
Before enough time passed for the expectation that the broken pieces of our souls would somehow be rearranged into a whole being again.  The person you knew before.  And one whose happiness could supposedly be proven with a collection of smiling photos or an afternoon with laughing children.
It was easier because it was "allowed."  The expectation that I'd be fragile, might burst into tears or have to leave/avoid situations that were too painful was accepted.  Grace was mostly abundant and we were given the berth to be shattered.
Then time began to pass and we had to find a way to start functioning in the life we're left with.  As my fellow wounded and lonely mama Melanie DeSimone says on her blog-in "the life I didn't choose."  I didn't choose this.  Charles didn't choose it.  Eva, Charley and Max didn't choose it.  And yet, here we are, living it.
Every. single. day.
I've noticed that we tend to disconnect ourselves a lot.  We retreat to our corners and hide in our books, our tv shows, legos, computers, anything we can find to avoid the "stuff" we don't want to see/feel/hear/know.
And because we disconnect, we fade in the background, becoming a footnote in the lives of those we once held so dear.  And it's never because we don't love them, want to be part of their lives or share new or old memories, it's because we are simply surviving.  And when you're holding on by a string, oftentimes anything that doesn't involve grasping desperately to that lifeline falls to the side.  And you don't even know it or realize it until one day, months have passed and you have no idea how your friends are, what's going on in their lives and if they might need you too.
Because over here, in this broken circle, we're still just holding on by a string and trying, and probably failing miserably, to figure out how to live again.  Really live.  Find passion, see God in all we do, seek to serve, teach each other how to love as Christ did.
Mostly I feel like I'm tired.  So tired that words to communicate it seem to fall short and scrambled.  And when I try, bless the hearts of so many that listen, I simply do not have the ability to make you see.  That the hole you feel when your child moves out, goes to college, leaves home or goes to camp doesn't even give you one shred of the soul shearing agony that grieving mamas and daddy's walk though every minute of every day.
I know that it looks from the outside like we're not always sad.  Of course not.  I'd have thrown myself off the nearest bridge by now if I could't figure out how to find some joy.  Trust me, I find it.  I just wish it was the joy of before.  The one unfettered by the pain of death, fear, trauma, nightmares, loneliness and broken dreams in my incomplete family.  My "unfull" heart.
Grieving was easier when we were allowed to be a disaster.
The harder grieving comes when we are learning one painful step at a time that most of those we love don't have the patience, the empathy or the commitment to not take our awkward social status and crappy communication personally.
We're still, 3 years later, climbing uphill in an ice storm in our underwear.  Every situation that was Marine Corps related has brought trial, stress and heartache for my incredible Marine husband.  My health has been a constant challenge and source of tremendous frustration that most don't understand and have little patience for.  Our children continue to fight tense, spiritual battles that are grounded deeply in what they saw/expreienced that awful day, how they have been learning to live with it, folding in what the world tells them is acceptable now and trying to find their place in a fractured family that doesn't know what the right way to grieve/mend/grow is.
I've realized recently that I may have hurt some people as I navigate this shitty ass path I trudge every day.
I've also realized I'm not always a great friend/aunt/sister/daughter/cousin/niece/mom or wife.
But I am doing the very best I can.  That may not look like what you need it to look like, but I promise, I'm trying.
And truthfully, its not about you.  Your kids aren't dead.  Mine are.  Sadly, this crap really is about me, as much as I desperately don't want it to be.
I've spent copious amounts of hours and time praying, worrying, discussing and hoping that the precious souls whose hearts were shattered when Mercy and Sam left us have found some measure of healing.  I don't forget them, not one of them.  I'm blessed beyond measure for all the love we knew before the accident and after.  Our children were and are loved, for that I am thankful and joy-filled.
Perhaps I failed in the graceful grieving I should have been doing after.
Should I have been sending thank you notes?
Should I blow up Facebook with constant posts and thank you?
Should I pretend we are more ok than we are to make all those who stepped into the gap feel better?  So that we can be a redemption story?
Should I blast all over social media and news outlets how forgiving I am and how it's all ok now?
Would that make everyone feel better and allow me to just live the way I need to when I wake up every single morning to 2 empty beds, 2 empty chairs, and 5 broken hearts?  When I wake up every morning not knowing what condition my PTSD/nightmare wracked child will be in today?
If you want the old Tiffany, you're going to be sorely disappointed.  If you want what's left of her and how she hoped God will redeem her, then please don't give up.
But please don't take it personally that I forgot to call, forget stuff I said, forgot your birthday or missed our lunch date.  I forget a lot and I'm working on it, but it may take a while.

Tuesday, June 05, 2018

It's your birthday, Sammy...

You'd be 8 today.  Oh my, I can just imagine how excited you'd be.  You LOVED your birthday.  The last one we celebrated was the best of all of them.  You spent the whole day with your sibling tribe, surrounded by gifts and love-and ended the day the best pool party ever with all your pals.  I remember looking at you that day and realizing that my little boy wasn't so little anymore.  Your face had "grown up" in that last year of your life.  Your pudgy baby cheeks were thinner and, while it broke my heart a little, it truly just made me so excited to see you grow, all at the same time.
You were such a study in contrasts, my son.  One minute you'd be tough as nails and ready to duke it out over whatever you were currently mired in and the next you'd be a bundle of crocodile tears, searching for mama.  You had one short little fuse and very little patience for giving up your way, but you also had the biggest heart for your brother and sisters-Heaven help anyone who might have offended or hurt one of them-the wrath of Sammy was a force to be reckoned with.  Who knew one day I'd miss hearing your fat little feet stomp like an elephant on the way to slam the door to your room, where you'd wail like a 2 year old until mama came in to make it all better.  (Which I mostly didn't do, you little turkey.  You knew I wasn't playing that game!  So you'd wail a while and just when my patience was almost depleted, you'd stop and crack the door open with a little whimper, saucer like tear-stained eyes blinking, and you'd whisper..."mama?")
You gave the BEST hugs.  You'd wrap your arms all the way around my neck and bury your face in my shoulder, your legs gripping my waist for dear life.  It's the way I held you the last birthday of your life when you asked me, "what was it like when I was born, mama?"  To this day, I think the Holy Spirit prompted you to ask me that question, to cement the beauty of that moment in my brain for when I couldn't hold your precious, living body in my arms ever again.
I forget things now, you know.  And watching your videos and looking at your pictures is still just so incredibly painful.  But it makes me remember and I so desperately want to remember- every. single. moment.  And when other people bless me and send me their memories and photos, it soothes the rough edges and brings me joy to see you carried in the hearts of others who loved you.
I completely lost it last night.  Snot and tears and sobbing and aching words pouring from my lips, probably making not a lick of sense.  And just like Miss Tolly rescued you from that pool on Charley's 7th birthday, she rescued me from my tears and let me cry all over her.  Because she loved you and she loves me and all of us.  It's beyond comprehension to me how I have been blessed with so many who love us unconditionally in the midst of all this pain and all the hard things that go with it.
I know it would break your heart to see mama cry.  But I also know that these tears and this pain and this sorrow is all the love that has nowhere to go now.  You & Mercy's earthly absence has left a hole nothing can ever fill.  Not a single thing.
So today, on your special day, a day that I never thought would be so filled with sorrow and pain, I will try for each moment of the day, to remember with joy all the love you filled my life for the years I was blessed to have you in my arms.
Happy Birthday Sammy-
I love you more than to the moon and back.
I love you forever, for always and for eternity.
mama








Sunday, May 13, 2018

Mother's Day posted by Charles




Mother’s Day
Celebrating the woman who is always there for her children, her husband, her mother and father, her brother and sister, her family, and her friends; all those she loves so much! How do you let the most important woman in your life know that she is loved, cherished, adored, respected, honored, important, beautiful, sexy, desirable, on just this one day of the year? Just as our other holidays have been hijacked by commercialization so has this wonderful day of honoring and cherishing mothers.
Celebrate the Woman, not the day!
All too often on Mother’s Day the focus is spent on the commercialization, the stuff that we buy these precious women in our lives. The focus of the day, and actually every day of the year, needs to be on that special woman in your life. For me it is the mother of my children, Tiffany. She deserves my love and attention on this day most of all. But honestly, the sacrifices that my wife gives of herself for me, our children, her family, and her friends throughout the year truly deserve my utmost love, respect, warmth, compassion, passion, and giving of myself to her each and every day of the year. It is not possible to show this amazing woman, this true beautiful gift of God, how much she is loved, adored, admired, respected, cherished on one “special” day of the year deemed Mother’s Day! Of course I will try, I will shower her with love, kisses, hugs, flowers, and yes gifts. But all of this fluff on Mother’s Day would hold so much more in her heart if I did it throughout the year, each and every day. I am not saying, flowers and gifts everyday. I vow to show the love of my life, this gorgeous woman who has walked by my side through our life, through our peaks and valleys along our 23 year journey thus far. We have had our bumps, fell into some deep pits, and been floating in the clouds so high in happiness. Tiffany has always been there for me, her children, her family, and friends; she always gives so much of herself. I vow to be there for her the same, not just today on this commercial holiday but each day of our lives. I want her to feel my love, to know that she is cherished, appreciated, respected each and every day.
I Love You!


Charles

Saturday, May 12, 2018

All done today.

I held a broken mama today.
Her sobbing body shaking in my tight grasp.
I had no words or wisdom that could ease her pain.
Only love to lend, pain to share and tears to mingle.

Somewhere deep in my soul, I sensed it.
That the intense, unending pain would dominate this day.
But that the other dominating force would be the hand of the Lord-
molding and guiding, bringing another broken heart into the ever-widening circle.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me the blessing of being a safe haven for just one moment for another broken mama.  

A Hallelujah Chorus and a Castle on a Cloud...
memories of my little loves resonate so loud.
Each one of them an imprint deep into my heart...
even in eternity, we're never far apart.
Forever and for always, in my soul they'll dwell...
the music of their memories tinkling as a bell.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 
Psalm 73:26

love,
clan mac mama

Sunday, March 18, 2018

24 hours in the life of this grieving mama-

6:45-open my eyes, realize I'd rather be asleep than get out of the cozy, warm place that often provides the only true respite from the reality of dead children.
7:15-realize that if I don't get my ass out of bed, my day will shot before it begins, so I throw my workout clothes on and head to the rec room.  Where there are the last sets of "school" pictures I framed and the kids handprints hanging on the wall, staring at me.  I face the doors and try to keep up with my workout without looking at that picture/handprint wall, because today, like almost every other day, it takes my breath away and reminds me of the desperately deep and jagged hole where the lives of 2 of my children used to be.  Unfortunately, facing the doors includes facing the red chair where Mercy used to sit and bounce around like a ping pong ball while I tried to read to her.  It's got the microscope sitting behind it that she'd also spread all over the place and try to examine whatever she could get her hands on.  It also means staring at the bins of art supplies that lined my school room in the old house and caused me hours of aggravation when they'd empty them, but also filled days with so much creativity and joy.
Super.
But if I face the other direction, I have to stare at the wall of toys that never gets played with anymore, the basket of puppets that lay untouched, the My Little Pony bin that only makes an appearance when Lyla comes over. The trains that Max now builds alone.
7:45-awareness that Eva isn't up pokes into my consciousness, so the internal debate over whether to wake her or let her sleep starts to rage.  Did she have nightmares again and that's why she didn't get up to her alarm?  Was she tossing and turning, trying to rest but unable to find that place of respite?  Did she get up in the middle of the night and turn on all the lights again to keep out the fear?  Do I have the energy to deal with her tears if she wakes up engulfed in them?
8:00-I poke the bear and the tears start.  I can't help it, I'm less than understanding and my weariness translates into irritation.  I've NEVER been a morning person and the challenges of mornings since "the accident" can sometimes feel like scaling Mt. Everest.  (And I'm stuck on the damn climb-unable to EVER just take a damn minute.)
She has a headache, so I try ibuprofen and a big glass of water.
Nope.  Not helping.
More tears.
Ok, let's try a shower.
By this time, I'm pissy because Charley and Max are messing around and I seem to have SO little patience any more for things that don't go according to plan.
It's a control issue.  Duh.  I've always been a control freak and when your kids die because of circumstances beyond your control and then you live the aftermath of more circumstances beyond your control, that deep fear and need to just control SOMETHING, ANYTHING, takes over and turns you into harping, nitpicking, buzz-kill of a mother.
9:10-still too much messing around and now I'm REALLY mad.  The standard lecture ensues, which sends Eva completely over the edge.  To which I respond with ZERO compassion.  (Yup, super proud mom moment here.  It's fan-freaking-tastic when your meter is so pegged that you can't even find a shred of peace to bless your child with.)
9:15-Eva sits down to eat her breakfast and all of a sudden, the wailing is beyond anything I've heard from her, in a really long time, maybe ever.  She shut the door on her emotions a long time ago and it shocks me now when it creeps out.
Her pain finally breaks through my wall and my heart is breaking because hers is too.  ALL OVER AGAIN.  Like it does a thousand times a day.
"What-love, what's the matter?"
Through her sobs, she stutters-"Max always gives me a hug when I don't feel good, just like Mercy did.  And I just want her to hug me, Mommy.  I just want her to hug me."
And I have not a word that I can utter that can change that pain, take it away or even make it better.  So I just do what I always do now-I tell her "I'm so sorry, baby.  I'm so very sorry, I wish I'd never sent you, I should have kept you all with me. I'm sorry, I'm just so sorry.  I miss her too, I miss her buttoning my sweater and playing with my hair.  Smearing too much butter on her toast and stealing my candy.  I miss seeing her smile and hearing her laugh. I'm sorry, love, I'm SO, SO, SO sorry."
9:25-convo with my husband, during which I'm reduced to a weeping mess, probably not making a lick of sense other than to just keep repeating that I'm just so very tired.
On. every. level.
9:40-by this time, I've got a headache and I just want to hide in my closet and cry. I open my door and leave my room to find my son on the living room floor surrounded by dinosaurs and trash packs.  Lining them up, building a safe space where his mind creates a world that still has his twin and best friend/brother living in it.  Last week it was his car mat and matchbox cars that were favorites with Sammy, this week it'll be trash packs and dinosaurs.  So-every. single. time. I walk into the living room, which I do at least 50 times a day, that sight will sucker punch me in the gut and take my breath away.
10:00-I'm trying to rescue the morning, so I park Max at the counter to start on math and I try to put on my crockpot dinner.  Phone rings-it's my sister.  She can tell the moment I answer that I'm a mess. And I am.
Can't hardly talk without sobbing, make zero sense, pour out every fear, frustration, and all the pain filled pieces of grief that have been building since I mostly stuff them now.  Because I'm supposed to stuff them and wear that mask that makes everyone comfortable.  You know, the one that says I'm thankful to still have 3 children.  I'm blessed to have a home.  The one that says I'm finding purpose in the pain and the silver lining in the deaths of TWO of my kids.  Joy, the finding joy in Jesus mask.
Bullshit.
I am NOT finding joy in much of anything.  I'm freaking pissed that this is our life and I'm so mentally exhausted that it takes every ounce of my energy to find the brainpower to make dinner.
10:45-finally wipe my face off enough to throw crap in a crockpot and hope it's edible.
11:30-guess I should shower.  Maybe it will give me a minute to breath and whisper a prayer that I can get through this day.
12:15-check on lunch for kids.  Am reminded by the smaller pot and less boxes of mac and cheese that there are less little people to feed.  Then I throw away the extra food in the fridge that I can't seem to stop buying and that just expires because there are aren't enough of us to eat it all.  Last week I cooked enough food in 3 days to last us 10 because my default setting just kicked in and big clan mama took over in the kitchen.
That sucks.  Because when I have to put it all in the fridge, it's yet another reminder of who I don't have to feed.
1:00-I field an inquiry from Charley about what we're wearing for Easter, followed by request to have an outfit just like the ones in our very last family picture.  Sucker punch to gut.  I used to get such joy from finding just the right things to showcase the personality and style of each of my neat little people.  I'd spend hours scouring racks for my picky Charley bean, going store to store to find edgy little "men" clothing for Max and Sammy and searching high and low for matching dresses for Eva and Mercy.
Not so much anymore.
Or really at all.
I HATE shopping for any of us anymore.  We're all SO different and holidays, honestly, they suck.
1:45-Max is starting to check out and desperately wants to lose himself in "trash pack" land, so I give him and Charley a break and decide to try and do paperwork/bit of office stuff.  Receive text from my brother about our family visit for Charles' retirement in July.  Start to stress because worry goes into overdrive and I think he's going to tell me he can't come.  Which I can't handle.  Period.  Charles' retirement is scary, it's bittersweet and it's not what we had planned for this stage in our life.  So I need all my people here to stand beside us and celebrate all that my husband accomplished as he served our country.  Because this part of our life looks so different than it should and it's a hard pill to swallow.
2:15-Worry unnecessary, but my heart is still racing and my anxiety is up as I start realizing for the thousandth time that I have no idea how we're going to make it through that day without all of our children by our sides.
2:30-check email looking for estimate from handyman.  Who is at least the 6th person I have talked to as we try to make minor updates to the Island house so we can sell it in a few months.  Stress level peaks as I realize it's STILL not here and I have run out of ideas for finding someone to do this damn work.  I don't want to deal with this.  I don't want to move.  Just going into the storage shed filled with their stuff sometimes starts a spiral I can't get out of of, what on earth will it be like to be constantly surrounded by boxes and boxes of tangible things they touched, wore, played with and lived in?
2:45-Charley starts waxing poetic about moving back "home."  At which point, I not so gracefully respond that it's not a done deal.  And her face falls and she shuffles off to the dining room to do her schoolwork.  So I plod behind her and give her a hug and tell her I'm so sorry-that I shouldn't respond that way.  Just that her dad and I are still praying through so much and the decision about where to live is a big one that we can't just rush into.  And there's so much more to the decision than just where to live.
2:50-the internal war over where to live peaks for the day.  Even though I want to go home in a part of my heart, the other part just can't settle with what it will be like to move back into the home we built for the family we no longer have all of.  What will it be like to wake up every day without Sammy's big brown eyes staring at me from the side of my bed?  How bad will it suck to know that I'll open the door to my room to grab a glass of water before bed and I WON'T see Mercy curled up on the floor just outside my room?  How will it feel to look out and see only 2 kids playing on the swings instead of 4 or 5 hanging from every surface?  HOW will Charley, Max and Eva feel when it hits them that moving home isn't going to fix the holes in their hearts and souls?
3:30-I'm ready for bed.
And it's seriously not even dinner time.
4:00-hop on Facebook for a minute to check an event time and get assaulted by suggested event for Mother/daughter pampering day.  Don't have a little lady who loves to be pampered anymore.  Which makes me cry again. And mad.  MAD.
Mad enough to spit nails.
5:00-load Charley up for Lacrosse practice and head off to Newport.  Spend most of the drive thinking about how desperately I don't want to deal with all the crap falling down around us right now.  How I don't want to face this decision about where to live, what Charles should do, what I should do, where our kids should go to school, whether or not we should switch churches because every time I walk in ours, I flash back to the day we filled the FLC with people to "celebrate" the lives of 2 children that ended too soon and in such a disgusting and violent way.
5:30-Drop Charley off and am flooded with guilt that I'm not staying to watch.  But I can't do people today and I just need to go home.
6:00-Call Mom and rehash all the stuff that never seems to change and the frustration I slog through constantly.  Living in the shadow of grief may change, but it doesn't get any easier.  Every day that passes is another day further from the moment I last hugged my children, heard their voices, smelled their sweetness and waved as they pulled out of my driveway for the last time.  Vent that I wish people would stop looking at us moving back home as some kind of exciting life event.
IT IS NOT.
Maybe it will help our hearts and maybe it will make me even madder.  And the rub is that we won't know until we're in it.  There's no crystal ball or burning bush to tell us what to do.  It's simply a leap of faith.  And leaps of faith for people who leapt into a new chapter in faith only to have the worst possible outcome aren't just leaps of faith.  They are momentous launches into a deep, dark chasm that feels bottomless and bleak.
6:45-finally head inside to eat dinner and find my husband and son reading at the counter.  Find my heart filled with gratitude for the wonder of hearing my son read.  Something I wasn't completely sure would ever come to pass. And gratitude for the incredibly giving and selfless people who have come alongside us in that journey.  It's not just a little boy learning to read, it's an anxiety ridden, twinless, brotherless and traumatized little boy overcoming more emotional and mental obstacles in his short little life than most people do in a lifetime.
Gratitude in that moment to provide respite in a day that feels like a thousand heavy bricks crushing my soul.
7:15-hiding in my office.  crap tv.
I simply can't think for one more minute today.  I need to check my brain out and zone out and find a little quiet in this brain that never stops.
8:15 move to room to hide.  take bath and eat popcorn.  more crap tv.  Snuggle goodnight to my little man.
9:15 crap tv has lost it's luster and I read.  Read other broken mama ramblings and pray, with every ounce of my soul that tomorrow will be a little lighter, a little easier, a little quieter.
But I know it won't.  Because at the end of the day, this is my life.  It may look a little different each day, but at at the end of the day-
this. is. my. life.
And every day that I wake up will be another one that doesn't include Mercy and Sam.
So I pray, when I can, that something will give.  Something will change.
I'll keep trying to deal with the alligator closest to the boat, do the next thing and not give up.  Even when, most of the time, it's what I most desperately want to do.
Grief is not self-pity.  
It's not whining. 
It's not being stuck.  
It's the manifestation of a love so deep and so wide and so full that it's all encompassing to wade through life without the physical manifestation of that love.  
Changing, ebbing, flowing and crashing over our life interrupted.    
10:45-close my eyes and pray that the night brings the peace that eludes the day.

I'm not sure when we ALL started to hide behind a mask because it became easier to stop talking about it and being honest than it was to be raw and true to the pain.  When did it become "easier" to shut things out than hear that AGAIN "God has a plan," "God is sovereign," and "God will work all this together for my good and His glory," one more time?  It is so easy to say that when you haven't held the body of your lifeless children, running your hands through their hair while you try not to let the smell of the embalming fluid be what you remember.
So easy.
You may not want to hear this and you may not agree-but I will never believe that the God who loves us, created us in His image and walks beside us in every part of our days would PLAN for my children to die so violently in a field, PLAN for my surviving children to be forever scarred, PLAN for my daughters to blame themselves.
PLAN for us to spend our lives wondering why we didn't get a miracle.
What do I believe?  I have to ask myself that over and over again, and I'm waiting, still waiting for that answer to settle in my soul.
The only thing I know for certain is that The Father, The Lord, The Giver of all good and beautiful things, gave these children to Charles and me.  So I will love them, cherish them, find patience and grace when none remains, and never give up on finding my way out of this fight I'm in for my very soul.
Truthfully, I know one other thing for certain.  I simply cannot censor myself or what this looks like for my family anymore.  I know it's hard to see us cry, painful to hear our sorrow, heartbreaking to watch any of us fall apart, frustrating to not know what to say or do, and exhausting to listen to us over and over again, I know that. 
But the mask is too heavy and painful to wear, so we won't be wearing it anymore.


as always,
clan mac mama







Sunday, February 18, 2018

Someone else's child should NEVER be your personal platform...

Ever.
I don't care what your opinions are, what reform you think needs to happen or how sad/angry/disturbed/violated you feel.
YOU are not the bereaved parent.  And you don't get to make the horrific and devastating tragedy of someone else's life your mouthpiece to share your personal agenda on social media, instagram snapshots or twitter hashtags.
Because regardless of how altruistic you think/feel you are, it's REALLY just using someone else's personal pain for your own interests.
Saying THIS is probably going to p*ss off a whole lot of people, many of them my friends.
Thank you, Brene Brown, for giving me the courage to call-
Bullsh*t.
The issues that led to the horrific circumstances in Florida existed long before February 14.  If they bothered anyone as much as recent Facebook posts would lead us to believe, maybe, just maybe THAT should have been more of an ongoing conversation that leads to real family/social/lifestyle reform.
It should be an ONGOING CONVERSATION.  Not just one that exists when innocent children die.
Period.
Bereaved parents have a hard enough road to walk.  Let THEM choose the platform.  Until then-if you think society is going to hell in a hand basket, be part of the solution BEFORE it happens.
Period.

Monday, February 05, 2018

Home...

I’m going home tomorrow.


967 days have passed since I walked out that garage door-utterly shell-shocked and devastated by Sam’s senseless and heinous death and praying with every ounce of faith I had for Mercy’s precious life to be spared.

And yet it wasn’t.  

Tomorrow, my husband and I will step through the door of our family home together, for the first time since we left to start picking up the pieces of the mess we were handed.

Such. A. Mess. 

To that end-I don’t write much anymore, because most of what I want to say right now wouldn’t inspire a single ounce of faith in even the most Jesus infused soul.  967 days out and I’m wrestling even more heavily now with questions I’ll never know the answer to this side of Heaven.  Questions that I know I won't get an answer to, yet I simply have to let them run through my soul and out into that black pit of doubt.  Because that's what grief looks like.  

And I’m just so very tired.  To the very core of my heart, my soul, and my inmost being.
It’s a mind-numbing mental exhaustion that I simply can’t seem to shake. My words don’t come easily, just living everyday life often feels so painful and awkward.   Relationships are strained and my faith feels distended and splintered.

Life hasn’t stopped for us.  We don’t “get a break” because our lives imploded when our kids died.  We’ve had to figure out how to keep putting one foot in front of the other in a world that often has little patience for extended grief or stories that don’t end with a quick redemption.
And ours doesn't feel like a redemption story.  I can’t and I WON’T try to find a silver lining buried in the tragic deaths of my children. In my heart, I believe that someday I can find purpose and a measure of joy, but for now we’re surviving.  

And taking the next step.

Tomorrow that next step is figuring out if we can live, every day, in the home we built for all of us with just some of us.
And after that, it’s finding out what life without the Marine Corps means for a family that started there, grew there and for some-
ended there.

So tonight I beg for your prayers, my friends.  We need some vigorous ones in the days to come.  We are in desperate need of an undergirding of the Holy Spirit, an infusion of divine strength into our souls and a potent dose of the fire of faith to carry us into an uncertain future.

Tonight my heart is anxious, but it's also certain of something that Cassie reminded me of today.

Walking in that house can’t ever be worse than surviving the last 967 days without Sam and Mercy.  So we’ll make it.  It’ll probably completely suck, but we’ll survive.  

And take the next step.

“Enlarge the place of your tent,
    stretch your tent curtains wide,
    do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
    strengthen your stakes."
                                                  Isaiah 54:2   

Perhaps the widening of my tent is willfully choosing to pull back the curtains of doubt, fear and isolation.  It's facing the malevolent whispers of the enemy and declaring them powerless to rob my house of the strength we can only EVER find in The Lord.  
Will you pray that for us tonight? 
And for every family facing an uncertain future?
Those facing a future without all of the ones that make them whole? 

Thank you from the depths of our souls-
Prayers are our balm of Gilead and we are ever so grateful for each one offered to the Father on our behalf.  

with love always, 
clan mac mama





I

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Wishing you were here, my precious girl...







I wish I had some eloquent words to frame this day, but mostly we're just trying to find the smiles to celebrate our sweet boy and remember our smiling beauty, Mercy. 
It's rough around here without you, Mercy.  We laugh a whole lot less and hugs are so much harder to come by.  You were truly the glitter glue that stuck all of us together, melded our hearts in tighter and lightened so many of our moments.  The best little surprises I find are the selfie videos you constantly made on my phone/computer/ipad-for just a minute I get to hear your sweet voice, see your kookie smile and listen to one of your silly rants.  You seem so alive and I can almost reach out and touch you...
Our world was forever changed the minute you slipped into this world and into our family.  Your heart for your siblings, especially your twin, was as deep and wide and full as the greatest ocean.  You filled our days and nights with crazy plans and silly dreams, dress up days and movie nights, box forts and icy water slides, barbie castles and ninja battles, candy sneaking and make-up madness....
Our ears were blessed by your melodic little voice lilting in a lullaby, singing a song of praise of our God, who you adored and worshipped-
Mercy-I'm sorry my words are failing your memory today.  Our hearts hurt so desperately and we love and miss you so very much.  I pray that your sweet twin will have his heart filled with your love and presence today, reminding him of just how much you adored him.  Whisper a special prayer to Jesus for all of us today, sweet girl.  And give Sammy the biggest hug and pretend we're all in it together.  I long for the day when we're reunited in Christ, baby girl.  Until then, we'll do our best to honor you, to honor Sammy and to spread your love and light wherever we go.  
Mama loves you-
Happy 9th Birthday Mercy and Max-