I'm Thankful with Heather of Blessed Little Nest

{Hi everyone!  I hope you are enjoying I'm Thankful week, and are loving the peace of it. I am.  I want to introduce you to my friend Heather.  I actually found her fab blog earlier this summer when I made a butterfly shirt for Ivy.  I'm so glad I poked around, because how Heather lives her life has been a much needed inspiration for me.  I've been working towards not having such negative feelings about hard things in my life, and I've been really touched every time I read Heather's blog.  So with out further ado, I give you Heather...}

Hi there Making It My Own readers!  My name is Heather from Blessed Little Nest
and I'm so happy to be part of Jenn's I'm Thankful Week.

In 2007 my life changed forever when my infant son died after a difficult battle

with bacterial meningitis. Through the journey of Samuel's life, and his loss, God taught me that

I could live a more vibrant and joyful life than I ever thought possible.  My heart was broken and

God stitched it back together with more love, compassion, hope, and joy than ever before.

Now I spend my days finding the lovely that exists in life, and I feel grateful every day.

I'm grateful for all 6 weeks we had with Samuel.

I'm grateful for the people that worked so hard to care for him.

I'm grateful for the strangers that we met along the way that showed us kindness and grace.

I'm grateful for family and I'm grateful for the way God loves and comforts us.

Just 2 months after Samuel died we were faced with our first Thanksgiving.

We didn't know what to do.  Hosting family and friends for dinner, as we had done for years,

didn't feel right anymore.  Thanksgiving felt so much more personal.  I felt so full

of gratitude and needed to do something with it.  I needed to share it,

so we decided to start a new Thanksgiving tradition.

Now on the night before Thanksgiving my husband and I stay up late and bake.
We bake treats for the group of people that touched our lives during Samuel's life.
We want to share with them our gratitude for the work they do. 

While we bake we talk about Samuel and his importance in our family.
We talk about the hospital and the amazing people that work there every day to fight
for our kids, and others just like them.  We talk about hospice and the angels that work
there.  We talk about our living children Henry and Piper, and how we want them to
grow up understanding where their brother spent so much of his life.  We talk about
how important it is for us to show our gratitude, even if it's just in a small way.

When Thanksgiving morning rolls around we head out as a family to deliver the treats.
We visit the PICU and the hospice home that cared for Samuel so we can give thanks.

This will be the fourth year we are following this new tradition
and it still feels right for us.
For us, it feels good to truly give thanks on Thanksgiving.

Thanks again for asking me to be a part of this special week Jenn!

xoxo- Heather

Thanks for sharing your traditions and love with us Heather! I'm always blown away by your kind heart.