Subject: [cherubs2] Memorials - Ideas
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2001 09:17:00 EDT
From: doyleew@aol.com
Reply-To: cherubs2@yahoogroups.com
To: cherubs2@yahoogroups.com

To ALL,

This is for the newer members who have not had these ideas passed on to them
in yet and maybe a reminder for those of us that are looking for ideas to
help with our grief.  Please note - I have pulled these ideas from many other
great people!

You can plant a tree or start a flower bed in memory of your child, plaques
can be engraved and placed nearby.  (If you are really creative you can make
something to say that this tree was planted in memory of or this is my
CHERUB, Cecilia's garden.)

You can donate to a charity in memory of your child - I'm thinking CHERUBS.
Dawn makes beautiful receipts for us and they are perfect size for a Memory
Book.

Memory Book - these are better than those baby books that one receives for
"normal children" - In ways I think those things should be outlawed - ALL
children are different and they encourage comparisons.  Memory Books can
include our child's birth and death certificate, footprints, Christening
Certificate, pictures, poems, stories, and anything else.

One couple here was donating books in her child's name to the hospital.  This
I think is wonderful.  (I hope she engraves the books so they know what
little angel inspired such a gift!)  Another couple donated a rocking chair
to their Church Nursery in their son's name.

Kindness deeds - this idea I got from MISS - you have business size cards
printed up saying this good deed was done in memory of ...  If you see an
elderly person struggling at the grocery store with their packages, you can
help them and hand them a card.  Hold a door open for someone - give them a
card.  You are doing these polite things - not just because you are that type
of person but also in memory of your lost child.  (After all, we would have
taught them to be kind too!)

Memory Boxes - I need ideas for this one - I can't seem to find the "right"
one.  Cedar are beautiful - but I have a blanket that still holds Cecilia's
scent and I don't want to loose it in a Cedar Chest.  But I love this idea!
I have so much to remember her by, blanket, a few articles of clothes, her
Memory Book, a bear, and other small items too.

If you can't donate money - finances, medical bills really do us all in and
then the idea of working for many is just not in the cards - donate your time
- even an hour a month - when you are up to it - and you can do it in memory
of your child.  Donate blood - NICU's go through more blood on a regular
basis than even ERs!  And you can donate in memory of your child.

Write your child's story (Dawn will print it in the Newsletter), create a web
page or site.  Many of us have done this and linked it up to CHERUBS.

These are just a few ideas and some things I have done and continue to do.
If anyone has others - I would love to hear them!

Hugs,
Elizabeth, Proud Mom of Cecilia Winn Propst, 11/2/99 - 12/10/99, LCDH, O2,
N0, Gortex Patch Repair, Silo Patch to final Closure, ECMO 32 days (UVA's
record holder), Renal Failure, Hemophiltration via ECMO, Hemophiltration via
machine - youngest patient ever on, Pulmonary Hemorrhage.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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CHERUBS- The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Advocacy, and Support
cherubs@gloryroad.net
http://www.cherubs-cdh.org
PO Box 1150, Creedmoor, NC 27522
(919) 693-8158

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