Thankful For The Unexpected

By: Kayla Leibner The holidays are a time that I find myself especially compelled to reflect on the things for which I am most thankful.  Before our life-changing losses, these reflections usually included things like family, friends, and faith. While I am still grateful for these things (and so much more) each day, it is…

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Speak The Unspeakable

By: Kayla Leibner In all walks of life, it’s important to be able to tell your story.  The elements of our story help shape us into the people we become.  We get to influence some of the plot and choose some of the characters in our life, but other times we can’t control what or…

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Love Bears All Things

By: Kayla Leibner The journey of a bereaved parent is full of misconceptions, false impressions, and understatements.  It’s uncomfortable and unthinkable.  There’s no possible way to help someone to understand unless they, too, are walking in our shoes.  At some point, we were all on the misunderstanding end of this scenario.  I know I once…

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Missing More Than Milestones

By: Kayla Leibner I often find myself wondering what life would be like if I wasn’t a bereaved mother.  I wonder how different I would be if I wasn’t on this path.  The truth is, this is my reality, and I’ll never again know life the way it was before this journey of grief began. …

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A Letter to the Newly Bereaved Mom on Mother’s Day

By: Kayla Leibner Dear Mom, I know you’re not the kind of mother you imagined you would be, but that doesn’t make you any less of a mother.  In fact, you are the strongest kind of mother.  Your baby lives in heaven instead of in your home.  You hold your baby in your heart instead…

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Where I Am Today

By: Kayla Leibner My life story begins thirty-one years ago, but my life-changing story began just two and a half years ago in August of 2017… From diagnosis to death, we had five days to digest the circumstances threatening the life of our unborn daughter, Melody.  Our world was shattered into a million pieces when…

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The Legacy of Strength: A Grandparent’s Grief

By: Kayla Leibner Seeing your child suffer is a type of suffering in itself.  As parents, our love runs so deep that when they hurt or suffer, we also hurt and suffer.  If something happens to cause one of my children distress or pain, my first instinct is to fix or remove the problem to…

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Finding Hope and Strength When Your Children are Grieving

By: Kayla Leibner I love my children more than my own life.  All of them.  I want what’s best for them.  My husband, Ben, and I have four children – Jace, Kiley, Melody, and Jamie.  We sound like a typical large family, right?  Well, things aren’t always as they seem.  There are things about our…

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