Monday, August 30, 2010

Memories for the Wall

Believe it or not, I have not created any type of memorial for Abrielle to hang on the walls of our home. I have bought collage frames with the intentions of placing some of my favorite photos in them to hang, but have yet to fill them. Instead, a contest got me inspired to finally create something. Here it is ~



In creating this, I had to do some things I had not yet, permanently remove things from Abby's room. I do not like moving things in her room still, so this was really hard for me. The only time things come out of her room are when they are included in pictures, but then they are placed back in their original spots in her room. In order to find some of the items I wanted, I had to pick up toys that were last touched by her little hands and placed into their toy baskets.


I tied a "hula" hair tie to the handle of the tray along with the flower zipper pull from her backpack. One block contains one a letter A in her handwriting that I copied. Another square has a pink butterfly barrette. Her teddy bear necklace has a new home where I can touch it anytime. Two of her Barbie shoes are included and they also symbolize her love of dance, gymnastics, and dressing up. A Barbie Princess crown sits in another corner because we always called Abrielle our Princess.
I included a two quotes that I love.
"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." Angela Schwindt
"If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think, but the most important thing is even if we're apart, I'll always be with you." Winnie the Pooh



Thursday, August 19, 2010

Deja Vu

Oh how that deja vu feeling kept creeping in today. From getting a three-year-old ready for school, to walking my little girl in for the first day of school, to waiting outside for her to come running and give me a hug. Everything kept taking me back to the fall of 2006 and sending Abby to preschool for the first time. I was able to stick to my "no tears at school" plan and did not let them fall until after the sunglasses were in place.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

To Preschool We Go

Monday night we took Elly to see the Preschool classroom and to meet her teachers. She was so excited to be going to "big girl school" that I wanted to make sure I did not have any tears to ruin it. For some reason as I was getting the girls ready, Elly said, "I want to see in Abby's room." Of course I explained that we don't play in Abby's room and went on about getting ready to leave, not sure what brought on the comment. As we drove into town, I couldn't help but feel my heart drop as we drove past the cross along the side of the road. It made ignoring the fact that Abby was missing impossible and I had to catch a few tears.

At the school, Elly could barely contain her excitement while I held my emotions in check. No tears at the school. We introduced her to her teachers and let her check out the room for a little while. Then as we looked at pictures of past preschool classes on the wall and found our Abby, the heartache was hard to ignore. Elly kept asking, "Why Abby not here?" after finding her in the picture, but I didn't answer. I have no answer for that question. It wasn't until later at night that I let the emotions of the evening catch up with me. Now the next step will be Thursday morning when I actually take El to preschool for the first time.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Golf Tournament

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day for the golf tournament fundraiser for the Foundation and Deryk Degase sponsored by my high school class (MHS 1994). There were 24 teams in all golfing for the day.


A big Thank You for Melanie Stiens Wassenberg for organizing the event.

And a big Thank You to all the hole sponsors who paid had signs at each hole.








After everyone was fed and all the prizes handed out, I announced that we wanted the Foundation's share of the funds to go to Deryk so that they can buy him an ipod to talk for him by pressing a button.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Just One Reason Why

"Dear Abrielle Neff Foundation,

I received one of your stuffed animals when I hurt my eye and had to go to he ER. They gave me Goochy, the Jellyfish! He helped me be a brave boy at the hospital. I love Goochy so much! Thank you very much for Goochy, the Jellyfish!

Love,
Owen Wonderly
4 yrs old

P.S. My Mom and I are making a donation so more little boys and girls can get an animal at the ER and be brave like me!"