Saturday Meetings

Thank you to all who able to come help bag animals and get things ready for hospital donations!  We really could not do this without all of your help. 

We had our support group meeting this weekend in KC and it was great to see friends that understand during this hard month.  We were given journals to write in this time and several helpful handouts.  One was on recommended books by age levels to help with the grief.  We plan on looking into some of these further for both girls.  Another was the Top Ten What Not To Say. Here is the list~
10.  I know just how you feel.
9.  "Time heals all wounds," and other such trite remarks.
8.  Your loss isn't as bad as mine (or others I have heard about).
7.  It was God's will.
6.  She's in a better place now.  At least she's not suffering any longer.
5.  Well, he was an adult, that's not so bad.  Well, she was a baby, that's not so bad.
4.  You should have another baby soon.
3.  It is a good thing you have your other children.
2.  How did he die? Drinking, drugs, etc.?  We thought it might happen someday.
1.  Aren't you over it yet? or  How long are you going to grieve?

Another article we were given was titled "Dispelling 5 Common Myths About Grief".  I found it to be quite interesting and filled with what society as a whole believes.
Myth 1~ Grief and mourning are the same experience
Myth 2 ~ There is a predictable and orderly stage-like progression to the experience of mourning.
Myth 3 ~ It is best to move away from grief instead of toward it.
Myth 4 ~ Following the death of someone significant to you, the goal is to "get over" your grief.
Myth 5 ~ Tears expressing grief are only a sign of weakness.

The girls both had their sessions and enjoyed them.  Mady was excited to show me the scrapbook they worked on, but really didn't elaborate much more on her session, which is okay with me since I can tell it is helping.  I am sure her feeling of loss are different from mine since hers is the loss of her sister.  Elly's class was filled with play therapy that included music and art.  This time they made flower pots and memory stones among other things.