In honor of my oldest son’s birthday – May 25 – you can purchase a session (any kind) for  $5.25 (get it 5/25) – MUST be purchased and paid for on 5/25/10 – good through 12/31/10 – for session fee ONLY, prints not included – paypal accepted (triciahackney@aol.com) – all session fees collected from this promotion will be donated to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. 

Happy Birthday Jake!!!!

On April 25, Team Till We Meet Again raised $1,814.00 to benefit the March of Dimes.  Our team consisted of almost 30 walkers and we honored all NILMDTS families and all of the sweet angels that were taken from us too soon.  I’d like to put a team together every year.  The names of our angels graced the backs of our shirts and the forefront of our hearts and thoughts – There was nothing but rain in the forcast, but the SON shined down on us and peeked through the clouds.  It was an emotional day.  It was a great day.  It was a day worthy of all of our angels.

Although I’m not a huge zoo fan, we’ve had passes for the past 9 years.  Living less than 10 minutes from the Cincinnati Zoo, you would think that  we would go all the time – nope, we don’t.  I never go just to enjoy the day, I’m on the never ending quest for THE PERFECT SHOT lol – I usually search the gorilla area for this – I LOVE the gorillas – they crack me up.  They are soooo honest and make no apologies for anything they do.  I once watched them throwing their own poop for almost an hour – on this trip (Johnny’s field trip 2 weeks ago) – we learned that gorillas pick their noses too – go figure – that never would have crossed my mind unless I had seen it lol.   My favorite part of the zoo (besides the gross gorillas) – is the cherry icees – I LOVE CHERRY ICEES!!! 

Almost three years ago, I met the Sutherland family when I was called to Children’s Hospital to do a session for them on behalf of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.  Their son, Graidan was such a beautiful little boy – he was much loved by his family.  His brothers and sister still pop into my mind from time to time and I’ve stayed close to the family.  They have done wonderful things in honor of their precious baby boy!!!  They started By Grace Through Faith- a non-profit charity that supplies local families with memorial candles to honor their own children.  Over the past 2 years, I’ve given out almost 100 candles to families on behalf of  By Grace Through Faith.  These wondeful candles come in pink and blue and are baby powder scented.  Graidan’s story can be found on the inside lid and a bracelet wraps around the lid – they are wonderful!!  Recently, Joe and Shailyn (Graidan’s daddy and big sister) published a book called The Broken Egg - it’s a children’s book about losing a baby brother or sister.  I bought a handful of copies to hand out at sessions – one of the images that I took is featured on the back cover – Graidan’s precious little piggies!!!  Thank you so much Sutherlands – you guys are awesome, I’m soooo going to miss to ya’ll at the Angel Celebration this year.  So many families have found comfort in your candles and will now also find solace in The Broken Egg – I’m so honored to have you have in my life!!!!

This image was taken on the day that Graidan went to be with Jesus – September 6, 2007

The Sutherlands came into the studio the following year – these are the piggies of all their children.

This is the back cover of The Broken Egg.  Dawn (Graidan’s Mommy) says that this is one of her very favorite images!!

Actually, I don’t call it proscrastinate – I’m actually of the camp that believes that YES, it is possible to be soooo busy that you just don’t have time to do things AHEAD of time, and THAT just gives the impression of waiting until the last minute.  You followin’ me here??  Actually, I just get distracted really easily!!!  For instance, I googled little miss procrastinator (which does not exist by the way) and I got about 70 gagillion images and felt the need to check out about 40 of them – and then found 2 blogs that I’m feeling I might not be able to live without – soooooo hating when that happens!!  Like I don’t have enough going on, so I decided to go ahead and add 2 more things to do every day lol – you know -  .*.LiGht BulB MOmeNT.*.  I want YOU to feel that way about THIS blog!!  You know, anxiously check it every day JUST IN CASE i post something new and really cool – hmmmmmm…… and the wheels are turning yet again (and see how I managed to avoid real work yet again……)

Posted with permission from TheComfortCompany.net, special thanks to Renee!!

 What Grieving Moms Want for Mother’s Day:

 TheComfortCompany.net Offers 10 Simple Ways to help Moms Cope When Mother’s Day Hurts

Acknowledgement is what grieving mother’s want most for Mother’s Day, suggests a survey by www.thecomfortcompany.net, a website that specializes in meaningful sympathy gifts. The online survey asked “What can others do to ease your pain on Mother’s Day”. Over 80 percent of the 200 respondents answered, “Recognize that I am a mother”.

“While Mother’s Day is generally considered to be a day of celebration, for many women it is a day of pain and loss” says Renee Wood, former social worker and founder of The Comfort Company. “It’s important to remember those moms who have had a failed pregnancy or who have lost a child at any age.” In response to the survey results, thecomfortcompany.net has issued a list of ten simple ways to reach out to a grieving mother on this difficult holiday.

1. Recognize that they are a mother: Offer a hug and a “Happy Mother’s Day”. Send a card to let them know you remember they are a mother even though their child is not with them physically.

2. Acknowledge they have had a loss: Express the message, “I know this might be a difficult day for you. I want you to know that I am thinking about you.”

3. Use their child’s name in conversation: One mother responded, “People rarely speak his name anymore, but when they do it’s like music to my ears”.

4. Plant a living memorial: A tree or rose bush, like memories, will grow in beauty as the years pass. 5. Visit the grave site: Many mothers felt that it was “extremely thoughtful” when others visited their child’s grave site and left flowers or a small pebble near the headstone.

6. Light a candle: Let the mother know you will light a candle in memory of their child on Mother’s Day.

7. Share a memory or pictures of the child: Give the gift of a memory. One mother wrote that the “greatest gift you can give is a heart felt letter about my child and a favorite memory with them”.

8. Send a gift of remembrance: Many mothers felt a small gift would be comforting. Suggestions included: an angel statue, jewelry, a picture frame, a library book or toy donation in the child’s name or anything personalized.

9. Don’t try to minimize the loss: Avoid using any clichés that attempt to explain the death of a child. (“God needed another angel.”) Secondly, don’t try to find anything positive about the loss (“You still have two healthy children”).

10. Encourage Self-Care: Self-care is an important aspect of the “healing the mind and spirit effort” according to several mothers. Encourage a grieving mother to take care of herself. Give her a gift certificate to a day spa or any place where she can be pampered.

©2007 The Comfort Company. All Rights Reserved. May be reprinted with permission and credit to: www.thecomfortcompany.net

HEY YOU GUYS!!!!

Time to support an EXCELLENT cause!!  On April 25, I will be walking 6 miles (which for those of you that know how much I detest any form of excercise- it’s a huge deal) in the Cincinnati March for Babies to benefit the March of Dimes.  For years, I’ve wanted to participate in one of these walks for a cause – I’ve just always had something else going on, well – my word for the year is COMMITTMENT (something that I’m trying to apply to EVERY aspect of my life) – so no more making excuses – I’M DOING IT – and now I need your support - so come on ya’ll – support the March of Dimes and Team Till We Meet Again.  I’m walking in honor of all the families and sweet angel babies that I’ve served on behalf of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.  It would be worth it, if the $$$ raised in this walk keeps even ONE family from needing our services as volunteer bereavement photographers. 

My girls – these are my girls.  I’ve known K her whole life – as she is my beautiful daughter.  I met Jess & Kels when they were 3 and in the same preschool class as K; and I met Kenz when the girls were in kindergarten and all of them were in my Daisy Scout troop.  It’s amazing how much they’ve grown up in the last 11 years.  Timid little girls – not much more than toddlers to beautiful young women with their own distict personalities, talents and quirks.  These are my girls!

I joined this group over a year ago – Heavenly Angels In Need. The lovely volunteers for HAIN hand make items and donate them to families that have lost a child.  When I joined, I did so as an accompaniment to my volunteer work for NILDMTS – they volunteers for HAIN have sent me crocheted gowns for infants as tiny as 20 weeks (some weigh only 1-2 lbs), I’ve received book marks, jewelry, pins, poems, etc….  They donated heavily to the Angel Celebration that I hosted last year.  Recently, I decided to try my hand as creating some of these items myself.  I’ll make bracelets for my Angel Families (Families that I serve as a volunteer for NILMDTS) and for any other NILMDTS photog (or family) in the Cinti/No Ky area.  I’m not the greatest, but I did have a great teacher, Felicia Stalder.  She not only taught me the HOW, but entertained me with stories of her years of teaching children and gave me terrific LIFE advice – THANK YOU!!