Saturday, January 5, 2013

Being Bold for the Babylost: Not Forgotten Angel Baby Drawings

Eve & Lily 

I've been bold this week.  Bold with my art, and with offering my heart.  At least, that's how it feels to me.

Here's what's happening:

Recently, a fellow blogger inspired me.  She* wrote a post describing how she imagined her baby who had died might have looked when she grew up, or might even look right now, in Heaven.  So later, when I sat down with my art journal, a little girl was born onto the page matching the blogger's description -- and next to her, a drawing of my own sweet Eve.

It happened so easily and naturally, and felt so good to my grieving heart to both make and have a drawing of my daughter, that I decided to make a few more, this time of some of my babylost mama friends' little ones gone too soon.

And that felt really good, too, and the drawings turned out so sweet.  So I sent digital copies of the drawings to my friends.  This was the part that felt extra bold to me -- sending out my imaginings of dead children to parents that hadn't asked for them?  It could have gone badly, but my friends seemed to enjoy the drawings (or at least were gracious about it).  

Then I got to thinking -- if I enjoyed having a picture of my daughter as she might have looked, and if my friends enjoyed having the same, wouldn't other babylost parents feel the same?  One of my friends who I sent a drawing to posted on Facebook, "That's my boy!" in association with the drawing.  Her son died before twenty weeks, and she has precious little (if anything) that she can say that in reference to.  It blessed me that I was able to give her something that she could proudly say such a thing about.  Because death does not stop us from loving and being proud of and wanting to show off our children who are not here.

So then came another extra bold step -- I listed customizable drawings of babies gone too soon (called Not Forgotten Angel Baby Drawings) in my Etsy shop.  Because we mamas with babies in Heaven can never have too many memory items.  It is my hope that these drawings can ease other babylost parents' hearts just a bit.  We've got so little to hold on to.

I'm quickly typing this up as our rainbow son is considering whether to nap or to start bawling (he's an avid nap resister . . . stubborn like his mama!), so I'll just leave you with photos of the drawings I've done so far.  It is such an honor and a joy to make this little whimsical sketches.  I hope you enjoy them, and if you'd like one for yourself or a loved one, check out the details here.

Faith, Grace, & Thomas 
 
Alexander with name 
 
Seb with name 
 
Kallee with name 
 
Caleb with name 
 
Hope Elna with name
 
Watch for more new Not Forgotten Angel Baby Drawings on my art Facebook page!  I post them there as I finish them.

*Blame my sleep-deprived mama brain -- I thought that the blogger who wrote that inspirational post was one person, but when I thanked her for said inspiration, she said it wasn't her!  So if you're the blogger who described her angel daughter as blonde with flowers in her hair, let me know -- I'd love to send you a copy of the drawing at the top of this page!  Sorry about the confusion!

6 comments:

  1. Love! So grateful for your beautiful "boldness"! Thank you so much. Can't wait to add this to the collection at the SGM building.

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  2. Wow, Beth. Just wow. This is such a beautiful thing you are doing. I have tears in my eyes. What a gift to be able to "see" our children in that way!

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  3. What a beautiful idea to do this. I hope that one day I may feel able to do one myself of my son. It will be the anniversary of his funeral this coming thursday & it feels a life time ago but at the same time its seems like only one long sleepless night has passed. X

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  4. Oh I love them all!!! I will be emailing details for Jonathan soon!

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  5. I love mine. So much. I'm going to embark on an album for Sebastian (for each of my kids actually), and this is most certainly going in there. Thank you, for sharing your wonderful gift with us all.
    Caleb there.... I looked at him and my heart skipped a beat. I haven't seen a lot of pics of Ch's other children, but Caleb looks just like his Mummy. I think you hit the nail on the head there. Beautiful xx

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"I am glad you are here with me."
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King