Resources

Upcoming Compassionate Friends Conferences

Thumbnail image for Upcoming Compassionate Friends Conferences January 7, 2012

Dennis Apple, author of Life After The Death of My Son: What I’m Learning, sent a note the other day telling me about a Compassionate Friends (TCF) regional conference that he’s part of. So I thought I’d share some info here about a couple of upcoming TCF regional conferences. Sunflowers of Hope Regional Conference of [...]

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Beyond Tears by Ellen Mitchell

Thumbnail image for Beyond Tears by Ellen Mitchell August 5, 2011

There are certain truisms in life. One of them is that it goes against the natural order of things to bury one’s child. However, as bereaved mothers we can no longer believe in natural order. Our comfortable, secure lives, our innocence, all were shattered with the deaths of our children. Now our reality is upside [...]

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Richards Tree

Thumbnail image for Richards Tree May 9, 2011

We’ve seen a lot of ideas for creating memorials since we began this journey of dealing with Richards death. We’ve received many as gifts from people that cared about Richard and us. We get reminded of one every time we go to our church.  Last year a dogwood tree was planted on the church campus [...]

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Words of Wisdom, Hearts of Love

Thumbnail image for Words of Wisdom, Hearts of Love March 27, 2011

We just attended our second TCF Frankfort KY Regional Conference, titled “Words of Wisdom, Hearts of Love.” This conference was scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Capital Plaza Hotel in Frankfort, KY. The Best Plans of Mice and Grieving Parents We only live 30 minutes from the conference site, but we planned to spend [...]

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Heaven Is For Real – Book Review

Thumbnail image for Heaven Is For Real – Book Review March 14, 2011

Heaven is real. Can there be more important or beautiful words that any grieving parents could hear? Yeah, there could be better words. “Honey, wake up! You’re having a nightmare,” or “There’s been a big mistake, your son isn’t dead, he’s just been in the witness protection program. But it’s all OK now, so he [...]

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Review: life after the death of my son: what I’m learning – by Dennis Apple

Thumbnail image for Review: life after the death of my son: what I’m learning – by Dennis Apple February 6, 2011

Several months before his death, Richard was home for the weekend and he was looking at one of my bookcases. On one shelf he spotted a stack of books about seizures and epilepsy. He looked at them and asked me, “Why do you have all these?” “Because you have that little time bomb in your [...]

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Legacy Memorial Websites

Thumbnail image for Legacy Memorial Websites January 29, 2011

The Compassionate Friends has partnered with the people at Legacy.com to bring you a special deal on a memorial website for your lost child. You can get a 14 day free trial to try their system and you will also get a 25% discount on your first year sponsorship. That’s what they call their hosting [...]

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Good Grief by Granger Westberg

Thumbnail image for Good Grief by Granger Westberg January 27, 2011

This little 64 page book is the first book about grief I added to my library. Joanne, wife of Deacon John Shoulta from our church handed it to me at the funeral home during the visitation. It’s so small it fit in the inside pocket of my suit jacket. I think I read it that [...]

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News Events and the Grieving Parent

Thumbnail image for News Events and the Grieving Parent January 14, 2011

Every day I have to remind myself as I get up in the morning that Richard will no longer come walking through the door asking “what’s for dinner, Mother?” As I go through the day I still am haunted by all the questions: the “woulda, coulda, shoulda,” done questions, yes, even after a year and [...]

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The Blogroll From Hell

Thumbnail image for The Blogroll From Hell December 15, 2010

I’ve built a lot of websites. One of the most important things for a website is links. It’s the life blood of the Internet. The search engines such as Google view links from other sites as votes for that site. The more links the more votes, and the higher a site will be in the [...]

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A Meeting Place For Grieving Dads

Thumbnail image for A Meeting Place For Grieving Dads November 17, 2010

Being a grieving dad is no fun. It has all this emotion stuff. Let’s face it, most of us guys aren’t too good with that kind of stuff. And the resources geared toward grieving dads seem to be limited. Kelley Farley, a two time grieving dad, is trying to improve that. He’s working on a [...]

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Memorializing FaceBook

Thumbnail image for Memorializing FaceBook October 20, 2010

Richard had a Facebook account. Not too surprising, nearly every college kid does. It’s sort of a piece of his life, dangling out there in cyberspace. Debbie was one of  his “friends” on Facebook. I wasn’t. Facebook started out being limited to students only. Later they opened it up to everyone, and all us old [...]

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Another Brick on the Walk

Thumbnail image for Another Brick on the Walk July 27, 2010

We have another Richard brick. There’s a nice little park located in Frankfort, KY called Cove Spring Park. Way off in the back corner, tucked into the trees is a beautiful memorial garden sponsored by The Compassionate Friends of Frankfort, KY. At the center of the garden is a raised round flower bed, with a [...]

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Grieving Dad’s Project

Thumbnail image for Grieving Dad’s Project April 5, 2010

I stumbled upon this site today. Geared toward grieving dads. Kelley Farley is a bereaved father that’s had two children die. He has decided to write a book to help grieving fathers. His website tells his story and leads to a survey where you can tell yours. He hopes to get enough stories about dad’s [...]

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When There Are No Words – A Review

Thumbnail image for When There Are No Words – A Review April 3, 2010

It seems most of the books about surviving the loss of a child are written by women. This probably isn’t a surprise. Grieving is all about feelings. Most of us guys get queazy when we have to deal with feelings. We just don’t talk about feelings much. We have them, but we would rather you didn’t [...]

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Journal Writing

Thumbnail image for Journal Writing April 1, 2010

After your child dies you become desperate for something that helps ease the pain. Anything that will bring healing. One tool often recommended by counselors is journal writing. A journal gives you a place to put your thoughts, frustrations, remembrances. This blog is my version of a journal. I’ve found it helps to get some [...]

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The Grandmother of Grief?

Thumbnail image for The Grandmother of Grief? March 21, 2010

Both days of the recent conference by TCF Frankfort, KY opened in a session with Darcie Sims. She told us, “I’m probably the oldest member of TCF,” at least based on the time she’s been a bereaved mom – 34 years. In fact she was one of the early leaders in growing TCF into a [...]

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How to Decorate a Table

Thumbnail image for How to Decorate a Table March 21, 2010

We’re attending the regional conference of The Compassionate Friends in Frankfort, KY this weekend. The conference began in the main conference room of the Capital Plaza Hotel. The tables were very nicely decorated. But I have to tell you, this is the first party I’ve ever been to with such unusual table decorations. Part of [...]

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TCF Regional Conference

Thumbnail image for TCF Regional Conference March 14, 2010

We’ve been doing some crafts lately. Making some pretty horseshoes. We’ll be going to the Frankfort Compassionate Friends regional conference this coming weekend. The people attending the conference will receive a gift bag. I don’t know what all will be in that bag, but I do know it will have a real nice horseshoe. The idea [...]

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TCF Frankfort Website

Thumbnail image for TCF Frankfort Website February 11, 2010

“Our” chapter of The Compassionate Friends launched a new website recently. If you live near Frankfort, KY and have lost a child or sibling you should check them out. They’re having a conference in March. Details are at the website: http://thecompassionatefriendsfrankfortky.com/

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GriefNet.org

Thumbnail image for GriefNet.org January 27, 2010

GriefNet provides email support groups for all areas of grief. There are thirteen groups listed for loss of a child. GriefNet asks for a $10 per month donation to be part of a group. They say no one is turned away for financial reasons. They do offer a one month free trial so you can [...]

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On Grief and Grieving – Book Review

Thumbnail image for On Grief and Grieving – Book Review January 5, 2010

Dealing with the loss of a child is exhausting. After reading On Grief and Grieving by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler I understand why. Grieving is hard work. I never knew there was so much to deal with. First the authors outline five stages of grief: Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance I think that last [...]

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My First Compassionate Friends Meeting

Thumbnail image for My First Compassionate Friends Meeting December 19, 2009

I always take off from work several days before the Christmas break. I did so this year too. So I was able to go to a meeting of The Compassionate Friends at our local chapter in Frankfort KY last night.  This is one of the more active chapters going. They hold a meeting twice each [...]

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Precious Child by Karen Taylor-Good

Thumbnail image for Precious Child by Karen Taylor-Good December 13, 2009

We will be attending the Worldwide Candle Lighting tomorrow.  On the web page about this event there is a video. It features the song Precious Child by Karen Taylor-Good. The song grabbed me. It’s beautiful and amazing. I found a video on YouTube that just has the song – no info about the Candle Lighting. [...]

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Compassionate Friends

Thumbnail image for Compassionate Friends December 5, 2009

Grief Support After the Death of a Child “The Compassionate Friends is about transforming the pain of grief into the elixir of hope. It takes people out of the isolation society imposes on the bereaved and lets them express their grief naturally. With the shedding of tears, healing comes. And the newly bereaved get to [...]

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The Smile Challenge

Thumbnail image for The Smile Challenge November 8, 2009

Richard was a Dr. Seuss fan. He had all his children’s books. And he demanded they be protected from visiting small children. So I thought this image and the up lifting  message it presents would be a good choice for grieving parents. It’s a tough goal. Sometime we can make it, sometime we can’t get [...]

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A Brick In Memory of Richard

Thumbnail image for A Brick In Memory of Richard October 31, 2009

After Richard’s death we asked friends and family to make donations in memory of him to a couple of charities. Since Richard was an eagle scout the Boy Scouts of America were a natural choice. We also chose the WHAS Crusade for Children. The Crusade for Children is a local charity, featuring a weekend long [...]

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Quit Kissing My Ashes Review

Thumbnail image for Quit Kissing My Ashes Review October 9, 2009

I don’t remember how I stumbled onto this book. I guess I was looking for some hints on dealing with grief. Certainly the thought that our son isn’t really dead is a nice one. That our physical death is just the transformation into another phase of our life. Stop Kissing My Ashes – A Mother’s [...]

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Memorial Montage

Thumbnail image for Memorial Montage October 2, 2009

Memories. As grieving parents, they’re all we have left of our missing child. Pictures are one of the best ways to share those memories. But if you’re like us, those pictures may be squirreled away in boxes, or in  many photo albums. We’ve got another option to help put your child’s life on display – [...]

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