June 16: Goodbye Our Sweet Makenna

I can't really find the words to adequately describe how I am feeling this morning.  My sweet baby girl Makenna returned home to her Father in Heaven last night, Sunday June 16 at 9:45 pm.  She passed away peacefully and with her loving parents and grandmother Allan.  Saturday had been a great day... My dad and Tom brought the boys to Hershey for a visit.  After a quick visit with Makenna, mom and I took the boys for lunch and to the park so that the two grandpas could spend time with Makenna.  Tom got to meet her for the first time and my dad held her for a couple hours, enjoying every second.  My dad later told me he had taken the time to say goodbye...

  She had done well Saturday night and Sunday morning, not having one episode.  After church, mom and I got to the hospital and she was peacefully sleeping.  I held her next to me, singing and talking with her.  After about an hour, her heart rate went down and up like it used to.  However, this time it did not come back down on it's own.  The doctors and nurses did what they could, but it was not meant to be.  I called Ken and he came to Hershey right after work, getting there about 7:45 pm.  They moved Makenna into a nice private room and we all took turns holding her.  A photographer came and took pictures of our last hours together.  It was a special experience and I will share photos when I receive them.  We were able to hold her, kiss her, and love her until her amazing spirit left her poor little broken body...

I am in awe and completely grateful that I was chosen to be Makenna's mother.  I am grateful for my parents and their help so that I could spend almost all 47 days with my little girl.  Ironically only missing one day, Mother's Day.  Everyday she was alive was a gift from God and she has touched so many lives in that short time.  We did not make MY goal of getting her home, but the hospital was all she knew and we were with her.  I am at peace with that.

You may wonder why such an awful thing could happen, but please don't cry too much for her and me.  We shared a wonderfully beautiful experience together.  I got the privilege to carry her inside of me, to be part of her entrance into this world, to be next to her as she struggled and succeeded many times to stay alive, and then to be with her as she exited this mortal life.  As my savior Jesus Christ taught... "neither hath this (girl) sinned, nor (her) parents:  but that the works of God should be manifest in (her)" (John 9: 1-3).  This was not her fault, our fault, or God's fault.  But, I hope we can all be inspired by her life.  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, they have truly been felt...

Walking with Makenna:  Mt. Gretna

My last painting of Walking with Makenna here near Hershey in hopes that we will one day be able to continue it together...Goodbye for now my daughter.