remember

angel, beauty, life, loss, parenting, remember, Rochelle

11 months later..Magic

December 7, 2015December 9, 2015by Sheridan Johnson5 Comments

From the moment you entered this world,

with your blue-tinged fingers and toes,

God instilled life into you.

He gave you the strength to breathe,

to cry, and to know when you were hungry.

The ability to experience pain,

but also comfort and joy.

The courage to speak ,

through your bold dark eyes,

and your slow twitching head,

when you got so mad.

The ability to know love,

on such a deeper and powerful level.

Your body responded so well to touch,

and to voices that you recognized.

You also loved to be held all the time,

and cuddled up close to someones neck,

in the knee-chest position.

Through the many trials and tribulations,

you continued to defy all odds placed against you.

You created a new image for Trisomy 13 babies,

and you showed people to look deeper than your “label”.

You showed me how to take my label of a “nurse” off (at times),

and realized what a precious gift from God I had in my arms.

You were the rock,

when everything was falling apart,

and you somehow drew our family closer than ever before.

The day you left to go be with your brother,

was unlike no other.

I have seen patients pass away before,

but nothing like yours.

You were in my arms,

and I never wanted to let you go.

Yet, it was like pure magic.

Spirit drifted out of your body,

and I all of the sudden

got this overwhelming feeling

that you were gone.

That’s the moment,

your Daddy and I knew,

life would never be the same.

11 months have passed,

yet it still feels like it was yesterday.

We will miss you forever Rochelle Elaine Johnson. 11/6/15-1/7/15

life, remember

Power of love>love of power

September 11, 2015September 11, 2015by Sheridan Johnson1 Comment

This Friday morning started just like any other Friday morning, woke up at 5:00am to get a great workout in to end the week, came home, showered and made a fresh cup of coffee before starting this blog. This seems to many like a normal Friday, but on this day 14 years ago, it was not.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

— Dale Partridge (@dalepartridge) September 1, 2015

This quote above, describes the tragic events that took place on this day, 14 years ago, so perfectly. At exactly 8:46a.m in my morning 7th grade social studies class, we got word to turn on the t.v, just after the first attack was made that a plane crashed into the North Tower, of the World Trade Center. At 9:03a.m, with so much question, wonder and hesitation, our eyes were glued on the t.v when the second attack was made, with a plane crashing into the South Tower of the Word Trade Center. I remember our teachers not having a word to say, yet they decided to turn off the t.v so we could “get back to the day”. It was not long after the first two attacks, that the pentagon was targeted, causing more innocent lives to be lost.

I would just like to say a prayer for all of the families affected from those tragic events that took place, and all of the lives that were lost.

Father, please pray over the families and loved ones that lost someone to such a horrific tragedy. Please give the families comfort and healing and help them find the peace and joy they once had. Please let them find a way to remember their loved ones, and help them remember all of the good times they had with them, the times they laughed so hard it hurt, or was so proud of an accomplishment that had earned. Please pray for the families of the attackers. Please give them understanding of why their loved ones would give their lives to hurt others. Please make today a remembrance and celebration of life and give strength to all who have been affected. In Jesus name, Amen.

Please take a moment of silence today, to remember all of those innocent lives that were taken.

Brielle, Family, Rochelle

7 months after..

August 7, 2015August 6, 2015by Sheridan Johnson9 Comments

I still close my eyes and just pray and believe that Rochelle would come to me in a dream where I am holding on her and kissing and loving on her as much as I can, just one.more.time. I can’t believe that 7 months have passed, and I still feel like there is still a hole in my heart (the same feeling I had right after Lamar) that has yet to be filled.

Shane and I did everything we could to keep her alive. It was as if, we really thought that Rochelle would make it past the one year mark that they gave us, and we could have brought her to her doctors and show how well she was doing, under our care. It wasn’t until we fully released her to God, that we began to see her heal. After I had to give her CPR, the look on her face was such fear when she woke up again and started breathing. I think I woke her up from such a place of comfort and peace, for my own selfish reasons.

I know in my heart that God gave us the strength day in and day out to do everything we could for our precious girl, and he gave us the strength during the most difficult and hard times, and during all of the sweet and precious times we had just one on one with her. I can honestly say that taking off of work was hands down the best decision we could have made, so that we never took one day for granted.

This past month Brielle has actually made plenty of comments that we want to love and cherish forever. One of my favorite moments happened when Brielle was asleep in the car seat. That morning, Brielle had found some of Rochelle’s paci’s that I saved in her special box, and wanted to use one. During her nap in the car she was snoring and then she randomly sat up and said “No, chelle that’s my paci” and I turned around and she was holding Rochelle’s green one and then afterwards, she laid back and went to sleep. I turned around while driving since I was so shocked and couldn’t believe what happened. When she woke up I asked her if she saw Rochelle in her dreams, she said “yes, I gave her a big hug”.. so I don’t really know how much a two year old understands, but that just melted my heart all over! She also made a few comments when playing with her toys, she will say “ok, let’s go to the hospital to go visit my sister chelle” or “Chelle is in heaven and I want to tell her that I love her, I want to kiss her and give her one high five and then another high five”. I love these sweet memories!

I know in my heart that she is comfortable and happy and pain free! We love and miss you so much Rochelle Elaine Johnson!

Here is one of my all time favorite pictures of my girls!