remembering Jack.

For those of you who read this blog but aren't from this West Michigan, let me give you a little background on this post.

On Feb 10, our school suffered a devastating lost when one of the preschools was killed in a car accident.  It's been a hard thing for our community to deal with.  We don't know why God allowed this to happen.  But we know that God had a purpose for his life and we know that now Jack is with the best superhero anyone can have.

Well, today is Jack's birthday.  A day to celebrate the life he had here on earth.  A day to mourn the loss of his life.  If you have a moment today, please stop and pray for Jack's mom, dad and brother Riley.  I'm sure it's going to be a very hard day to get through.

Speaking of his brother, Riley has such a loving heart...he came up with idea to bring a birthday treat into Jack's preschool class this week.  Such an amazing thing for a 7yo boy who just lost his brother.  A couple of us, 2nd grade moms, wanted to remember and celebrate Jack as well, so we created a blanket and scrapbook for the Boerema family.

First the scrapbook, at the funeral the idea came up to make a butterfly tree.  We had paper butterflies available for all to write a verse, prayer, or words of comfort on and then we had a tree to hang all the butterflies on.  It was beautiful.  But we needed a place to keep the butterflies in, so a scrapbook was made.  I'm sure it will be greatly treasured by the Boerema's

Next the blanket, I must confess I have a problem...I spent too much time on pinterest.  But for once it came in handy.  We saw a quilt similar to this and thought it would be a great idea.  It would be something for Riley to use when he is missing his brother most.  To help Riley know that we all love him...to remember that Jesus is always with him.  We got hand prints of all the second graders...the grade that Riley is in, and of Jack's preschool class.  We had all the kids sign their name on their hand print and then I spent a few days configuring and sewing it together.  I love it and from Riley's reaction, he did too. :)