A few things

The days have been full (of activity and emotion) for our family lately. The next several weeks involve many opportunities for reflecting and processing this past year and for that we are thankful.

We are preparing for our participation in a retreat at UVA on pediatric palliative care later this month (days before Nora's first birthday). We feel excited about this opportunity and my email correspondence with the organizer of the event has only heightened that. If you are interested in learning more there are two links below to short radio clips:

Hear about IPPC on National Public Radio:
IPPC Retreat June 2007:
   Go to http://www.mpbn.net/search/ 
   Type "palliative" as keyword
   Choose "Retreat Focuses on Palliative Care"
 IPPC Retreat June 2004:
   Go to http://www.here-now.org/shows/2004/08/20040823.asp 
   Scroll to "Palliative Care for Children"

Also, since Jason and I haven't done as much writing ourselves recently (we are, however, working on reading through all our updates in preparation for sharing with our church community in early November), I thought I'd also pass on another link. This was shared with me today and resonated in many ways. Saturday, in a few rare alone hours, I felt overcome with the grief of her absence coupled with such an intense gratefulness for the ways I feel she has made me a better person and for the many lessons I continue to carry with me.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95536681&sc=emaf

And lastly, we also just learned that this Wednesday is a day set aside to recognize the lives of infants who have died. You are welcome to join many others in lighting a candle at 7pm in memory of babies who have died. (More about this event can be found online at http://www.october15th.com/)