NMU Plaque

In May, my brother, Joseph, and I went to Tennessee to visit our dear friends Jonathan and Amanda, little Emily, and baby Anderson on the way. On Mother's Day, we drove to Chattanooga to the National Memorial for the Unborn. The memorial has an indoor granite memorial wall in honor of babies lost to abortion and gardens outside with brick pavers in honor of babies lost to stillbirth and miscarriage. There is a pregnancy center in the other half of the building and it all sits on the site and in the same building where an abortion clinic was for many years. The entire site has a sacred essence to it, especially the room that is honoring aborted babies. I felt such a deep feeling of reverence in there as I was overwhelmed by all the names on the wall and the special things left behind by grieving family and friends of these lost little ones. It was so moving to read all the letters and poems. What a special gift to be there on Mother's Day! A time and place to honor and remember BOTH my babies at once, the only place on earth where I can tangibly do this. What was once a place of great sorrow where thousands of babies were killed is now a place that honors and remembers these lives, a place dedicated to the Lord, a place of hope and healing...


Today, January 6, 2012, it has been exactly two years and eleven months since Luke Shiloh went to be with Jesus. After wanting to get his plaque at NMU for a long while, I finally ordered it today. It's really special that my brother went there with me on Mother's Day and I used the money he gave me for Christmas to order Luke's plaque. :) This is a huge step for me. It feels like I'm doing something as his mother. It feels like I'm acknowledging he is and always will be my first child. Lily was my firstborn, but not my first. 

This has been such a huge part of my healing and grieving. If you've had an abortion, seriously look into getting a plaque made here. You can do it completely anonymously. It is a place of healing, closure, and saying, yes this life mattered and this life truly existed...

This is what my plaque will say:

Luke Shiloh
February 6, 2009
Darkness to Light


His name, the day he went to Heaven, and the three perfect words to describe my story and what God has done...
I am so excited to receive my copy of it in the mail! And I am planning a trip out to Chattanooga to place the plaque on the wall myself at the service I'm going to have for Luke Shiloh. I will also be placing the brick paver there in the garden dedicated to miscarried and stillborn babies for my daughter, Lily Katherine. It is so special to have a place to honor and memorialize both my babies at once!