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Welcome to our 4 Part Holiday Series – a discussion about finding hope when the holidays hurt and our first ever virtual book club. Kristin Hernandez, author of Hope When the Holidays Hurt, is joining me for this series and our book club discussions. Whether you ordered the Advent Journal (you can order here) and started this morning or you just ordered and it hasn't arrived yet or you don't plan to order one – I wanted to remind you that you are still more than welcome to follow along with us here on the podcast. The episodes will still be applicable and beneficial.
In Part 1 Kristin shares why she wrote this journal, her hope for you as you follow along with us here and in your daily life at home this month. Kristin also explains what Advent is and why we celebrate it and of course, she shares hope for this first week of Advent. If you are following along in the book (the Advent Journal) we will be taking a deeper look at Days 5 & 6.) Kristin shares thoughts about the promises of the coming of Jesus in the Old Testament and what that means for us today, as women who are grieving and looking for hope.
And we finish up our time together with Kristin sharing her tangible, very practical advice for a grieving mom who is navigating the holiday season by answering the question: "what do I wish I had known that first Christmas." Her answer is so incredibly helpful and applicable to all grieving mothers, no matter if this is your first christmas without your child or your 14th like me.
Throughout this series and season of Advent, Kristin and I will be discussing an entry from that week of journal entries here on the podcast as well as our free online community. If you haven't already joined us in our free community, this is a great time to do so. Don't navigate the holidays alone, come join us and find women who understand, women who get it and can offer a listening ear, understanding and wisdom. Our free online community is not on social media so as to provide a truly safe place for grieving moms. To join us click here. We will be sharing insights from our daily readings from the journal as well as honest thoughts and conversation about navigating the holidays as a grieving mom.
WE LOVE LAURELBOX: GIFTS FOR GRIEVING HEARTS
This episode is sponsored by Laurelbox. We love Laurelbox for the beautiful and tangible ways they help us as grieving moms to honor and celebrate our babies this holiday season. Laurelbox has the most beautiful personalized candles and ornaments– the perfect addition to your holiday season. It's simple while being intentional, thoughtful and as I said, beautiful. Check out our favorites by heading to themorning.com/laurelbox.
FREE HOLIDAY RESOURCES: www.themorning.com/holidays
> www.themorning.com/holidays
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us: themorning.com/community
FREE GRIEF GUIDE
Our best and most helpful resources for navigating grief and life after loss all in one place. Plus a list of our favorite books for children about grief and loss. Download Here.
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend: themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTSIf you love The Joyful Mourning Podcast, please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps moms who are grieving to find us a little easier and get that support they need. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know how this episode helped you.
SHOW NOTESwww.themorning.com/blog/episode185
To my grieving friends on this Thanksgiving Day.
I wish I could pull up a chair beside you and sit with you in person. To give you a look of understanding when someone you love says a hurtful thing or squeeze your hand under the table to remind you that you aren't alone. Or cover for you when you need to hide away for a bit. To tangibly remind you that you're not alone.
Even if I can't be there with you in person, I want you to know that you are loved today and not alone. I thought you might need to hear from someone who understands first hand how hard today really is, so I wrote you a short letter and wanted to read it to you.
today is hard. And that's ok.
I know how seemingly impossible it feels to be thankful and how the idea of celebrating feels like a contradiction and how maybe the only emotion you are experiencing is rage.
And I know how all of that makes you feel guilty and full of shame.
This is me, a mama who has been there, telling you it is hard. Holidays are hard. And feeling grateful when your heart is broken and your arms are empty -- when a life is missing -- is really, really hard.
WE LOVE LAURELBOX: GIFTS FOR GRIEVING HEARTS
This episode is sponsored by Laurelbox. We love Laurelbox for the beautiful and tangible ways they help us as grieving moms to honor and celebrate our babies this holiday season. Laurelbox has the most beautiful personalized candles and ornaments– the perfect addition to your holiday season. It's simple while being intentional, thoughtful and as I said, beautiful. Check out our favorites by heading to themorning.com/laurelbox.
FREE NAVIGATING THE HOLIDAY RESOURCES: www.themorning.com/holidays
> www.themorning.com/holidays
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us: themorning.com/community
FREE GRIEF GUIDE
Our best and most helpful resources for navigating grief and life after loss all in one place. Plus a list of our favorite books for children about grief and loss. Download Here.
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend: themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTSIf you love The Joyful Mourning Podcast, please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps moms who are grieving to find us a little easier and get that support they need. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know how this episode helped you.
A very helpful and hopeful resource for navigating life after loss is a book called, When Your Family's Lost a Loved One by David & Nancy Guthrie. In today's episode I am going to share with you my favorite takeaways, practical and helpful wisdom, from the chapter in this book about how to navigate the holidays. Along the way we are going to hear from women in our own community sharing their favorite ways to honor their babies during the holidays as well as what they wish others understood about what it means to be a grieving mom during the holidays. This episode will offer freedom and hope and practical help as you enter the holiday season.
Thank you to the guest contributors for this episode:
WE LOVE LAURELBOX: GIFTS FOR GRIEVING HEARTS
This episode is sponsored by Laurelbox. We love Laurelbox for the beautiful and tangible ways they help us as grieving moms to honor and celebrate our babies this holiday season. Laurelbox has the most beautiful personalized candles and ornaments– the perfect addition to your holiday season. It's simple while being intentional, thoughtful and as I said, beautiful. Check out our favorites by heading to themorning.com/laurelbox.
FREE NAVIGATING THE HOLIDAY RESOURCES: www.themorning.com/holidays
> www.themorning.com/holidays
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us: themorning.com/community
FREE GRIEF GUIDE
Our best and most helpful resources for navigating grief and life after loss all in one place. Plus a list of our favorite books for children about grief and loss. Download Here.
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend: themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTSIf you love The Joyful Mourning Podcast, please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps moms who are grieving to find us a little easier and get that support they need. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know how this episode helped you.
SHOW NOTESwww.themorning.com/blog/episode184
Listen into a special episode where you will hear from 7 different women answering the same question, what wisdom, encouragement, hope or advice would you give to a grieving mom as she navigates the holiday season. The clips shared here are all from previous episodes but their words still ring true and resonate deeply today. I've linked the full episodes for each of these interviews below in the order that you will hear them in this episode. So, if you want more from each of these past guests just click on those links to listen into the full episode on navigating the holidays .
FREE NAVIGATING THE HOLIDAY RESOURCES: www.themorning.com/holidays
> www.themorning.com/holidays
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us: themorning.com/community
FREE GRIEF GUIDE
Our best and most helpful resources for navigating grief and life after loss all in one place. Plus a list of our favorite books for children about grief and loss. Download Here.
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend: themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTSIf you love The Joyful Mourning Podcast, please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps moms who are grieving to find us a little easier and get that support they need. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know how this episode helped you.
SHOW NOTESwww.themorning.com/blog/episode183
Listen in as I chat with Megan O'Neill, a mama to a baby in heaven. Megan experienced a 2nd trimester loss and shares with me the story of her baby and her journey of grief, life after loss and what it has looked like for her to find healing. Megan shares honestly about the unique challenge she experienced being an unmarried christian woman at the time of her pregnancy, how difficult that was to navigate, the shame and the guilt and how that was made even more difficult when she lost her baby at 14 weeks. She shares what she has learned from that experience, how she navigated those challenges and what wisdom and encouragement she would give to an unmarried single grieving mother who might be listening today. If that is you, I hope you know, like all of our grieving mothers, you are loved, friend and you are not alone.
Throughout our conversation Megan shares candidly about what it has looked like for her to mother her baby while her arms are empty. No matter your story, these words from Megan will encourage you, she said this:
I learned that it's most important for me to honor, love, and to celebrate my baby for myself. So, I find every opportunity to honor and love him on special days and milestones, anniversaries and holidays, and on those special days not expecting other people to do it for me. I learned that I have the choice to make it special and even if it's just in the confines of my own little space, I know that it's special."
QUESTIONS WE DISCUSS IN NO. 182
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us: themorning.com/community
FREE GRIEF GUIDE
Our best and most helpful resources for navigating grief and life after loss all in one place. Plus a list of our favorite books for children about grief and loss. Download Here.
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend: themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTSIf you love The Joyful Mourning Podcast, please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps moms who are grieving to find us a little easier and get that support they need. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know how this episode helped you.
SHOW NOTESwww.themorning.com/blog/episode182
This week on the podcast I am interviewing Emily Stinemetz and Tate Drew – sisters who have both experienced baby loss. Emily experienced a first trimester loss followed by a season of unexplained infertility and Tate experienced a third trimester loss at 34 weeks.
This conversation is really beautiful and tender as you hear their obvious love, empathy and compassion for one another even as their losses were very different and their motherhood journeys very different. They share openly about how they grieved differently and what it was like to walk with one another through their different seasons of grief and what it was like to be pregnant at the same time, for one to experience loss and then to navigate loving a sister and a baby niece while grieving. About this and navigating their relationship amidst different seasons of each of them grieving while one may be rejoicing, one sister said this:
"We can carry this joy and sorrow together, and we're going to do that as a family. So that's what we did."
Both women share what they wish others understood about their specific type of loss and give helpful and hopeful wisdom to any woman who is grieving, no matter what type of loss she may have experienced. We talk about comparison in our grief and in our stories. We talk about how to find healing and ways to love a grieving a mom.
No matter your story or what brought you here, this conversation is honest and helpful and hopeful – it will encourage you to do the grief work that leads to healing and will remind you that your loss mattered.
QUESTIONS WE DISCUSS IN NO. 181
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us: themorning.com/community
FREE GRIEF GUIDE
Our best and most helpful resources for navigating grief and life after loss all in one place. Plus a list of our favorite books for children about grief and loss. Download Here.
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend: themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
SHOW NOTESwww.themorning.com/blog/episode181
RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTSIf you love The Joyful Mourning Podcast, please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps moms who are grieving to find us a little easier and get that support they need. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know how this episode helped you.
This week on the podcast I am interviewing Nikesha Dillon. A mama to 3 precious sons in heaven. Listen in as she shares her story of motherhood – her sons Liam & Legend, identical twins who passed from twin-to-twin transfusion at 20 weeks' gestation, and Louie, born at 24wks and 5 days as a result of cervical incompetence. Louie lived, fought and brought so much joy and laughter for 13 days in the NICU before passing from complications associated with prematurity.
Nickesha shares with us what it means to be a mother with empty arms, how she celebrates, honors and remembers her sons, the challenges she faced in her journey and how she navigated those challenges. She shares how she found healing and how she educated herself and advocated for herself and her future children regarding her cervical incompetence – if you are navigating any kind of medical concern in your journey, her wisdom on this is really helpful. Nickesha also shares what it has been like to lovingly help others understand that she IS a mother.
No matter what your story of loss is – Nickesha's story, and the hope and joy she brings in this episode, is sure to bring your joy and hope to you today.
QUESTIONS WE DISCUSS IN NO. 180
FOR YOUR SPECIAL DAYS (BIRTHDAYS, DUE DATES, ANNIVERSARIES & MORE)
"We honor their memories. We celebrate the milestones." -Nickesha
If you have ever wondered:
Then you're going to love our brand new Birthday Journal, Special Days Journal and Milestones Workshop! Click here to get a peek at our new journals – created specifically for birthdays, due dates, anniversaries when you have a baby in heaven.
The Milestones Workshop – honest, encouraging, and practical content for you as you face birthdays, due dates, anniversaries of death, diagnosis days, or any milestone that is meaningful to you in an easy to digest audio recording.
Check out both of those brand new resources to help your special days feel a little less heavy: themorning.com/specialdays.
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us: themorning.com/community
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend: themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
You're listening to a special bonus episode, an excerpt from our newly released Navigating Milestones Grief Workshop. Listen in to hear a few quick thoughts about one of the reasons that navigating milestones are so challenging and difficult – because we don't know what to do and how to do it – specifically i'm talking about how to navigate those bittersweet days like birthdays, due dates, anniversaries, a diagnosis day or any day that is significant to you in your motherhood journey. If you have ever wondered:
Then you're going to love this excerpt as well as the full Navigating Milestones Grief Workshop our brand new Birthday Journal, Special Days Journal and Milestones Workshop – honest, encouraging, and practical content to equip you to face any milestone that is meaningful to you.
To hear more helpful and practical wisdom as you anticipate your own milestones and how to make a plan for those milestones, grab the full workshop: www.themorning.com/milestones-workshop
This week on the podcast I am interviewing Tori Underwood. A mama to a precious daughter in heaven. Listen in as she shares her story of losing her daughter at 30 weeks with no real answers as to why – I know many of you will be able to relate to her story of being an invisible mother.
We discuss what it was like for Tori to pursue answers and solutions from her medical team to hopefully prevent a similar loss in the future, specifically as it related to her having a uterine septum. Tori shares with me the challenges she faced in taking care of herself after her daughter died, feeling like her body had failed her and made even the simplest things like eating feel impossible. She shares how she navigated that challenge and gives practical advice for anyone who may be facing a similar challenge.
We talk about how she has found healing, the role that therapy and specifically emdr therapy has had in that healing process and why it was important to her to finish her daughter's nursery even though she would never use it. Tori shares with me what it looks like to mother her daughter in heaven, the practical, simple and beautiful ways she honors and remembers her today.
No matter what your story of loss is – Tori's story, how she has found healing and the wisdom she has gained in this season will remind you that you are not alone.
QUESTIONS WE DISCUSS IN NO. 179
FREE GIFT | THE BIRTHDAY PROJECT Every October in honor of my son's birthday and Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness month I gift grieving moms with a tangible reminder that they are loved, their baby(s) are loved and that they not forgotten. To learn more about this special project and to send yourself or someone you love an AadenSage Birthday Project Art Print just for the cost of shipping, head to themorning.com/birthdayproject
Check out our meaningful and beautiful collection of art prints by heading to themorning.com/shop.
FREE ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITYA place away from social media where you can find support and care from women who are just like you. Women navigating the day to day ups and downs of grief. A place where you can feel not alone in this. Come join us by heading to themorning.com/community
FREE LIVE EVENT | OCTOBER 16 AT 8PM EST.Join us for a free live event: a Night of Remembrance. A night to honor your baby(s). You can find the details and registration information for this event at themorning.com/remembrancenight.
FREE GUIDE: IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend, head to themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
Listen into the third and final bonus episode in our Conversations with a Grieving Mom series. If you have been tuning in this week to the first two bonus episodes you know that October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness month and this week I have shared 3 short mini bonus episodes to help us kick off this month.
These short episodes highlight specific topics surrounding pregnancy and infant loss in order to give you a voice, to acknowledge your loss and to help others who have not experienced this kind of loss understand a little better what it is to be a baby loss mom. Over on the blog we have been and will continue doing the same, with a series called "What I wish You Knew" featuring responses from real women who have experienced different types of loss. If you are a grieving mom, both of these resources are meant to remind you that you that you are not alone. And if you love a grieving mom this bonus series on the podcast as well as the blog series is going to be incredibly helpful at giving you a greater understanding about how to love your grieving friend.
In this third episode of the series I am sharing a non-comprehensive list of the things a grieving mom may be thinking about at any given moment. I say non-comprehensive because the things we think about as grieving moms are often complex and can be difficult to put into words. I am sharing this somewhat seemingly random list of thoughts to do two things, 1) to help a grieving mom hear me say -- you are not alone in the way you are thinking about this nor are you crazy. The way you are seeing this and thinking about this is completely normal and to be expected. And 2) to help someone who has not experienced the loss of a baby better understand what is happening inside the head and heart of a grieving mom -- to have compassion and empathy when you might not understand how she is responding or better yet to have compassion and empathy when you judge her response as not appropriate.
Again, if you are a grieving mom I hope this reminds you that you aren't alone. And if you are here because you love a grieving mom, I hope this helps you understand us a bit better.
FREE GIFT | THE BIRTHDAY PROJECTEvery October in honor of my son's birthday and Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness month I gift grieving moms with a tangible reminder that they are loved, their baby(s) are loved and that they not forgotten. To learn more about this special project and to send yourself or someone you love an AadenSage Birthday Project Art Print just for the cost of shipping, head to themorning.com/birthdayproject
RESOURCES FOR PREGNANCY & INFANT LOSS AWARENESS MONTH,how we are raising awareness and honoring your baby(s) head to www.themorning.com/awarenesss
JOIN US FOR A FREE LIVE EVENTLast thing, if you are a grieving mom I want to invite you to join us for a free live event – a Night of Remembrance – a night to honor your baby(s). You can find the details and registration information for this event at themorning.com/remembrancenight.
IF YOU LOVE A GRIEVING MOMAnd if you love a grieving mom, we have something for you too, a free guide with simple tips for how to love a grieving friend, head to themorning.com/friendsandfamily.
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