Celebrating “Kam-uary”
We just wanted to pop in and let you know how much we have appreciated the love and support of our KamFam going into this month. Mitch has so sweetly nicknamed it “Kamuary” on our kitchen calendar, making us smile every time we see it. 🙂 It also feels appropriate, as this time last year, Kamri was alive and our world was consumed with soaking in every last bit of her we could get our hands on. This year, we remember where we were and what we were doing, which is both a beautiful and painful experience. This month, we are taking day by day as we remember and honor Kamri’s birth, life on Earth, and eventually, the day she went to be with Jesus.
Thank you for helping us walk through the first part of it… Kamri Blaire’s birthday. We know that so many of you were lifting us up that day in prayer and we felt it. So many of you listened to “Country Roads” and shared with us that the song lives in your minds and hearts as “Kamri’s song”. So many of you posted pictures of our sweet girl, with birthday messages in celebration of her big day. So many of you reached out through email, text, FB, etc. and we want you to know that we saw, read, and deeply appreciated each and every message that you shared. So many of you wrote letters to Kamri, allowing us a glimpse into how her life has connected with your own. For all of this… please know that you have given us a gift that we cherish more deeply than we can put into words.
On December 28th, we decided to keep the day simple and to just see where it took us. We slept in, went to our local diner for breakfast (somewhere we had gone many times during Kamri’s pregnancy and had always planned to take her when she was born… what a treat it was to do just that), and just spent the day together. That evening, we went out to dinner and after coming home, got changed into comfy clothes, sat in Kamri’s room with all of her lights on and her blankets wrapped around us and spent some time with our girl.
This is where we read the letters. They were a beautiful treasury of love for sweet Kamri and we laughed, cried, and soaked in every single last word. We loved reading your memories of Kam- where you were and what you were doing the day she was born, how you fought for her during her life, and what it meant to you to honor her at her funeral. We loved reading the little and big things you remember and love about her- her pink bow, her scrunchy face, her toes, her strong grip, her eyes, her personality, her strength, her love for Jesus, and her love for people. We love that you, too, call her your “sweet girl”. That brings tears to our eyes. We love reading about the ways you had planned to celebrate her 1st birthday with her and your sadness that she is not here, as those sentiments echo our own. We love hearing you say that you can’t wait to get to heaven so you can hold her. The thought that so many people are yearning for the day that they can meet their Savior and scoop up little Kamri is so humbling, and such a remarkable measure of the love you have for our daughter. Your excitement to be with her one day reminds us that we are not alone in missing her and wishing she were here. We loved reading story after story of how Kamri has made a mark on your life, your faith, and the lives and faith of your friends and family, both who know us and who we have never met. We have always asked God to use our lives and our family to point people to Jesus and reading and hearing that little Kamri has played a role in that for even one person is a gift we will hold onto tightly on our hardest days.
Overall, KamFam, thank you for loving our daughter in ways we could never have imagined. Your love for her and willingness to express it in all the ways that you have over the last year has brought us an immeasurable amount of peace. You remind us again and again of the hope that we have in Christ that Kamri is more alive now than she has ever been, for there will never be a season of life more beautiful and full and real than eternity spent in the presence of God. As we’ve said to Kam… oh, sweet girl, the birthday parties in heaven must be amazing. How we can’t wait to celebrate there with you some sweet day!
