I remember breathing a huge sigh of relief after getting through our first Christmas after Hannah went to Heaven in 2009. I figured that other than the one-year mark which would be that next February, I had at least survived all the really hard “first year” stuff. I had no idea how difficult stepping into the new year without her was going to be. How could I start a new year without Hannah in it? How could I close the calendar on the last year she had been a part of our family? If you have not lost a child, this probably doesn’t make much sense to you … but if you have, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
As time has gone by, there’s still a bittersweetness in starting a new year that Hannah will not be a part of … a year in which fewer and fewer people will remember her, talk about her, or even say her name. It’s part of what my friend Karen Harmening calls “Long Sorrow”. Karen and her husband Scott shared their daughter Sarah’s story in Episode 8 … way back when this podcast first began, and she maintains a wonderful blog titled “Listening to Him”. I’d like to share with you her most recent entry, titled “Long and New Sorrow”. Wherever you find yourself on this journey of child loss, I believe it will be an encouragement to you.
To read "Long and New Sorrow" on Karen's blog, click HERE.
To listen to my interview with Scott and Karen Harmening recorded in September of 2020, click HERE.
All views expressed by guests on this podcast are theirs alone, and may not represent the Statement of Faith and Statement of Beliefs of the While We're Waiting ministry.
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Contact Jill by email at: jill@whilewerewaiting.org
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