My beautiful daughter and her beautiful blue eyes...

I miss my daughter. She had the most beautiful eyes. There's a picture of her where she was looking at me, then she closed them and passed away shortly there after. It is tough to look at, but it helps. It helps me remember her, it helps me think about her. I wouldn't change anything. We have been really busy lately because I am getting transferred, but it's to our home, and it is close to where Reagan is. I have never been a "graveyard person," but I never had someone there that I really cared about. Every time we are able to go see her, we do.

If you are reading our blog and recently found out that your child might have Trisomy 18 or a Trisomy disorder, quite a few doctors gave us "options"....and you know what I'm talking about. One doctor even said that we were doing a very noble thing by keeping her. What does that mean? I think it is unfortunate that doctors would recommend that, but I guess they were "keeping us informed."

No doctor can take away my daughter. No doctor can take her away from me, and her beautiful deep blue eyes. I miss them, I miss her. I love her and I always will. No one can ever take that away from me.

God Bless all of you. Thank you for your continued support. You have no idea how humbling it is to have people you don't even know around the world praying for you.

Dan

More Pictures

We've found that our favorite way to spend time these days is to just stare at pictures of our baby girl. Thought you might want to do the same. These weren't taken by our amazing photographer Molly Grace, but we just found my camera and were excited to see lots of new images of Reagan Joy, taken on Tuesday morning, 2/24.

Dan and I went to see her first thing that morning, and she then got to meet her Aunt Karen and Uncle Landy for the first time.

Reagan's first time meeting her Aunt Karen, who flew in from Denver:
Reagan's first time meeting her Uncle Landy, who flew in from Miami:
Grandma and Grandpa Romig, Aunt "Doe" (Michelle, but all our nieces and nephews have given her the nickname Aunt Doe), Aunt Karen and Mommy, checking out our little sweetheart:
Grampy, Uncle Landy, and Daddy doing the same:
Daddy sharing a sweet, proud smile with his strong little girl:
This is the first time I got to hold my baby. This was Tuesday morning, in the NICU, before we went up to a private room to spend our last moments with her. I love how much she looks like Jackson in these pictures. Just wish I could have even just a few of these sweet moments back.

Dear Reagan

We have had a few people request copies of the letter we read to Reagan at her memorial service on Friday. It is pasted below.

Dear Reagan,

As your mommy and daddy we keep wishing that we could just talk to you more. We feel like there are so many things we want to tell you.

First and foremost, we want to make sure you know how much you are loved. We feel like our hearts almost left our bodies the day you left us…but that’s okay because they are with you. You have our hearts and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We love you so much it hurts sometimes, but as impossible as it seems, Jesus loves you even more than we do, so we trust you to Him.

We want you to know that we are proud of you. We are proud of you for fighting for as long as you did. We are proud of you for crying the minute you came out so we knew you were okay. We’re proud of you for being brave through all the tests, all the machines, and any of the minutes when we couldn’t be right by your side.

Not only are we proud of you, but we’re proud to be your mommy and daddy. We are so glad that God would choose us for you. We wouldn’t want anyone else to do it and we’re proud that you are our daughter. You’ve allowed us to do things that we never thought we could do and we thank you for that. We are stronger because of you.

We also want you to know that you have made a difference. Lives have been changed and your little 3 lb. body impacted many people around the world in the 24 hours and 18 minutes that you were on this earth.

We will never forget you. We won’t forget the color of your skin, the perfect bend in your knee, the wrinkles on your forehead, your dark blue eyes, the shape of your fingers, the curls on your head, your cute little ears, the smell of your hair, the sounds and squeaks that came out of your perfect little mouth, and the way we rejoiced each and every time you opened your eyes to look at us.

Thank you, Reagan Joy, for everything you gave us. We spent the sweetest, most wonderful 24 hours with you and we want to hold onto every second. We always tell Jackson that he’s our favorite little boy, and we want you to know that you’re our favorite little girl. We miss you more and more every day and weep for our loss, but rejoice that you are healed, you are perfect, and you are in Jesus’ presence. We can’t wait to see you again. Thank you for being our daughter. We will forever love and cherish the time we had with you.

Hugs and Kisses,

Mommy and Daddy

Thank You

We plan to update everyone with more detailed posts soon, but in the meantime, we just need to say THANK YOU. For the prayers, for the comments, for the meals, for the cards, for the gifts, for the encouragement, for your presence with us (both in person and in spirit)...we couldn't do this without all of you. We have read all of the comments and wish we could respond to each of you personally, but we just can't quite yet.

Please continue to pray for strength, for healing (both physical and emotional), for peace, and for direction as we try to navigate this new chapter. The tears continue to pour as we miss our little girl. Please also pray that we can focus on the positives, and that we might be able to overlook those things that we may have missed or those things we cannot change.

And to our sweet Reagan Joy,

Happy Birthday baby girl. We so wish we could have celebrated one week instead of just one day with you here, but we try to find comfort knowing you are healed. All day today we've been staring at the clock recalling every minute of what we did with you one week ago today. We wish we could do it all over, just to have more time with you. We love you more than words could ever express.

In lieu of flowers

In lieu of flowers, Mar & Dan are asking that you consider a donation in Reagan's honor to the non-profit organization, String Of Pearls. Please visit their website for more information: stringofpearlsonline.org

Service Arrangements

Services for Reagan Joy will be held at College Church of Wheaton (332 E. Seminary Ave. Wheaton, IL 60187) on Friday, Feb 27th. Visitation will be at 10:00am and the service will begin at 11:00am. The interment will be at the Wheaton Cemetery immediately following the service.

Update Wed. 2:30pm

Just wanted to update that Mar was discharged from the hospital this afternoon. Dan and Mar's family will continue to stay with them for the next several days. 

There is a tentative plan to have Reagan's memorial this Friday, Feb. 27. I will post more when I know the details.