It feels like this week has been back to back heartbreaking stories. I’d been on the fence about whether I wanted to say anything on my blog because I felt like everyone was talking about it, but it hit me this morning while I was praying that I needed to address it. These things need to be talked about, word needs to be spread because people need to be aware of what’s going on around them.
This week my Instagram feed was flooded with pictures of this little angel who’s gone home to be with our savior.
He was struck by a truck while retrieving his toy last Friday and I can’t begin to imagine what his loved ones are feeling. His mother Jacqui blogs over at Baby Boy Bakery and though I’d never followed her blog or social media accounts I felt the need to reach out and offer my condolences online and continue to pray for strength, peace and understanding during this time. Its amazing how big this online community is, I checked the hashtag ‘RedBallonsForRyan’ yesterday and there were over 10,000 mentions. That’s amazing! If you want to support the cause financially Erin over at Living in Yellow has great links to help with that.
Another story this week that really touched my was the one that took the longest for people to find out about. I cannot believe…wait, actually I can…that it took 2 weeks for people to start talking about the 234 little girls who were kidnapped and threatened to be sold as child brides in Nigeria. When I read about this earlier this week I thought it was something that happened over the weekend, not an incident that took place back in April and that officials have been denying because they’re so used to hearing things like that from terrorist group Boko Haram. I’m disgusted. I know that on Monday the US offered Nigeria “counter terrorism assistance” and that the UK followed suit with intelligence but these girls have been missing since April 15th! I don’t know if there’s much else I can do besides pray for them and raise awareness like the everyone else, so I encourage you guys to do the same. #BringBackOurGirls
Mother’s day is on Sunday and this will be the 11th Mother’s day without my mother.
This is always a bittersweet time of the year for me. My mother is no longer living on this earth, but I know that she’s in heaven looking down and smiling on me and continuing to show me her love. I’ll definitely go visit her grave site and drop off some flowers this weekend before I go celebrate the holiday with the most amazing step-mom ever and with my cousins in the park.
This will be the first Mother’s day without their mother (my aunt) so I’ll be praying for peace for them and I’m asking you guys to do the same.
