Still her mom....

This week I posted a picture on Facebook of a four year old Amanda:

And the caption was: Oh my.  One of my favorites of her.....how quickly time goes by.  So blessed to have been her mom.....

I was surprised at the number of comments that came back saying "You are still her mom."  How right they are.  That is something I will always cling to.  I will never stop being Amanda's mom.  She will ALWAYS be my daughter.

Over the 17 months that Amanda bravely faced the disease that would eventually take her life, I soaked up every moment I could with her.  I took nothing for granted.  My family has always been the most important thing in my life, but after Amanda's diagnosis, I saw our children in a whole new light.  I realized how precious life is, and how much we take it for granted.

I started to view each day with new eyes.  And those eyes saw how our lives can impact those around us and that we do have the ability to change our world.

I now see that in Brandon.  He sees life through eyes of a soul much older than his years.  He realizes the importance of each day.  And he wants to make a difference.

Even though Amanda is no longer here on earth, her life is still impacting people's lives and is a shining light for Christ.  Her life might have only been a short "almost 11 years", but the impact her life has had on this earth will only be fully known once we are standing before our God.   What a day that will be.

There are some exciting things that have happened recently in memory of Amanda, and as those become public, I look forward to sharing with you how her life continues to touch others.  For now, I would like to share a sweet story of her concern about someone close to her. 

One of her dearest friends had a grandmother that smoked.  Amanda and her friend wrote a letter to her friend's grandmother about the dangers of smoking.  What absolutely takes my breath away is that she closed the letter with a prayer.  They wrote this in second grade....

I remember being mortified that she did this......just certain that this grandmother would be offended.  I now feel ashamed that my response was so quick to scold.  Instead of seeing her love for others and her strong faith, I worried that someone would get their feelings hurt.

After the grandmother read this - she quit smoking.  Completely.  And this letter is now framed and hangs in her house.

Leaves.

Me.

Speechless.

Why do we try to put a limit on what our children can do?  Why do we sometimes question their faith? Why do we not realize that they too can make a LASTING IMPRESSION in this sinful world we live in?  Today was the first time to see that letter.  Each day it seems like in some way there is something new that I learn from my daughter's life. 

And each day, though I am heartbroken, I try to focus on being thankful for the time our family had with Amanda.

I can't wait to see how God continues to use her life to touch others.

So blessed to be her mom.....