Finding Joy in the Mourning - Part 2
My friend Gail flew in from Tennessee to be my plus one for the conference.
Gail's 3rd son (of 6) was born at 33 weeks and passed away about a half hour later.
Ultimately, it was losing her son that brought her to Christ.
We went out for more Indian food.
You can't have too much Indian food.
This time we went to Tandoori Oven.
Then we went to the Provo City Center Temple to do an endowment session.
We both had a hard time staying awake but we powered through.
It was a beautiful night.
I got to meet Lisa Valentine Clark (remember the Chat Book lady?) and she signed her book for me.
I didn't even know she had a book until I saw it at the bookstore.
She experienced years of anticipatory grief as her husband battled ALS for several years. She’s been a widow since the summer of 2020.
Lisa spoke of finding joy too.
She was very real and very funny, but also had us crying sometimes too.
I sat on a panel for how to help children grieve.
Everyone had such good things to say. That man I'm talking to, Hunter, lost his father when he was 14. Today he's a seminary teacher and has been able to help some of his students navigate loss.
One of the presenters talked about Kintsugi.
My cousin Nikki, who lost her 3 year old Tui, teaches Kintsugi classes.
Check out her Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi_brokenandbeautiful/
Gail and I had so much fun together.
So glad she could come!
Carrie Moore, one of the presenters who was also on the panel with me, lost her husband in the plane crash years ago that killed the Coca Cola executives. She was left a widow with three children. Carrie found there were no resources for her children so she founded The Bradley Center for grieving children and families here in Utah.
One of the men on the flight with her husband had sunflower seeds in his pocket.
The horrible crash site that left the area burned turned into this a few years later.
This September I'm going to go see it.
We ended the conference with a dinner and Jon and Michelle Schmidt (the Piano Guys guy). They lost their daughter in a hiking accident. They shared a beautiful message and beautiful music. Such a great ending to a wonderful conference. So grateful to be a part of it.
I recorded a similar version of my BYU Life After Loss presentation which includes a study journal if you'd like to watch, download the study journal, or forward it to someone who is working through a loss.
The principles I teach can apply to any disappointment you may be struggling with.
Not only do we grieve the loss of the people we love, we grieve different aspects of our lives not turning out the way we thought they would.
Just click the link below to access the recording.
