Christmas Message.......a little early

As a side not to the below post.  Since posting this, I have  found out that Joshua's sources were incorrect and the little boy that was lost in Nova Scotia was not the grandson of the family we stayed with.  Although that gives us relief for the family we know, it is still a heartbreak for the family we don't know and they are still in my thoughts and prayers.

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I haven't posted for a while.  Have some ready to go, just need to add photos.  I am missing a crucial piece of equipment however, the cord for the camera to download my photos!!  So, this isn't what I intended to post.  I usually try to keep my comments upbeat and happy.  Not today, but hopefully I will have a good message. 

Just after dinner tonight, Jim asked me if I remembered the family that we had stayed with in Sydney, Nova Scotia, when we went to pick Joshua up from his mission.  I have a pretty good memory, so of course I did!  Joshua had told Jim today that their grandson had died.  He was 7 and had autism.  Jim had told Joshua not to tell me because I already worry and fret over Samuel, didn't want to add more fuel to that particular fire!  But, it was troubling him.

Click on the link below for the story

James Delorey

I've read similar stories in the newspaper and heard them on the news.  My heart always goes out to families who lose a child.  But this time, even though I didn't know James and his parents, I have met his grandparents and Joshua spent a great deal of time with this family.  The pain and grief of losing a child can be overwhelming, it crushes you.  The fact that little James had autism only makes it more "real" to me.

Such sadness at this time of year, when everything is supposed to be "merry and bright."  I hope that the family can draw comfort from remembering the birth of the Savior.  A little baby that was born into this world to give us all hope, to give us all peace, to show the way back to our Heavenly Father.  Back to our Heavenly Father where we will hold our loved ones and cry tears of happiness instead of tears of sadness.

 Tonight, and in the days to come, I will say an extra prayer for the Delorey family and for all those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.  In a Christmas address, Gordon B. Hinckley said,        

 “all of us stand a little taller at Christmas. All of us feel a little more generous, a little more forgiving. All of us are disposed to be a little more kind. And this is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Those words have been going around in my head.  It is a message we should remember all year.  Sometimes it takes a tragedy to remind us of what is important and what we need to be doing,  Tonight I held my wonderful little boy, who happens to have autism, a little closer.  I gave my 17-year-old daughter a extra hug.  After I finish this, I will go and tell my husband again that I love him. Tomorrow I am going to put a rose on the grave of our little Emma.  Next Thursday I get to give my oldest son a hug after several months of not seeing him. 

I have much to be thankful for this Christmas season.

Sally-Ann