Ending with Olivia...

I spoke yesterday about God's plan....we all have a part in this plan...kind of like the quilts we are making...we are each a piece that must be sewn together to form the big Design.  When I imagine the quilt that God makes, I am guessing that it takes on a free form...like a crazy quilt.  I am sure you have seen these quilts...with the pieces all thrown together in what seems like a haphazard fashion until the finished product is complete...then it is a beautiful masterpiece!

Well, even though our quilt making will continue for the next few days (we started quilts 11 and 12 today for Rachel and Nancy), we come to the end of our blog tributes for those lost at Sandy Hook.  And I cannot help but think that God had a plan in this also.  If you have been reading along with my blog through these tributes, then you know that I tried to connect the memorial each day with something that was happening in our lives.  I really did not have a plan in choosing...just picked the person that most represented the theme of the day.  So, I had no idea who the last person would be when I started these posts.

A couple of days ago, I looked at the last names on the list and realized that I would be ending with Olivia.  It immediately struck me that God's plan is amazing!  You see...seven years ago I was pregnant with a beautiful blessing...we were all so excited to welcome a new baby into our family...however, God in His great design, decided this little blessing would go home to Him a little earlier than we planned...I had a miscarriage.  I was already in my second trimester at the time...we had names picked out and when this happened we all mourned as if we had already seen the face of this precious child.  In fact, we still remember this baby each September.

Now, if you know our family, we never have found out the gender of our babies in utero...we choose names that are similar and wait for the birth.  The doctors never told me if we had a little son or daughter, but all of our family were convinced we were having a little girl...maybe wishful thinking in a home already filled with little boys (and we added another boy after that!).  Her name was to be Olivia Quinn.  She would have been the same age as the children lost at Sandy Hook.

So, you see ending with Olivia today seemed fitting to me because it is one more connection I can feel with this tragedy.  Olivia was a six-year-old little girl who loved purple and bringing joy to the world. She loved telling jokes and sailing with her dad.  She loved animals and dancing with her younger brother.  According to her obituary: "She loved school, and was very good at math and reading. She was creative, loved craft projects and art class, and loved participating in as many sports from tennis to swimming, ballet to soccer, Daisy Girl Scouts to musical theater, and her church’s CCD [religion] program, nothing was off limits for the little girl.”

Sounds like she would have been a lot like our Olivia had she lived in this world and in our family.  I cannot help but weep at the thought that another Olivia is lost to this world too soon.  God's plan...we do not always understand, but we must accept...there must be some good that comes from this...we must fight back the evil with good in spite of our sorrow.  God can lead us down the right path if we turn to Him.

I add a small tribute here to a man who fought hate in our society...Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."  That love can only come from God...and we are asked to spread that love to others.

As I was re-reading articles this morning about Olivia, I realized that unlike the other victims of Sandy Hook, Olivia was found alive at the scene.  She might have been the last of the victims to die on that morning in December.  A police officer held her in his arms and told her that he loved her...the last words she would hear in this world were the words of compassion from a complete stranger.  The words that God speaks to us in the aftermath of tragedy...whether these events come to us in grand scale or more personal...God loves us!   We must persevere...with this thought...knowing that God loves us is sometimes the only thing that can help us through.  So when you are going through your own tragedy in life...no matter how big or small...hear these words whispered in your ear...going deep into your soul...God loves YOU!!!!