Little Leo

I've started this post over and over and it's one of the main reasons I just haven't been able to blog lately. This past week and a half have been so hard. When one of my childhood best friends, Kristi, lost her sweet little Leo to an accident at his in home daycare, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to be there for her and her husband, Leo in any way I could. Although I've been through a lot of tragic loss, this has been so different. It's been greiving with and for a friend's loss at a whole new level. What a blessing it was to see them the following day at her mom's house. Kate and I went to her and just sobbed and held each other. There were no words that could've taken away their pain but we were able to just BE there. The time Kate, Kristi and I had alone together will be something I will NEVER forget. It was so surreal to see us as grown women all sitting on the couch comforting and experiencing such heart wrenching loss and then remembering us as inseparable little girls so long ago. God has truly blessed us with a connection like no other.

The few days that week were a blur with the small service, the fellowships and the funeral of hundreds. The tears and sadness. But through all this tragedy, it was TRULY amazing to see God's strength just pour into Kristi and Leo. The way they spoke at the funeral was nothing short of a miracle. I sat there just in awe. They continued to always point to Christ and I will never forget them saying that "this will not break us but make us stronger" and "the day little Leo was born redefined us and the day he passed redefined us again" - simply amazing testimony and they all three have touched SO many people's lives through the past two weeks.

Personally, I've had a really tough time. Although I hadn't spent a ton of time with little Leo, Kristi spoke of him constantly. The last time we had them over was back in late June. It was such a memorable day - Kristi asked me if I'd be little Leo's Godmother. I was shocked and SO honored that she asked me to be a prayer warrior for him and them as parents and be a spiritual mentor for him. I hadn't seen him since that day although I had been praying for him a lot. It's really weird how I immediately felt this connection with him. One of the first things Big Leo said when I saw them was "And you were his Godmother. You still ARE his Godmother." It was so sweet of him to say that and meant so much.

I really couldn't blog about "life" until I wrote about everything. Please continue to pray for the Seitz and Oberpriller families. If you are wanting to help out with a donation, the info is on the picture above (click it to enlarge). The pics below are of the first time Claire met Leo. As you can tell, she was in love!

I didn't get any pictures the last time they came to visit us and so sad I didn't but Claire and Eden were just as smitten. He was just learning to really get around and after he left she said "I know what we can name our baby brother! Leo!"