Olivia's 5th Birthday UpDATE!

It's been a few days since we celebrated Olivia's 5th birthday. We are grateful for the support and love we have received after the event both locally and those far away. We were able to stream live via Facebook to my (Toni's) family at home in Canada and in the Philippines. We are so glad for the technology today to connect us across the world. Thank you to our family both near and far for joining us on Olivia's special day. 

For those who were not able to attend or tune in, we started the evening by doing two things. We first honored babies gone too soon by writing there names on small paper hearts embedded with flower seeds. These will be spread in a very special location where the paper hearts will biodegrade and flowers will start to bloom. Together, we have over 1000 babies names remembered. It was great to give our family and friends the opportunity to experience the significance in writing their names. These babies lived. These babies were real. These babies are loved. And they will be remembered. Their lives are not forgotten, and their lives continue to foster love in the hearts of their families that miss them. We look forward to sharing with you in the spring, the release of these hearts. 

We then created comfort kits for families experiencing loss.  These kits will be donated to High Risk Maternity at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. We are pleased to partner with Sutter Medical Center as most of the staff that were present with us during Olivia's delivery and NICU stay are now at this location. The hospital where Olivia was born has since closed and this new hospital was built. We are excited to give back to Sutter as all of the staff involved with Olivia's care are very dear to us. We know that High Risk Maternity needs more resources to support families who've lost a baby. We are excited to be able to give back to them in this way. We were able to create 16 comfort kits. Each kit contains a book called Navigating the Unknown: An Immediate Guide When Experiencing the Loss of Your Baby by Amie Lands. We've also included a journal and pen, homemade aromatherapy candle, tissues, tea and a personalized card from the families that put them together. We also raised some extra money which will go towards purchasing a couple of more books to help siblings cope with the loss of their sibling. We can't wait to be able to hand deliver these kits and resources. We will update you and post some pics of that day once we finalize a delivery day. 

We were then able to share in more detail about Olivia's story and about how God is moving in our lives to make a difference in the loss community. We feel led to help others who are grieving. We believe that God has called us to walk alongside and love those in their deepest valley. To provide a listening ear, to provide a presence of comfort. To love and hold the sacred space that is unique to each griever.  

Over the last year we have come upon opportunities for us to become educated and equipped to do just that. Geoff and I have both become certified Grief Recovery Specialists. Geoff completed his training in December of 2017 and I completed my training in March of 2018. Also this year, I completed my training to become a certified birth and bereavement doula through Still Birthday. This was training to provide support to expectant mothers and fathers prior to, during and after delivery. Supporting birth in any trimester and in any circumstance. I took this training because it had a heavy emphasis on how to support families in the event the baby dies or is anticipated to not survive at anytime including in the first trimester through to full term. To support them and provide options during the entire process of birth and after. Our desire is to offer support to families with no charge to them and to share with couples the Grief Recovery Method for little to no cost.

We haven chosen to call our organization, Our Little Sparrows. Sparrows is significant and meaningful to us as when I was pregnant with Olivia, I was reminded again of how God takes care of the sparrows. How much more would he take care of our Olivia. We've since had two more miscarriages and also call them our sparrows. It was even more to our amazement when a few years ago, on Olivia's first birthday, we found out that our last name, "Brabec" is Czech for sparrow. So through Our Little Sparrows, we will offer free doula services and Grief Recovery for families experiencing or anticipating loss. 

We were able to share our vision and mission with our family and friends. A big thanks to Uncle Mark Hull for helping guide our story.

We are so thankful for everyone who was able to attend. We received so much encouragement and support. We are so grateful to have received some donations already. We received a total of $1175 towards our organization. $200 of that will go towards supplying Sutter Medical Center with two more books to help support grieving families. The remaining funds will go towards our start up costs- applying for 501(c)3 status, new printer and office supplies. $50 will be used towards the comfort kits and supplies. We also received an additional $200 donation towards the Nievares Family Ministries in the Philippines. On behalf of my family, we are so thankful. This donation will go towards the Olivia Hope scholars at the Sublangon Christian Faith Development Center. 

For those who would like to partner with us and donate towards our organization, you may donate online here to our fundraising page at GiveInKind.com. 

To see full video and photos of Olivia's birthday event, please go to our website here and you can view it there. 

In the next days to come, Geoff and I are continuing to work towards establishing 501(C)3 status as well as working to strengthen our existing relationships and establish new ones to better support families. Our next event is on October 20th with the NICU Family Alliance Symposium in which Geoff and I are guests on the discussion panel. We will be discussing bereavement as NICU parents and also the effects on mental health and PTSD after a traumatic delivery. Please pray for us as we share our story and help bring awareness to the effects and trauma of infant loss.