Welcome to Granting Hope!

It is with heavy hearts that we welcome you to our ministry. We exist because we too have lost a child and wish to comfort those who know this pain. You can read our story and learn more about what we do as you navigate through the tabs below.

Please know that you are not alone and that the darkness that you feel right now will ease with time, love, and support. We hope and pray that we can be of some comfort to you in these coming days.

With love and hope,

Jody & Kris

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Life After Loss Project

I have a wonderful friend (Julie) from our college days that I haven't seen in several years. She flew into my area today for a photography workshop that she will be teaching tomorrow. Since she is here this weekend, she thought it would be a great time to photograph me and my family for her "Life after Losses" project that she recently began. Julie began this project for many reasons- one of which is because she has personally experienced the pain of infertility and loss. The most important reason for this project though is so that she can reach out to others who are going through this journey and hopefully be a comfort to them. If you would like to read her story, click Here.

We had a great photography session with Julie today; and over dinner she reminded me that she needs me to write out our story. At this point, I'm wondering how I can condense the story down- we have seriously gone through so much to get to where we are today! How do you sum up 13 years of infertility, loss, and adoption in just a few paragraphs? Well...I guess we will find out soon!

Julie, if you are reading this, I just want to tell you that there are no words to really express how humbled and grateful we are that you want to share our story. We hope along with you, that it will help even just one person who is trying to find their way through this season of grief in their lives.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

I miss SINGING

I'm one of those people who still has their wedding video on VHS tape. :) I no longer own a VHS player, but my parents do. My husband and I took the kids down to my parents house over Thanksgiving and one afternoon I located my wedding video and popped it into their VHS player. My poor son- I made him turn off his 3DS and watch the entire thing!

As we watched, I noticed that several people who attended our wedding are no longer alive. These include my Sunday School teacher from when I was 6, some great aunts and uncles, my grandfather, and my friend Karen who passed away from breast cancer. She played the piano in the wedding. As I pointed out all the different people that my son is never going to get to know, I couldn't help but push the rewind button several times so he could hear his great grandfather's voice. I did the same thing for Karen just so I could hear her laugh again. While I can say that these losses have had a profound impact on my life, they do not hold a candle to the pain that I have felt (and STILL feel) over the loss of my babies. As a Christian, I can keep going because of the hope I have that I will see them all again, but that does not mean that I am some kind of superhero who doesn't feel the pain of grief. I have seen time and time again where people's expectations are so high of those who have suffered loss. Whether they realize it or not, they contribute to the pain that person is feeling and can actually cause that person to heal more slowly than they otherwise would.

 The loss of a child cuts deeper than any other wound. It changes your whole life. There are some good changes, but there are some negative changes too. Sometimes, things that a person normally loved to do before their loss is now something that they cannot do. For me, that thing was music. I sang to my husband on our wedding day. Not live- I recorded myself because I knew that I would be too emotional to sing it during the ceremony. As I listened to this song on the wedding video I almost lost it. I hardly recognized my own voice. BEFORE it all happened, and by "it" I mean infertility and the loss of my babies- I sang all the time. Growing up, I sang in church at least once a month. I wrote and sang some of my own songs. I sang in the campus AND college choir in college. I sang solos, duets- you name it, I did it. But AFTER it all happened, I stopped singing. For awhile, I even stopped talking. Every time I opened my mouth, the lump in there was so large I couldn't swallow it to get any words out. I stopped playing the piano. I stopped everything- everything except living; and if I could have, I would've stopped doing that too.

 Fast forward to the present- after years of support from my family and friends, I am back at the piano. I can get through the songs without crying. And now I want to sing again. I don't have the best voice, but it's decent, and it's something I love to do. Maybe at some point, the opportunity will arise for me to sing again. As for now, I sing in the car. LOUDLY. :) I've unpacked the CDs and I sing with them at the top of my lungs. I sing for the Lord, I sing for my babies, I sing for Karen, and I sing for my grandfather because I know that they wouldn't want me to quit my music forever. After all, even the birds come out to sing after the rain!