The more I look at her tiny little face, the more grateful I am that I get to kiss it. It just breaks my heart that so many out there won’t be able to kiss their children anymore. I can’t even think of the words to express my feelings, but I know they are shared by many. I’m so grateful that Juniper is too young to know what has happened and that she was still able to have such a fun filled birthday. Last week’s events were still in the back of my mind the whole time, but her smile brings me so much joy.

I am just so very grateful for my knowledge that life is eternal, and that those children are in God’s loving arms. That knowledge gives me so much hope and the strength to keep moving. It’s not the children I mourn for, it’s the parents who will have to wait SO very long before they can see their children again. I don’t think of death as a terrible thing, it’s the living after someone dies that is terrible. I can’t imagine being separated from my children for an entire lifetime. It’s heartbreaking.

For now I will just hug my children and kiss their tiny faces until they squirm away giggling. And then I will chase them down and kiss them some more. I love them so very much. So very very much. And I am so grateful that I get to call them my own for the short time they will be kids.

And thank you to everyone who expressed concern for my family. They live in a different part of CT so no one was directly affected, but I appreciate that you thought of me.