Thank you so much, Emma. I’ll write more about our whole experience (I’m working on putting it into the right words), but there’s no denying that God really had his hand on us during those years. Too many things to count, I’m sure, but I know my husband and I did some of our toughest growing during that time. And though it’s nothing I’d ever choose to go through, I can honestly say I wouldn’t change a thing because of that growth, and how our faith was made stronger.

I’m a firm believer that wallowing does no good. There’s nothing wrong with grieving — and grief doesn’t mean I think God let me down — but it’s natural and normal, and part of a bigger process. But to stay in the pit implies that there was nothing redeemable about our years with our son, and that’s simply not true. There were so many joys that I’d be miserable if I never got past the worst of the grief to remember them.