Red Balloons For Ryan

I truly believe that the errand of angels is given to women.

I love being a woman.  We are strong.  

We rally.  We rally when there is something to be celebrated: new life, new relationships, new milestones.

We also rally when someone experiences loss.  And they have.  Jacqui of Baby Boy Bakery and her husband, Dan, tragically lost their little boy this week.  A sweet red-head who only had 3 and half short years on this earth. (You can read the story on Diary of an Addict.)  I whole-heartedly believe that little Ryan is in the arms of God and loved ones until they can be reunited again.

I can't even imagine the heartache they are going through as parents.  I'm not sure anyone can unless they've gone through the same horrendous experience.  And I am left to wonder what we, as women, can do to ease her pain and suffering.  

Prayer, I think is the very best we can do.  Sharing her story through social media so that the prayers of thousands, even millions will help carry this family in their time of sorrow.

If you search the hashtag #RedBalloonsForRyan on instagram you can see all those who are sharing and supporting as well as opportunities to raise money for Jacqui and her family.  Check out the amazing @kellysrq on instagram to find a link in her profile for a way to donate money.

"Last night, I put [him] over my shoulder like a newborn and watched the half-moon out the window while we creaked back and forth in the rhythm that all women know from secrets whispered to their genes at the time of their conception.  I was thinking, I am a female person with freckles scattered across the back of my hands, living under a sky that changes at random, I can only look up.  Everything stops there, with my trusting that the asking is going somewhere." -Elizabeth Berg