Monday Mourning -- "While We're Waiting" Mom's Day

This past Saturday, my friend Janice and I hosted our first "While We're Waiting" Mom's Day.  This was a special day for moms who are waiting to be reunited with their children in Heaven.  Our desire was to provide these dear ladies with a day of relaxation, pampering, fellowship with other moms who understand, spiritual refreshment, and encouragement to live in a way that honors Christ and honors their child(ren) while they're waiting for that glorious day. 

I can't tell you what a blessing the day was ... not only for the ladies who attended, but for Janice and I! 

The Moms began arriving around 9:30, and we were all a little nervous.  Most of us had never met before, and here we were, coming together to talk about the most painful part of our lives!  But as we stepped out onto the deck and enjoyed the view, we began to relax and get to know each other.  Our original plan for the day had included a pontoon boat ride, but with the temperature predicted to soar into the upper 90's, we scrapped that idea.  It was a good thing, too, because our day ended up being very full, as it was.

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of homemade muffins, cheese and spinach quiche, and chocolate-covered strawberries, and then gathered in the living room to begin sharing our children's stories.

The time seemed to fly by as we cried and laughed together, and before we knew it, it was time for our "high tea".  We feasted on a variety of yummy sandwiches, fruit salad, and had some delicious cake balls for dessert.  And, of course, we had flavored teas and coffees. 

We spent the afternoon discussing various topics that grieving moms deal with on a daily basis, ranging from dealing with the holidays, to how we feel about our child's gravesite, to how our husbands' grief differs from ours.  We acknowledged the fact that none of these are issues we can "fix", but that it's just helpful to discuss them with other Moms who understand our feelings and experiences. 

As we chatted about these issues, each Mom got to slip out to another room and have a private 20-minute massage from Kelly, a therapist with the Mobile Massage Company in Hot Springs.  It was fun to see each Mom come back into the living room like a wet noodle after her massage!

When it was time for dinner, we gathered in the dining room, where some wonderful friends had created a beautiful, welcoming table for us.
 

Then Chef Franklin patiently explained how we were to correctly use the multitude of silverware that appeared at each place setting.  He made learning proper table etiquette fun!  He then served us the most marveous 5-course meal you can imagine.  It felt like we were on the Food Network!  He and his daughter would serve each course, and then he would stand back and explain exactly what we were about to enjoy, just like they do on TV.  What a treat!

 

Our appetizer.  I sure wish I could remember what all Chef Franklin said that all this stuff was.  I do know that this had eggplant, tomato, mozzarella cheese, and radicchio (and some more things), all grilled.

 

Our salad was grilled romaine with a bleu cheese vinaigrette dressing, topped with chopped tomatoes, boiled eggs, and fried wontons.

The intermezzo (to cleanse our palates!) was to die for.  This was a three-berry sorbet (blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry) with fresh blueberries.

The entree was a chicken breast stuffed with spinach and boursin cheese, white-truffle infused potatoes, and fresh asparagus with a carrot ribbon.  It also had some kind of sauce, which I cannot begin to describe.  It was outstanding!

Finally, for dessert, we had a chocolate torte with a caramel filling and chocolate ganache frosting and Moon Pie ice cream, all sprinked with raspberry-infused sugar. 

Is your mouth watering yet?  I kept thinking I wasn't going to eat all of each course, because I wanted to "save room" for dessert.  Well, I cleaned my plate each time, and still managed to eat all of my dessert!

What an amazing day it was.  And not just because of the incredible food and beautiful setting...although that was really nice! 

What made the day so special was the opportunity to get together with a group of  Moms who share a common grief, yet also share an uncommon faith -- the belief that God wants to heal from our losses and be whole again.  Not to forget our pain...we will never forget it...but to grow through it, and to become the women that God intends for us to be while we're waiting to be reunited with our precious children one day. 

We plan to host a "While We're Waiting" Moms Day every few months, and our next one will be September 17, 2011.  We want to keep our gathering relatively small and intimate, so we will be limiting it to six Moms.  If you would like to register, please go to our website and fill out the on-line registration form.  It may fill up quickly, but if it's already full when you register, we will put you on the list for our next WWW Mom's day, which will probably be in January or February. 

For those of you who prayed for us as we planned and held this event, let me say "Thank you!"  The presence of the Lord was evident, and we could definitely feel your prayers lifting up our group!