Honoring the Holy Sepulchre Angel Babies

**Unbelievable Massive Update 5/17** It's been about a month exactly since the last update. But I promise you this will be worth the wait. A little over a week ago I was finally able to connect with the community engagement person at Holy Sepulchre. I asked her my list of questions to prepare for our event. I was worried about how long the items and flowers would be out and if I could come back and get non-perishable times to reuse, extend our reach, and keep it out of a landfill.

Well, to my surprise, she doubled down. Literally! She informed me that that cemetery is going to match our donations! In addition, she offered us a much more permanent option to honor Emily and all the babies. They are going to plant a tribute garden in that area of the cemetery and we are going to have a memorial bench for families to use when they come to visit their loved ones. Needless to say, when she gave me this information, I was a blubbering mess! I was worried at first that all of our donors might not love that we changed our plans, but then I thought about the lasting impact this would have. It's not just flowers one time, it's flowers forever.

I waited until now to post the update because it just seemed too good to be true. But yesterday, we met at the cemetery and started all the planning. We have the location for the garden and the bench. There is a beautiful statue of Jesus with children that overlooks the entire infant area. The garden will surround that statue and the bench will be right in front.

We have narrowed down the bench color and working on the design and engraving now. Something of this caliber is going to take much longer than my original flower and teddy bear idea but I believe it is worth it! There is an infant loss walk at Holy Sepulchre in mid-October every year. The cemetery's goal is to have everything complete before then.

We will certainly keep everyone posted. There will be a dedication ceremony where my parents will cut the ribbon. We are thinking that will be in September.

Here is the statue, the garden will surround it and the bench will be in front.

Thank you again to everyone for your support! This is amazing and we couldn't have done it without you!

**Big Update 4/16** First off, thank you to everyone that has contributed to our fundraiser. It is truly heartwarming and overwhelming to see your love and support. We nearly hit our original limit within 24 hours. We have some news. On Saturday, my mom went and counted headstones in the area surrounding Emily. Surprise, there are actually 500! With that said, we have to make some pretty large adjustments to our goals. We are raising the goal to $5,000 with the plan of $10 per headstone/marker. Also, because this new ask is quite the increase, we are looking at ways to lower the cost per. I'll be brainstorming with Haley at Southfield Flowers tomorrow.

**Original Post 4/13** On April 11th, I shared the story of my angel baby sister, Emily. She was born in 1983 with multiple congenital heart defects. She was only with us for a little over a year and fought her best, enduring several procedures including open heart surgery. Though our time was short, she left a lasting impression on so many of us. She watches over our family every day, she is our guardian angel. I was quite young when we lost her and so much of our time together is a memory locked in from my parents’ retelling of the stories. As I get older it seems to be more difficult, especially when becoming a mother myself. I’m happy her story is still being told to my kids and my nieces and nephew.

Emily is buried in the infant area of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, MI. As a family, we visit her at least for her on her birthday which is always close to Easter. This past Sunday, the five of us went to give her our love and some flowers. While we were there, it was very noticeable that one side of the infant area is much more decorated and filled with flowers. So much so that the kids mentioned it out loud. They asked why and I explained that the side Emily is on has babies that died 40+ years ago and some of their parents may have moved or passed away themselves. The feeling weighed heavy as we left and stayed with me for a few days. I felt like I needed to do something.

After talking with my mom, the cemetery, and the adorable little flower shop across the street I have a plan. I do not have the exact number of plots in the infant area but until I can go back and count we are thinking between 100-150. My goal is to raise approximately $10 for each. Southfield Flower Shop is coordinating with us so we can get a teddy bear and colorful flowers for each gravesite. Then, we will go as a family, clean up all the headstones, and place the teddy bears and flowers.

I wanted to honor Emily for her 40th birthday and this is how I'm hoping to do it. If you would like to give a donation that would be wonderful! No matter the amount, every dollar counts. If now is not good for you, no worries! You can always leave a kind message and/or share this post and spread the word.

Thank you in advance!

***I intend to use these funds only for this purpose. If the funds go over the amount needed, we will utilize them appropriately. Depending on the amount, we can add more flowers or even explore the idea of getting a bench for visitors to use while visiting their loved ones.

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, MI has two infant sections. The first section of angel babies dates back to 1928 and is full. Emily is in the second area with angel babies from 1968 to the present. The cemetery does not charge for infant plots which is a lovely gesture. Plots in the infant sections are smaller and can only have a flat headstone. When you look at the pictures below it will appear as if it is just a grassy area, but there are hundreds of stones. While it is very sad, it is also heartwarming that all of the babies are together. There is also a beautiful statue of Jesus with children in the area.

Emily is in this area, this is where are focusing our efforts. It isn't easy to tell but there are approximately 500 headstones and markers on the left side of area 71.

The area next to Emily has many more visitors. We believe this is because these babies gained their wings more recently.

Sisters :) - Emily and I

Dad & Emily Mom & Emily

My family was featured both in the newspaper and on WDIV. Our insurance would not cover the cost for Emily to live at home, so my parents fought until she could.

Emily playing

Emily's smile

It was rare for Emily not to be on machines, so this picture is special. Plus it's the perfect capture of her giant brown eyes and her very fluffy hair.