Mary

I'm thinking about you today, little Mary Anne. I really think about you often. So tiny, so sweet. Though I never held you in my arms,

I will always hold you in my heart.

I wonder what life would be like for your mom, dad, brothers, & sisters with you here instead of in Heaven. I wonder if you & Andrew would have been good cousin buddies, sharing all the same milestones or competing to beat each other to each one. You would have been 7 this month. Would you have the same jack o'lantern mouth as he does? Would you be eating up every book you could find? Would you think 1st grade is the best one yet?

We'll never know, & yet somehow I can guess that you would have sat down to play pretty pink princess ponies with the girl cousins right before taking down the boys in a Star Wars NERF gun battle. You would have snuck just one more reindeer cookie while no one was looking. You would have smiled & laughed & tickled your baby brothers & sisters for hours on end.
In just that precious tiny piece of a day

while you were visible to us, you have changed us all. And though we are sad you are gone, we know that God has done marvelous things for our family. I am comforted to know you are up there praying for each one of us. I can't wait to meet you someday in Heaven.

St. Mary Anne, pray for us!