All My Heart: Little Star PDF

All My Heart began when I volunteered to make items for memory boxes and tiny clothing for the labor and delivery unit of our local hospital. Having so recently been the recipient of the thoughtful care of other bereaved parents and nurses through the memory box and and beautiful tiny clothing that were provided to us when out youngest daughter was born and died, I knew how important it was for these babies lives to be honored and for their families to have hallmarks of their child's birth.

Little Star is a seven page high quality PDF that can be used by individuals, or by hospitals, birthing centers, bereavement committees or support groups. The format is 8.5x11, and includes one full sheet Certificate of Life, one clip art sheet that can be printed on sticker paper or cut out for collage/scrap booking, half sheet footprint cards, four different half sheet poems, and one half sheet and one full sheet coordinating blanks, for scrap booking, poems or creating your own special documents. Once the PDF is purchased it can be reproduced and shared infinitely. The cost is four dollars and will go towards purchasing materials for the preemie gowns I make for St. Peter's Hospital labor and delivery unit in Albany, NY.

At the time of purchase please include your preferred e-mail in the messages section, or simply convo me your e-mail, and I will send you the link to download the Little Star files. You can purchase your Little Star PDF here.

Certificate of Life

...in yellow/green....

...and pink

I recently designed Certificates of Life without length/weight/date/time headings in case this information is not known or not available, allowing for more flexibility. The quote at the bottom comes from one of my favorite poems by Rumi :

 

You are gone from sight,

not from inside my love.

You are always there.

I travel about the world

hoping at the end that you will show me

my wandering way home.

-Rumi

Certificate of Life without length/weight headings in green/yellow...

...pink...

...and blue.

Footprint Cards

Half Sheet Poems

Clip Art Sheet

Whole and Half Sheet Coordinating Blanks

Thank you for looking, and I wish you peace.

Jen

All My Heart PDFs

clip art page

 All My Heart began when I volunteered to make items for memory boxes and tiny clothing for the labor and delivery unit of our local hospital. Having so recently been the recipient of the thoughtful care of other bereaved parents and nurses through the memory box and and beautiful tiny clothing that were provided to us when out youngest daughter was born and died, I knew how important it was for these babies lives to be honored and for their families to have hallmarks of their child's birth.



All My Heart is an eleven page high quality PDF that can be used by individuals, or by hospitals, birthing centers, bereavement committees or support groups. The format is 8.5x11, and includes full sheet and half sheet Certificates of Life, two clip art sheets that can be printed on sticker paper or cut out for collage/scrap booking, half sheet footprint cards, half sheet and full sheet poems, and two half sheet and two full sheet coordinating blanks, for scrap booking, poems or creating your own special documents. Once the PDF is purchased it can be reproduced and shared infinitely. The cost is four dollars, and
will go towards purchasing materials for the preemie gowns I make for St. Peter's Hospital labor and delivery unit in Albany, NY.  You can purchase your PDF here . 


At the time of purchase please include your preferred e-mail in the messages section, or simply convo me your e-mail, and I will send you the link to download the All My Heart files.

Certificates of Life

Footprint Cards

Poems

 

Coordinating Blanks

 Clip Art Page

Thank you for looking, and I wish you peace!

Jen

Saint Jizo San, Buddhist Bodhisattva

Saint Jizo-San and Baby Pumpkin
acrylic on canvas 10x10 2011

Saint Jizo-San is a Buddhist bodhisattva who is widely loved for being the patron saint of children and protector of children's souls after death, as well as a patron saint of travelers. He is very often shown as a cute, happy, roly-poly little monk, child-like and serene. He is shown here holding a baby angel, surrounded by the Japanese kanji for protection, child, journey, and love.

Saint Jizo-San and Baby Pumpkin
acrylic on paper 4.5x4.5 2011

I made these paintings for my husband after our daughter, AdiaRose, was born at thirty-two weeks on September 22nd, 2011 and passed away an hour later. We wanted to share them with other parents who are living with the loss of their child.

There is a Michie Shaped Hole in My Heart.

On March 7th my husband, our daughter and I drove slowly through the snow on our way to the vet's office. Our beloved doggie, Michie,  swaddled in blankets, was cradled on my lap. The kidney failure we had managed to forestall for a whole year had finally caught up with her and in less than twenty-four hours she had stopped eating and drinking, and had four seizures. The day before I had spent hours cradling her in my arms, her warm, furry body slumped against me like a sleeping child, and we gazed into each others eyes as I alternately talked to her, prayed over her, and cried uncontrollably. This morning when I gently gathered her into my arms she leaned away from me, and by this I understood that she was ready to go and needed to get about the business of dying without the burden of my grief encumbering her. 

My son and I adopted Michie from an ASPCA adoption clinic in October of 2003, when she was almost seven years old. She has been my constant companion since that time, coming to work with me every day to the delight of my art students until my daughter was born in August 2008. She was my parents granddoggy, and an only dog, in fact, in our extended family. She would curl up near my brother on his hospital bed. She worked my mom and dad for treats. My dad made her special roast beef, which he cubed and kept in the freezer for her. My mom spared no expense on organic doggie treats, and I cooked all of her meals. At the time I thought I would have no more children. She was baby sized and didn't care how much I hugged and kissed  or baby talked her or smelled the top of her head. She was my furry child. She was a big deal, you better believe it. She had the greatest smile too. She made everyone happy.

My grief over her loss has been enormous. Her dish on the floor, her favorite spot on the couch, the nest she made in the sewing room of ribbon and fabric, cut me off at the knees. All I can see right now is her absence. All I can feel is how much I miss her. Life without her is surreal. I feel like I'm waiting for her to walk back into the room. 

I managed to pull it together for her, because after all it was about her, her death. I thanked her for the gift of sharing her life with us and the lessons she had taught to us, and I told her I understood that she needed to go.  I told her I loved her. She went very peacefully. We brought her back home and laid her on her blanket in the living room while we made her a beautiful box, and a pillow and blanket. We will have to wait for the ground to thaw before we can bury her here in our yard. We will make it special, and plant something beautiful on her grave. Maybe by then I will be more at peace. Maybe I will see all of the beauty instead of the pain. She so deserves to be joyfully celebrated: valiant heart, patient soul, independent spirit, strong will, playful romp, buoyant walk. Beautiful smile. Floppy ears.

Little face.

Michie 

March 2010