Hudson's Bands of Hope

I wanted to take a day here to tell you about an organization/ministry that has really tugged at my heart. This isn't an ice bucket challenge, and I'm not here to make you love what I love. I actually think it's a pretty beautiful thing that each of us has a different passion - and when all of them work together, we make a crazy amazing difference in this world.

I've told you before {many times} that my life has been touched too many times by infant loss. Not personally. I've never been pregnant...never been excited for a new life inside and then had to say goodbye before I could say hello. But my sister has been there. And Ryan's sister has been there. And my like-a-sister friend has been there. And it's hard. It's hard to watch people hurt like that. It's hard to watch them try to make a new life that doesn't include a life they planned for and prayed to have. It's hard to feel helpless in someone's hardest hour.

A few months ago on Mid-Morning, I interviewed the CEO of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep...an organization that provides photographers for families in the hospital who have lost their little one. I wanted to interview Gina Harris because I wanted our listeners to know about about an organization that could provide something our family doesn't have: professional photos of their little one.

I so believe in what NILMDTS does...and my hope is that one day I'll be able to hone my own photography skills enough that I can serve as a photographer for them and help a family in a heartbreaking moment - just as others reached out and helped us in ours.

And just last week, I had an opportunity to interview another mom who knows this pain firsthand...and her ministry is different from NILMDTS, but in my opinion, no less important.

Misty Howell is actually from my hometown, and two years ago, she and her husband found out they were pregnant with their second child. Her pregnancy was picture perfect...just like her first one had been...until she went in for a third ultrasound. She was 19 weeks pregnant and this ultrasound was the much-anticipated gender reveal.

Except instead of revealing little Hudson's gender, it revealed that he had died.

And in an instant, everything changed. Not only had she lost this little life she helped create, but she had to prepare to give birth to him...to have a few fleeting moments with him...and to prepare to bury him.

As she left the hospital, wheeled out per hospital protocol, her arms were empty. The arms that should have carried a baby were empty, and all she had to prove she had been in that place to give birth to her son was her hospital band. She couldn't bring herself to take it off, even after she got home and didn't need to keep wearing it. Misty's mom bought her a charm bracelet with two footprints on it to take the place of the ragged hospital band.

As Hudson's actual due date drew near and Misty still grieved, she began to make a list one day...and on the list, she wrote Do something to help others.

And with a Divine nudge, Misty came up with the idea to make charm bracelets for grieving moms. A tangible reminder of a life gone...but a life that was there. A life that carried weight and mattered.

That's how Hudson's Bands of Hope came to be...and Misty had no idea how it would take off. People began to donate toward the cause, and recently it became a 501(c)(3) organization, making donations tax exempt.

I wanted to tell you about Hudson's Bands of Hope for a few reasons. First of all...I believe Hudson's life was fearfully and wonderfully made and I wanted you to meet this sweet little boy whose life has now impacted so many. Secondly, I want you to know about this ministry in case you know someone who needs a tangible bit of hope to wear. And last but not least, if this kind of ministry does strike a chord of passion in your soul like it does for mine, I wanted you to know how you can help a mom honor her son's life with bands of hope that bear his name.