KRISTIE VERRET
Contact :: Book Blog :: Personal Blog

Kristie and her husband Jack are the proud parents of 4 lovely girls.  They are honored to share their story of how two of those beautiful baby girls were born straight into heaven:

“A year after the birth of our first daughter, in May of 2004, I unknowingly began to miscarry an eight week pregnancy. I had no idea that I was pregnant until the moment my tiny baby’s body arrived.”  One doctor confirmed her pregnancy, and one nurse denied it adamantly.  Therefore, her family and friends chose to ignore the possibility that she had miscarried.  They were equally unconvinced of the seriousness of her sorrow, and so this “situation” was quickly swept under the rug.  “For the next four years, my husband and I struggled with infertility.  My desperation to have another child consumed my existence.  I ate certain ways, I took herbs, fertility drugs, I exercised, I lost weight, I kept track of every possible chart.  I needed to prove something to myself, and to everyone else.  I needed to prove that I could carry a child.” 

The stress that ensued during those four years of barrenness was overwhelming for Kristie and her family.  Somehow, by the Lord’s mysterious plan and timing, Kristie was led to a miscarriage, stillbirth, and early infant loss Bible study.  Through this study Kristie was able to find healing beyond the years of infertility, beyond the pain and sorrow of losing her second child.  She even found the old scars left by her parent’s deaths were beginning to heal.  Then the best news of all!  She was pregnant again!  “I was literally in shock.  I felt as if I had been jolted into a dream, then suddenly I realized that it was not going to be the fairy tale pregnancy I was hoping for.”  Two months into her pregnancy Kristie began to bleed.  An ultrasound revealed two placental hemorrhages, and, yet, a beating heart!  “They told me everything would be fine.  That I was not too worry, these things would heal themselves, and everything would be fine. They didn’t give me any sense that I needed to worry, or even prepare myself for the possibility that I could lose this baby.”  At 18.5 weeks, Kristie’s water broke.  Two days later, Samantha Grace was delivered.  “I couldn’t believe that I was actually living this life.  I was actually a mother who had lost another child.  I questioned God.  I wanted to know what I had done wrong, why did I deserve this punishment?  I thought I was on the right track with the Bible study.  I thought she was going to be my blessing!”  Kristie explains her anger, and feelings of abandonment.  “I was alone.  No one in the world knew my pain, but then, God brought two women in to my life that had also lost children.  They did know.  They got it.  They loved me, and more importantly they loved my little girl.  They loved her enough to say her name, to look at her face, to hold me as I gasped for air in my devastation.” 

Kristie was so impacted by the support of these two women that she decided to go through the Bible study one more time.  The support of the group, as she studied scripture and prayed for hope and healing, made all the difference in her life.  “I never thought that my closest friends and family could so quickly feel like strangers to me, and that a group of complete strangers could become so quickly family.”  Kristie felt so compelled by their love and support that she decided to share her story of loss in her book, Unforgotten Children.  She went on to find women online who needed to go through this study, but did not have a Bible study support group in their area. “My hope is that women will come to this study, find support, love, a renewed relationship with God, and then return to their communities, and share that support by creating a support group in their area.”  Kristie believes that if each person reaches two people, who reach two people, the chain effects of sharing God’s love will spread through this ‘community of pregnancy and infant loss’ “like wildfire!”

KATY LARSEN
Contact :: Delivering Hope :: Personal Blog

Wife. Mother. Daughter. Child of God.

Katy has been married to her husband, Robert, for the past 3 and a half years. After just once month of marriage they discovered they were pregnant with their first child, whom they sadly lost at 7 weeks of pregnancy. They did soon add to their family with the birth of their son, Robert Jr., in March of 2008.

On June 17, 2009, their world would soon begin to change. This was the day they found out they were pregnant with their daughter, Hannah Katherine. "I was so happy. I felt it was such a dream to be pregnant again and to be giving Bobby a sibling to grow up with. I immediately began planning to bring this child home in February 2010." Hannah would never come home to their house, but straight to her home in heaven.

At 17 and a half weeks, Katy began to spot as she had earlier in her pregnancy. A doctor's visit showed her cervix was shortening and she was sent to Labor & Delivery to check for contractions, where they were confirmed. She stayed at the hospital for 2 days after being released on bedrest. After laboring and bleeding for a week, with a shortened cervix and eventually dialating, Katy's water broke. She would lose her precious angel that day at 18 and a half weeks, on September 21, 2009. She delivered Hannah Katherine Larsen in an emergency room.

"I feel God placed us in that Emergency Room for a reason. It was a horrible experience on top of the devastation we were already facing. The people were cold and cruel and disrespected the very life of my daughter." Because of this, Katy has started an outreach ministry called Delivering Hope which supplies hospitals with memory boxes as well as bereavement care materials.

Katy met Kristie and took part in the first online bible study group she offered. It transformed her and called her closer to God. To bring others closer to God through these tragedies. She knew immediately she belonged here.

On December 1, 2009, Katy again discovered she was pregnant. "Truly I felt God was rewarding me for my fathfulness throughout this terrible loss. Then I lost that sweet baby on December 28, 2009 and sunk back into the pit again. But we get back up. He pulls us back up. This is not where our story will end, but a new chapter will begin. I pray that everyone who goes through this study can find the comfort i have in our Lord. It doesn't mean it will always be easy. It means we never have to be alone."