As I type now, I pray. As I shall do in all manner and form as I carry on with life tomorrow and the days ahead. My thoughts will be of my sister and her family, my niece and her husband most especially. My prayer intentions will be that they may find thanksgiving and peace despite the sadness which now dwells in my sister's household.

In the middle of my visit here tonight, I received a phone call from my sister who informed me that her only grandchild passed away today. Gabriel would have been 7 months old on the 12th April and was born with holosencephaly. We have been told from the day he was born that his life would be short. Holosencephaly alobar is a birth defect of severe physical imperfections and facial deformities. His very short life on earth taught us to be stronger people, to pray for our hearts to love unconditionally, to always find good in bad, to have faith when all seemed hopeless, to trust when all seemed lost but most of all, to perservere when the road well travelled became too exhausting. And for a time such as now, to find peace and gratitude. God blessed us with a very special child. My niece need only to look at a mirror to find the special mother and person Gabriel has helped her become. As she cared for her child, each task undertaken was a prayer in itself. She looked directly in his eyes despite his profound blindness and hummed him to sleep despite his profound deafness. What a blessed and gracious thing it is to be able to pray in that way.