Kaleigh Margaret Guest

A week before my cousin Stephanie was due to have a c-section to deliver her second child, she didn't feel like the baby was moving around as much as usual. After calling her doctor, she was directed to go to the hospital as soon as possible. Once at the hospital, she found out the worst news possible, there was no heartbeat.

The next day, Kaleigh Margaret was delivered via c-section weighing in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and measuring at 19 inches long. She had lots of dark hair and was one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. Her mom and dad, Jeff and Stephanie, and her grandparents, Dale and Jan, plus her sister, Paige, and a few other family members were able to take the time to hold her and spend some special time with her for the first and the last time ever.

Yesterday we attended a funeral for Kaleigh. It was one of the hardest funerals I have ever attended. Such a tiny little baby, taken to heaven, why? I don't understand it. I know the logistics, her umbilical cord had wrapped around her neck but why? Over the past couple of days I have tried to imagine myself in Jeff & Stephanie's position and I just can't. How does one cope with something so devestating? Both Jeff and Stephanie spoke yesterday at the funeral and I was so impressed with them. They aren't angry, just so devestated. They are still trusting in God, and although this is an awful experience, their faith in him remains strong. What an incredible example they are to all of us. At one point during the service they played a song by Natalie Grant, the words are so touching and were so appropriate yesterday.

"Two months is too little.

They let him go.

They had no sudden healing.

To think that providence would

Take a child from his mother while she prays Is appalling.

Who told us we’d be rescued?

What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?

We’re asking why this happens

To us who have died to live?

It’s unfair.

This is what it means to be held.

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive.T

his is what it is to be loved.

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell we’d be held.

This hand is bitterness.

We want to taste it, let the hatred numb our sorrow.

The wise hand opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.

This is what it means to be held.

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive.

This is what it is to be loved.

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell we’d be held.

If hope is born of suffering.

If this is only the beginning.

Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held.

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive.

This is what it is to be loved.

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell we’d be held.

This is what it is to be loved.

And to know, that the promise was when everything fell, we'd be held"

Kaleigh, even though many of us never had the chance to meet you, you will be greatly missed by us all.