GIFTS:

My friend Amy is a navy wife who’s first child was diagnosed as anencephalic. She ws away from home and her husband was at sea for most of her pregnancy. This is part of a letter she sent out after the birth (and death).

more
I think the part where I choked up most was this, from a poem the wife wrote to her husband: “Very few Fathers can say,
‘Yes, I was there every moment he needed me, I held him from
birth until death, his every action was a triumph, the span of his
life was never wanting for truth, and I know for certain that he
will rest for eternity in the palm of God’s hand.'”
That “I was there every moment he needed me”–oh. Parents’ desire always to be there when their children need them, and children’s desire for their parents always to be there, is just about never fulfilled. (And in most cases, you do need to face some things alone and to allow your child to face them alone, no matter how hard it is.) This woman’s testimony and her faith are amazing, humbling.