Briar's Celebration

We celebrated on our {shared} birthday...September 13th...
I am a little late in posting about it. :)
I don't need to tell you that it was pretty special to celebrate the one year of losing Briar.
Because we also choose to CELEBRATE his life, rather than focus on loss.
He is living an eternal life with our savior.
TO LIVE IS CHRIST and to DIE IS GAIN...Phillipians 1:21
Although hard to grasp, and hard for a momma to FEEL it...I know that our life is not about us, but about the GLORY of GOD.  So, in some way, I think that this serves to bring God eternal Glory.

I cannot believe it has been a year.
So hard to believe.
I see my friend's baby that had the same due date as Briar and sometimes I think that Briar should be that size, and should be here to greet Finn.
But I know that our family is forming just the way the Lord intended it.
And Briar was a special part of our family and always will be.

Someone was introducing us the other day at our growth group and they said, This is Brooke, Brandon and Briar...oops, I mean Finn Whitis...
It made me feel SO GOOD.
He is not forgotten.
His name is still spoken.
He is part of our family.
Even if he isn't here to really be a part of our day to day life.

We had the one year celebration at the boat club, the same place we had the original celebration. Same color balloons. It was a beautiful night.  After we released balloons, all the kids played in the water as the sun set.  It was such a peaceful, beautiful night.  Just perfect.

PHotos taken by my sweet, incredibly talented friend KATE WHITMORE.  thank you, kate. love love love them.






Happy one year birthday/anniversary in heaven, baby briar!
love, mom and dad and brother finn