We wanted to tell Valerie’s story in order to help others who have lost or will lose a wonderful, vibrant child from their family. For those who have experienced this loss we hope our book enables them to identify things and events that may be occurring in their lives they may not understand or see. We tell our story from a Christian point of view.

It is an honest, often stark narrative written from the standpoint of the father and the mother. We learned the hard way that mothers and fathers often grieve differently and this was initially shocking, unsettling and troubling until the process was understood. There are very few books written with practical advice for the newly bereaved parent.

They will be able to identify the signposts and landmarks they will encounter on their personal grief journey.

It is an emotional work and for the non-bereaved it evokes the horror of something few are willing to contemplate, but for the bereaved it will enable them to understand the process they must endure. For the Christian it emphasizes the need for faith and obedience to God even when everything hurts.

Yes, the first and third chapters could easily stand alone as excerpts. The first chapter is longer than the third chapter while the third chapter is a poem written by Frank James when his daughter was quite young.

Our book differs because in the books that we have read, many do not address the fathers that grieve. In our book we write with two different voices. The chapters are titled in such a way that the reader know who is speaking. The same story could be told, but from different thoughts. We also told of our walk of faith that sustained us. Other books talk about the stages of grief, we believe that you can not judge when one stage is over and another begins. Everyone is different…and that’s OK!