Sympathy card for a special girl

Hi everyone-
I really don't like making these types of cards, but it's inevitable I guess. I worked at Haleiwa Family Health Center for 6 1/2 years when I first started my career and as you can guess, I established a lot of relationships w/ my patients. I think that's the best/worst part of community nursing- as a community health nurse you get to establish relationships with your patients while as a hospital nurse, you don't get to see them in their home setting or see them "age" thru the years. When I worked at the clinic I would see my patients come in regularly and would get to talk to them about their lives and also get to follow up on things since they would come back.
Well now that I'm a Public Health Nurse I get to go to my client's home and since I work with children I get to care for them from birth or infancy until they are at least 3 years old, I am Aunty Kelli and they readily interact with you as they age. I have toddlers who will come up to me and lift up their shirts when they see me pull out my stethoscopes b/c they know it's time to be checked. If you're in this field long enough you are amazed when you run into a child you used to care for (we forget that they've grown up and you just remember the beautiful child that you helped care for). One of my fellow PHNs received a graduation announcement from a former client that she helped from birth until 3 years old and now that girl is graduating from high school! For those clients and families that we have touched they will always remember their nurse and that is an amazing feeling.

Well, one of my former patients passed away a few weeks ago and I used to see her young, smiling face at church weekly so it was a little shocking to hear that she passed away. However she did have a heart defect, so it wasn't THAT shocking, but it's still sad. I made this card for her family who were ALL my patients.

I used the flower fancy SU set and the sentiment is from God's Blessings set. I don't have a stamp-a-ma-jig but an imitation and with some fiddling I got the flowers to line up (mostly!) I used my MS punch to create the borders. Shirley tuned me into Becca Feeken's blog and she uses her nestabilities and punches in the most amazing ways. Check her blog out, it's endless inspiration. But don't look too closely at my card since I had some issues w/ lining up the punches.


In any case, my patient is sorely missed by those of us who go to church regularly and would see her beautiful face and of course she is missed by her family. I wanted to share a poem that they put at the back of her program; it's very heartfelt and it really struck me.

Broken Chain
we little knew that morning that God was going to call your name. In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same. It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone, for part of us went with you the day God called you home. You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide, and though we cannot see you, you are always by our side. Our family chain is broken and nothing seems the same, but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

I wish her family the best during this difficult time and I know that God will heal their hearts. All I can say is to cherish your family and friends for life is too short and it's times like these that make us more aware of our mortality.

I hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by. Take care and God Bless!