A Christi Sighting
The Easter egg hunt after church (2001 / Christi: 3 1/2, Shayla - off and running, age 2)It had been a very long time since I felt like I had received a “sign” from Christi (Alicia and I kept joking, “Christi’s in Hawaii” because she hadn’t received any signs either) and then yesterday after church all of that changed.
Church is always difficult for me. I haven’t made it to church yet without ending up in tears. Yesterday I thought I made it, but the final hymn made my tears fall. Christi loved finding the song numbers in her book after she’d read their numbers posted on the wall. I always think she should be singing out of her hymn book and she’s not standing beside me, darn it!
As we walked out of church yesterday, my breath was taken away. A little girl, about five with a thin build and blonde hair was right in front of us – wearing Christi’s dress! I whispered to Shayne, “That’s Christi’s dress!!!” He looked and then nodded. How do I KNOW it was Christi’s dress? Well, thanks to receiving hand-me-downs and thanks to my garage sale and year end clearance shopping Christi didn’t receive many new clothes as a young child. Therefore, each May, I splurged and bought a “Gymboree” outfit and wrapped it up for her birthday.
Christi wore that khaki jumper outfit she received for her fifth birthday and then later Shayla wore it too. About a month ago, I gave it – along with other outgrown clothing items to a children’s resale place. Yesterday it hurt to see it and I told myself that if I didn’t want to risk seeing Christi’s clothing around town than I should burn the items instead, but really what are the chances I would even know it was Christi – unless it was the special outfit I bought for her fifth birthday?!
Yesterday continued to be a difficult one as it took me hours to move “Christi’s clothing” over to Shayla’s closet. (Shayla really needs things that fit her better now. It’s just hard to believe that after she’s grown out of these there will be no more of “Christi’s clothes” to move over.
Today, I looked upon the “Christi Sighting” in a whole new light. I told myself that Christi must have arranged to have that blonde, thin, young girl walk out in front of us in church to comfort me while I was crying and to make me remember that she’ll always be right beside me.
Easter 2000 (Shayla 1, Christi 2 1/2)
Easter Brunch (2000) Shayne & Christi
posted by the Thomas team @ 9:07 PM
6 Comments:
This is really wonderful..and was great reading your post...and it's great to see people getting excited about Easter...and well as Easter is round the corner i'd also like you to visit my blog on Easter Wishes sometime and enjoy all the goodies it's filled up with!!!
I'm so glad that Christi sent you a sign at church- although I'm sure it was painful and hard to see her dress on someone else.
Sending you all my love and prayers for always,
Heather
Dearest Thomas Team ... as you continue to travel this road unknown I remain a faithful prayer warrior! I think of all of you daily and pray all the time that the pain lessens each day though Christi will always be missed beyond measure! I just love the toddler photos of her - what a beauty! I wanted to tell you that my daughter was talking about Christi the other day when our puppy was sick - she said that Christi would take great care of her since Christi was going to be an animal dr when she got big ... oh what the smallest children know! Glad to say the puppy is fine! THANK YOU CHRISTI!
Love from my family to yours!
Rebekah Clark
Prior Lake, MN
mommy_jaden@yahoo.com
Dear Thomas Team, I continue to keep you in my prayers and check your site daily. I have so enjoyed all the pictures and stories about Christi and Shayla you have shared.
In reading this post I had to tell you that you must already have a Phd in shopping!! I have never seen little girls dressed as cute as yours through the years. As a mother of a son and having 2 grandsons and no daughters or granddaughters, I always notice cute girl clothes. Your girls always look like you spent a million!! Of course the more important thing that shows through in every picture is how completely you and Shane have loved and cherished the girls.
Lifting you up in prayer each day,
Holly Hart
uumm....don't know how to say this exactly, but, i must.....that easter bunny kind of scares me a little bit. i think it's the eyes. the one in the newer post is much prettier.
I came upon Christi's site just today when researching information on Ewing Sarcoma Tumor, another horrible type of cancer that struck my coworker's granddaughter. I love your site! I am sure beautiful Christi has touched the hearts and souls of people around the world like it has touched mine. My daughter got her angel wings on Dec 5, 2006, not long after your dearest Christi. I am sure you get amazed as well how absolutely great angels these children make. They are the best guardian angels, always by your side and whithin your heart, sending signs your way at just the perfect times when you least expect it, inspiring you to keep on going and not giving up.
I wish you and yours that you are able to feel Christi watching over you and loving you always.
Zuzana
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