Little Samantha - Saying Goodbye

Tuesday evening we were able to take the kids to say goodbye to Sammie. They had been asking a lot of questions, but we hadn't really explained to them what was going on. So before we loaded into the van, we sat the kids down and explained that Sammie was going to go to heaven. Brayden broke down and got very emotional. Brooklyn started asking a lot of questions. When we got to the hospital we were able to take the kids in to see Sammie one at a time. We started with Brooklyn. She was really sweet and tender at the beginning as Rachelle explained what all the tubes were for. She was able to touch her hand, toes, and give her a kiss. After a few minutes she started getting uncomfortable and started giggling as a way of coping with it. So we took her out and then brought in Brayden. He was very unsure about everything with the tubes everywhere, but he was really sweet and gave her lots of hugs. Brynlee was really uncomfortable and didn't really recognize Samantha. She squirmed a lot and didn't want to get too close. As soon as we left she started asking about Sammie again, so we know she knew it was her.

Taking the kids was one of the most heartbreaking things we experienced. Our kids have become Samantha's siblings, and although our kids didn't quite understand what was going on...we did. We knew that our life would never be the same without her running through our house following the kids around. We knew that little Brynlee was losing her best friend. We knew that there would be no more playdates for Brooklyn and Samantha...who always played the best together. Josh and I couldn't control our emotions very well as tried to help the kids understand.