Grieving

Harper Hawley, Meagan Hawley’s nine-month-old niece, died on April 7 after several months of illness. Meagan had just returned to Zambia on April 6 after spending two months with Harper and her parents (Meagan’s brother Zach and wife Haley) helping to care for her. Although Harper’s death was not unexpected, the timing made it impractical for Meagan to return to the US. Meagan was devastated to hear the news, as were all of us. Grieving is difficult enough, but grieving 10,000 miles away from family and close friends is hard to even imagine.

Harper’s funeral was scheduled for April 12 at 11:00 a.m. in Edmond, Okalahoma. At the same time (6:00 p.m. here), several of us gathered at the home of Sheri Sears to have our own memorial service to share our sadness at this loss and our support for Meagan. We sang some of the the songs that were being sung in Oklahoma, plus some that Meagan had sung to Harper when she was caring for her. We read scriptures of encouragement and prayed together. Meagan let us watch a slide show of photos of Harper so we could appreciate what a beautiful and special baby she was. Most of all, we just grieved with Meagan.

The days ahead will be hard for Meagan and for the family that she is away from. Please keep all of them in your prayers.