Ellie's Name Book

Dave definitely wins the award for Christmas present giving this year! He started working on mine in July! I was so shocked when I opened it! I couldn't believe how much work, thought and love had gone into it. And the fact that so many other people helped out makes it that much better. And I seriously can't believe that EVERYONE kept it a secret- especially for that long!

For Christmas, Dave put together a huge book full of Ellie's name in various places throughout the country and the world! It's so beautiful- I can't even fully describe it! So many of our family, friends and even strangers sent in pictures. Her name was written in several states including Minnesota, Iowa, NYC, New Hampshire, Michigan, Colorado, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Nebraska, Alaska, etc. The countries where her name were written include England, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Australia, France, Cyprus, Austria, South Korea... I'm sure there is more. Dave took a lot of pictures out at the Arboretum where we had our only family pictures taken a month before Ellie died. There are so many pictures! Here are a few...

The cover of the book- it's so pretty!

This is so cool! These pictures are on the shore of an island that is at 79 degrees latitude N. Practically the north pole. One of Dave's customers is a company that does tours of extreme places. They went ashore to take a picture for the book and found these caribou antlers! I hope they left her name there- it's so remote that I'm sure it will stay there for a long time!

Such a cool picture. Another of Dave's customer that lives in NYC overlooking Central Park.

This picture is of my grandparents old house in Iowa. They sold it and moved up here a few days after Max was born. I've always been a little sad that my kids will never get to experience being there- especially for a big family Christmas. One of our friend's friend was in the area and swung by the house to get this picture. It's definitely a favorite for sentimental reasons, but it's also an awesome picture!

I really can't say exactly how much this book means to me. It means a lot the Dave put so much thought and love into this for me and for Ellie. I love that he took the time to take a bunch of pictures himself- he even said that he liked doing this for Ellie too! The fact that so many people in our lives cared enough to take the time to do this for us is amazing. They planned it out, they took many pictures and made sure they got them to Dave. Time was taken out of vacations, honeymoons and family trips for my Christmas present- to remember a little girl who was only here for nine months. To know that Ellie's name was spoken, written and that she thought of in so many places around the world by so many people going about their lives is probably the greatest gift anyone can give a Mommy who has lost their child. I love that Ellie's name remains in some places and will for who knows how long. It's like Ellie left her little mark across the world.

So to my wonderful husband and Ellie's awesome Dada- I don't know how you are ever going to top this one. Seriously. You've set the standards pretty high now! It's perfect. It's more than perfect. Thank you. Thank you for loving Ellie and I both enough to do this for us. I think that every time I look at it, I will continue to be in awe of just how amazing it is.

And to everyone else who helped out- damn, you guys are good secret keepers! I didn't think some of you had it in you! Thank you so much for taking this request to heart and putting so much love into your pictures. It's something so simple, but means so much to me.

I hope this link works... Click HERE to see a copy of the book. There are some really breathtaking pictures!