Memorial calling hours will be held for Ainsley this Wednesday, May 16, at Shorts-Spicer-Crislip Funeral Home in Streetsboro. Visitors are welcome from 5-8 p.m.
Location information and directions can be found here, as well as the obituary and the information to make a memorial donation to Akron Children's Hospital.
Thank you so so much for all of the comments, thoughts, prayers, and support. We are still laying low but please know that we appreciate every one.
75 comments:
So sorry for the loss of your sweet girl.
I am in California but definately praying for your family. Again I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful girl.
Thoughts are with all of you. You said it best when you said that you knew she was loved by so many.
I am so, so sorry for your loss. Stending you strength and peace, as much as I can. Will be thinking of you and your family. xoxo
I cried when I read this on FB yesterday and I'm crying again at work reading your post now. I'm so, so sorry.
Sending all my love to you. Thou we've never met I feel like Ive been a part of yours and Ainsley's little life. She had an amazing spirit and can say she took after her mom. All my blessings to your family.
I am so sorry for your loss. Wishing you and your family strength and peace.
I can't imagine how you are feeling. I've been following your blog for a year or so and have found joy in watching your sweet little Ainsley grow & smile in the face of adversity. Sending you hope and prayers.
My thoughts are with you and your family, I have been following your journey since you were blogging on Redbook while trying to get pregnant with Olivia..You are so special and sweet Ainsley was just as lucky to have you as her mama as you were to have her as your baby..Take Care
Thinking about you and sending lots of love and hugs your way.
Rest peacefully dear Ainsley. Your beautiful face always made me smile.
Rest in peace, sweet Ainsley. Your bright smile could light up any room.
I am deeply saddened to hear about little Ainsley. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your loved ones at this difficult time. Ainsley was blessed with a wonderful mother and family.
I can't be there in person but I'll be there in spirit, surrounding all of you with strength and love.
May she rest in peace. I am so sorry for your family.
Jen - I am so very sorry. This should never happen to any parent. Please know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers.
You all have not been far from my thoughts and prayers. Rest in peace sweet Ainsley
I don't think you shared her full name on here before. Ainsley Laura Knepper is a beautiful name for your beautiful, beautiful girl. I pray for strength to carry you and Mark through the memorial and beyond.
I'm so incredibly sorry to read this post. I found your blog right after your girls were born and I've been following along with Ainsley's battles. I'm glad she is at peace. My heart aches for you and your family.
I have followed your blog for so long that I feel like we are friends. My heart is broken for you, Mark, and Olivia. I am so, so sorry for your loss. I loved to see hew photos of her. Ainsley's face lit up like the sun.
I am so so sorry for the loss of your beautiful little angel. I don't even know you but have been following your blog for years - as a former IF'er. I never comment on anything but I felt compelled to write to you. Ainsley's pictures always brought a smile to my face and made my day brighter. And now she will be among the angels and making their days a little brighter. You are such an amazing family.
My heart goes out to you and your husband!! Stopping over from Inconievable's and Life and Love in the Petrie Dish's blogs...what a sweet sweet baby girl.
I am so so so sorry. I didn't see this coming at all. There are no words that can ease your pain and loss. Know that a stranger prays for you..... May your memories bring you comfort......
Hugs
Stopping over from Life and Love in the Petrie Dish's blog-- ended up reading every entry you wrote from the last 17 months today, for the first time, and my heart breaks for you and your family. Please know that you have a community of well meaning strangers thinking of you all and sending you thoughts and prayers of strength during this outrageously painful time. I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful daughter.
I hope it's ok, I linked here from my blog. You are wonderful parents and an inspiration to me, as was Ainsley with her incredible strength and attitude.
I am so very sorry for your family's loss. I bawled like a baby when I read this today. I have been eagerly reading your blog posts for about a year. Ainsley was the most extraordinary child. Thank you for sharing her with all of us. I have learned many lessons from Ainsley and I will miss her, but will always have a picture of her in my head with her big, beautiful, happy smile.
Jennifer, Seattle
I have never met you, but I'm sobbing in front of my computer in the middle of the night, for you and your family. I am so, so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing Ainsley with the world - I hope that you can find some small measure of comfort in knowing that she touched many, many lives in her short time here. I am wishing you strength and peace in the days ahead.
Oh, Jen, I've been reading your blog for years and have narrowed down to just yours and one other in the last several months, I never, ever imagined this would be your next news to share.
Ainsley was an amazing ray of sunshine. What you have shared of her resilence and joy and your family's journey and your own resilence has touched so, so many lives..and reminded people to get over themselves, myself included. There are just no words to say and not enought tears to cry, to imagine how your heart is still functioning...or how your feet are still walking...but it is and they are.
Sending hugs, prayers, thoughts to you and your family and wishes for Ainsley to truly be at peace.
I am so sorry for your loss. I always hoped that peace meant Ainsley would come home and start dishing dirty jokes learnt from PICU... I am so, so sorry. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
My heart aches for your family. I'm a NICU nurse in Baltimore, MD and no joke, I just read your blog from the week before the twins were born until now. I have watched other families travel similar long roads and I am amazed at the parents. I know that Ainsley knows how she was loved so very much. You guys were just along for the roller coaster of a ride and I imagine that it's damn gut wrenching. Please know that your family is in my thoughts and prayers.
I have been stalking your blog for onver a year and don't think I've ever commented. Aunsley was such a beautiful little girl and I am so so sorry that she is gone. She is with the angels, and her sister, smiling down on you.
I'm praying for comfort during this difficult time and I praying for strength to carry you through.
I'm another of your readers who has never commented but loved your baby girl from afar. I am so, so sorry. I have been through this with my baby niece who died at 17 months and there are no words but I wish you the strength of your family and friends to support you and keep you going. Love & hugs.
I don't have words to express my wishes of peace to Ainsley and your whole family. I too have followed you since before Olivia was born, and have never wished so much for happiness for a stranger. I hope you can all help each other through this painful journey of healing. Please know, though a stranger, I, and so many others, are thinking of all of you.
I have followed your family from afar, and I just wanted to say how truly sorry I am for your loss. Ainsley was a ray of sunshine, and your family's strength is truly inspirational. You are all in my thoughts and prayers!
I'm have been beside myself at your loss(es). Hugging my boys just a little more than usual. As the previous ladies have commented, I have read your blog before you pregnant with Oliva. You, in fact, were one great reason I decided to start a blog. I wish you all the peace in the world, and then some.
I'm thinking of you and your family. I am so sorry for your loss.
Love and prayers for your whole family. For passing so young and never really leaving the hospital she sure reached out and touched a lot of hearts.
I'm so sorry. My heart is heavy for you and your family. Ainsley had one of those smiles that must have made everyone around her smile--it did for me, just through photographs. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Just here from LFCA. My thoughts are with your family.
Bea
I am so sorry for your loss. What a fighter she was! Peace to you...
Ainsley is so beautiful! I love her smile. I'm so so sorry she is not here with you. A parent should never have to lose a child.
I have a sweet baby girl in Heaven, too. I pray Jesus be near to you like never before. He loves you so much.
Jen -
I am so glad you were blessed with your beautiful little Ainsley, and so so sorry she is gone. Both of your girls have smiles so bright they light up the room even through photos.
I can only begin to imagine what you and your family are going through. My thoughts, prayers and virtual hugs are sent your way.
Here from Life and Love in the Petri Dish. I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful daughters.
Still thinking of you and your family constantly. You have been such an inspiration to so many (I've followed you for 3.5 years now and found such comfort from you (and your older entries) when we were going through MF IF). I hope that the support and love that we're all sending you is lifting you up, the way that you've lifted all of us up for so long.
I'm so sorry. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours.
I am so sorry for your loss. My thoughts are with you and your family. You captioned a photo, "She changed our lives in all of the best ways." Please know that she changed strangers' lives, too.
I don't know how you are getting through something like this after the pain you've already endured. My prayers go out to your family.
I am so, so sorry for your family's loss. My thoughts are with you and your family.
from Montreal Canada, my thoughts are with you on this very sad occasion... i pray for your 2 beautiful and precious angels who are together again... im so sorry
I have no words except to express my sorrow for your loss. Your friend Alison is how I found out about your sweet Ainsley. What a beautiful princess and such a pretty name!
Thinking of you all today...
I can't imagine how difficult today must be for you. Continuing to pray for you all.
I am so sorry for you loss. Your daughters are beautiful. i lost my youngest daughter to SIDS this past summer and it continues to be a struggle. My oldest daughter was 3.5 when it happened and it has been a struggle for her as well. so time life is just so hard and crappy. I hope for you a clearing through the pain and to find lightness. Peace to your family
Jen, Thinking of you and your family.
I keep coming back here to look at her little meatloaf face. I'm glad she is finally at peace, but I can only imagine the loss you feel. I am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers tonight.
your family and your sweet angels are in my thoughts - sending so much love your way
I usually just read quietly but my eyes are damp for you tonight and my heart hurts. I hope you find peace and comfort remembering that sweet girl, and that those memories continue to light your darkest days. Your family will be in my prayers.
I am so sorry about your loss, Jen. I started to read back in your blog a bit about what she's gone through and also read the Bubbles for Ainsley and Evelyn page. I'm in tears for you guys. Ainsley was full of sunshine and I am sure she touched the lives of everyone that ever met her. She has definitely touched mine with that smile of hers. You and your family are in my prayers.
We miss you on the boards... know you are always a MoM and always welcome to come back if you want to.
My family spent the night from 5-8 outside... a beautiful night after days of rain - with a butterfly that kept landing on our heads fluttering around us... There was a 2nd one that was keeping a little more distance, too, but staying close. Always makes me wonder if it's a way for us to know that those above know we are thinking of them.
My boys enjoyed bubbles in memory of your two sweet angels. Know they will never be forgotten.
Prayers for you all will continue.
<3
Gail (goldielocks5)
Not fair. NOT freakin fair. I am screaming at the skies for you and wish I could change it all for the better. I am sorry for the loss of your little girls. May this be the last sadness you have to experience for many many many many years. You've had your share
I am so sorry that you are saying goodbye to your sweet little sunshine.
I've been reading your blog since your pregnancy with Olivia, but I don't think I've ever commented (I don't have a blog so I always feel a bit odd about commenting). I'm a twin mom, and reading about the loss of Evelyn just crushed me...I couldn't imagine how much it must have hurt. Then this...there just aren't words.
I am so sorry. So so so so so so sorry.
Life is just so horribly unfair sometimes, and I wish I knew even the smallest thing to say that would help the hurt or make this make sense. I'm not religious, so I don't pray, but I will be thinking of you and Mark and Olivia and wishing you all peace.
The only thing I can think to add is this passage, which I think is so beautiful and life-affirming. Maybe later you can get a chance to read it and you will find it comforting.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4675953
So sad to hear this, praying for you and your family. She was a beautiful little girl even though i only knew here through the computer screen. She will be missed. Praying that you find peace in this all.
I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. My thoughts are with you and your family. (((hugs)))
Sleep peacefully, precious Ainsley. You were and always will be loved.
I am so, so sorry. What a beautiful little soul.
I am so sorry for your unimaginable losses. Prayers or peace and comfort coming your way.
My heart is broken and my eyes are filled with tears as I think about the pain you are going through. Sweet, sweet, sweet little girl.
I just wanted to leave a little message to let you know you are in out thoughts here in the UK, I have been reading your blog since around 2008 while in the IVF precess for your first precious little girl and have laughed and cried along with your stories and rants. I hope you can find peace in this time and keep the amazing image of little Ainsley's smile in mind forever xxxx
I'm another long-time reader who's never commented before but feels compelled to let you know the impact you and your family's journey have on others. Your positive perspective and loving attitude are an inspiration. I am so very sorry for your loss. My prayers are with Ainsley and your family.
Jen, I am so saddened for you, Mark, and Olivia. I had hoped that Ainsley would pull through - she was such a fighter. My heart was so heavy when I saw the title of your last post. I can't imagine the pain you and Mark are in. My thoughts and prayers have been with you these last few days and will continue to be. You have touched so many in this community...
i am so sorry to hear of your enormous loss. She was such a beautiful and vibrant little soul.
So sorry for your loss!!!
Here from LFCA - thoughts are with you at this very difficult time. Hugs.
Jen, I've never met you personally but we have mutual friends. I've read your blog here and there and have been friends with you on fb for a while but in the past 2 days I have spent time reading your entire blog to learn the whole story about you, Mark and your precious girls. I have had a stillborn and a preemie as well, and one baby born at term. I also had pre-e and HELLP. I don't remember your exact words, but I was also blissfully unaware of how wrong pregnancy could go and all that could happen to a pregnant woman and/or her baby/babies. I respect your no-bullshit way of writing and saying exactly how you feel. It made me feel like I was really going through things with you and I could sympathize with you. I was honored to have my daughters blow bubbles for Evelyn and Ainsley and I explained the story to my 6 yr old. I want you to know that me and my girls have been thinking of you and yours and although I've never met you, I'm here for you.
Jessica (Jessica Rae on facebook)
I am so sorry. I so badly want to take your pain away. Ainsley brought and will continue to bring blessings to so many. I pray you will be able to dwell on those blessings. "Always blessings, never losses."
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