A Memory Grows is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that serves as an outreach to grieving parents, and as a resource to hospitals, clinics, hospice groups, churches and other nonprofit organizations.
Retreat Experiences
“October 15th was our first unborn child’s due date. So it just all fit perfectly that I found this great event to attend. I surprised her with a date night and the first thing she did was cry. She was worried and apprehensive about people seeing her cry, until she saw others hurting/healing too. We loved it. You guys don’t understand how much you helped our family. We can breathe again. We know the future may still have ups and downs and setbacks…but now we have hope. Now we know we are not alone in this. Thank you for everything”
“My husband and I attended our first retreat honoring our twins that passed away in October. This was such a special time for us to talk about our children and meet other parents that have been through something similar. We took away new lifelong friendships and items we made honoring our children. We were nervous going in and by the end of the weekend we did not want to leave. DeAndrea has a big heart and truly cares for each family. We are so glad we went. It was a very special weekend.”
“My husband and I just returned from the School Aged Child Loss Retreat at the Iron Horse Inn in Granbury. We are so thankful we had the opportunity to spend this time together in the fellowship of other grieving families and under the thoughtful, caring and extremely insightful guidance of DeAndrea Dare. We felt safe and comfortable sharing our story, learning about the grief process and learning ways that we can carry on and move forward while always remembering and honoring the life and legacy of our son.”
It was such a blessing to be able to gather with other women who are walking the same journey I am. I loved listening to each of their stories even if my heart broke a little more each time. But there is healing in coming together and making new friends. We each lit a candle with our child’s name after we told their story. We had a great panel discussion, lunch in a beautiful venue, and ended with a wind chime craft. And I’m looking forward to the couples retreat when we each get to make a quilt square.
Upcoming Events
Resources
When navigating the journey of grief it is often helpful to read what others have written, find helpful tools for the day, be inspired by another’s courage or even to sit and listen to the words of music.
These resources are helpful for both the parent who has lost a child as well as others who desire to provide the gift of presence and meaningful support to those who are grieving.
Blog
Holiday Resources
Grieving during the holiday's can be an incredible winding path to navigate. As the holiday lights twinkle and radios play It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year on repeat, those whose hearts are breaking find themselves trying to survive while seemingly swimming upstream. This year, with the additional challenge and isolation of a global pandemic, the holiday's look and feel very different. A Memory Grows believes that we are stronger together. We know that the journey of grief after the death of a child can be the loneliest road, we want you to know that you are not alone. Below you will find additional resources that are meant to be tools to navigating this season. We would love for you to join us for one of our A Memory Grows December Community and Support Groups which can be found here: https://amemorygrows.org/community-and-support/. If you find yourself needing extra support during this season,
Prayer Flag Workshop
This is an excerpt from a post done by CarlyMarie on June 15, 2015. This year, her website unexplainedly disappeared and CarlyMarie has not been able to rebuild it. Because of that we could not link to it. We have a link to an archived page but we don't know how long that will be available so we have tried to reproduce the text from the archived page below.August 19th – Day of Hope – The Prayer Flag Project – 2015WELCOMEThe August 19th – Day of Hope Prayer Flag Project is a profoundly moving, poignant and healing event that was created to help inspire people who have experienced the death of a baby or child to create meaning amongst their grief. Not only is this project an incredibly touching way to honour these children’s lives, it also helps to break the silence surrounding the death of babies and children. Each