The Otte's

It's been a hard few days.

Quinn's dearest friend Amelia, passed away.

Thanks to a friend, we read some books on

friends passing away, had tears, wrote letters, poems, and drew pictures.

We told stories and said many prayers.

We loved loved loved hanging out with you Amelia!

 The girls have similar stories in so many ways.  They both had a time of innocents, where they were born not knowing what the future held, and we had innocent months.  Then both of them had different issues, with  heart complications and issues after surgery for Quinn, and Amelia faced cancer and issues with it.  This life change is what brought them together.

They would play together for hours, and had an understanding about and with each other that was priceless.  

 The girls loved each other so much.  They would hang out and jabber and love on each other.  

 Any time we would have a party, Amelia would be one of the first people Quinn would want to invite.  She loved Amelia so very much.  

 So today was the funeral.  

A couple days ago after Quinn found out Amelia went to be with Jesus, Quinn did not want to get out of bed, she was so upset by Amelia's passing.  Then Jen and Steve gave us such a blessing.  They asked Quinn to read at the funeral.  Quinn then had a mission and was willing to get up and practiced and practiced.  John 14: 1-4 is what she read.  Isaiah and Denali were happy to help her get to her spot and help with the mic.  Denali has really struggled with this too.   We have had so many conversations about heaven, and our bodies.  About caskets, and funerals.  We have said prayers about Amelia and talked to her.  

 Going to a funeral of a friend is so hard.  I can not imagine what Jen and Steve are going through.  One person at the funeral said, how it must be harder, because there is extra care and extra time that goes into caring for kids like Quinn and Amelia.  So there is so much extra time now.  That hit me hard.  We know she is in a better place with Jesus, but our hearts are hurting so much.

 The funeral was beautiful!  Quinn did her part and was amazing.  I bawled like a baby listening to her use her Tobi computer to share her bible verse.  It was very moving.

Chrissy was one of the speakers and they all did so well, sharing what a beautiful treasure Amelia was.

 So many people came over to talk to Quinn after the service.  It was so good to be in a large setting where folks understood a bit about Quinn, simply because they understood at least a bit about Amelia. 

 We were getting ready to go out to the cemetery, when fate decided otherwise.

 Long story short, we ran Quinn into the wall and a grab bar in the bathroom, and it was a hard hit and we thought we broke her leg.    So we were already sad and then Quinn screamed and cried when her legs got tangled up with that bar.  She is not a cryer, as her pain tolerance is so hight, and she was sobbing and crying.  It was horrible and I was bawling with her.  Thankfully Chrissy was with us and kept some control.  So we talked to Jen and Steve for a moment and headed to the Emergency Room.  I guess we wanted to give them something else to think about on such a big day!

 So to the ER we went.  Chrissy was pretty sure that at least her right leg was broken, and with the way she was crying and screaming, I thought so too.  Thankfully she had her braces on which had to have helped.  Her legs were already looking so much better by the time we got the X-ray done.  Thanks to Amelia looking down on Quinn, they came back to tell us that nothing was broken!  Thank you God and our special little angel Amelia!  So ice and tylenol is in store for Quinn for a bit.  Big props to the hospital for getting us in and out so quickly.  

 We were only there a few hours.  So we still had to say our proper good byes.  Everyone had already gone by the time we got to the cemetery, but we got to say a prayer and tell Amelia we would see her later, but we can now talk to her any time!  To Amelia's family, we will continue to pray for you.  We look forward to hanging out with you and talking about Amelia.  We will also work hard to keep Amelia's memory alive.  Quinn lost an amazing friend, and we are heart broken, so keeping her memory alive will help us get through this.

Amelia you were full of life, faith, wisdom, patience, and acceptance.

We are so thankful to have you as a kindred spirit and dear friend to Quinn.

We are so thankful to have you in our lives and teach us.

 Amelia -  Here is one of the prayers we have been praying for you.

A wish for you.

May God grant you always,

a sunbeam to warm you.

a moonbeam to charm you.

A sheltering angel so 

nothing can harm you.

Laughter to cheer you, 

Faithful friends dear to you,

and now when you pray,

Jesus and heaven can hear you.

We love you so much Amelia.