WEDDING DRESSES AND BABIES

I will preface this post by saying, I am a Christian and I believe that a baby is a baby even BEFORE conception.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ~Psalms 139:15-16

This is NOT meant to be a controversial post, but I will state, up front, I am NOT debating my pro-life beliefs with anyone. If someone posts something argumentative, offensive, etc. I will delete the post because I want to give reverance to the mother's who have lost their precious babies.

Ok, now...with that being said... :)

I struggled with infertility for almost 6 yrs before God blessed me with my one and only child, Matthew. I have only had one positive pregnancy test in my life and Matt was the result of that pregnancy.

I have have known many people (my sister and close friends included) that have lost their babies in utero (miscarriage) and still born births. It breaks my heart.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ~Psalm 139:13,14

I know through their personal trials and tribulations of losing a child that the "memories" of their babies are the most precious to them. It helps to alleviate their pain somewhat and assists in the grieving process.

There is an organization that I would like to highlight called Mary Madeline Project. They take wedding dresses, prom dresses, formal attire and turn them into beautiful clothes and blankets for still born babies.

I have been married twice. I still have both of my dresses. I WILL be donating either one or both of my dresses to this wonderful ministry. What I am unsure about is the following:

~My first marriage of 17 years produced my son, Matthew. I always thought the idea (from my sister-in-law) of turning my wedding dress into an infant baptism/baby dedication dress (unisex) to give to my son when/if he has a child one day, was a neat one.

BUT...do you think because my first marriage wasn't totally a happy, celebrated marriage and subsequent divorce, that it would be stupid to do that?

OR would it be nice for my son to have that piece of memory of his parents wedding to hand down to his child? I mean, we DID love each other when we got married and didn't anticipate getting divorced one day. We did create a baby together out of love.

I WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR INPUT, PLEASE!
~I don't have a problem donating my dress from my second marriage since there are no children or anyone to give the dress to. I don't like the idea of it hanging in my closet for years to come, when it could be put to good use by the Mary Madeline Project.I would like to have the dress donated in memory of my dad, my husband's dad and nephew.

"Donated wedding gowns may be given in memory of a loved one. If this is the case, all of the burial clothes and gowns made from that particular wedding gown will bear a “memory tag” with the deceased loved one’s name on it."

Please forward the link to the Mary Madeline Project to anyone you know that may be interested in helping with a donation or funds for donation delivery. You'll be glad you did. :)