Rachel's Playground is Finished!

This is what Rachel's Ark looked like this morning.... After 2 longs days...

The first exciting thing was getting the slide on... This is a "two by two" 24 foot long wide slide! 
Ready.... lift!

My favorite part of this one is all the 43's!  They're getting it all lined up!

Matt & I check out the view from the top - and let me tell you, it's HIGH!!  The kids are going to LOVE it!

At about 11 am this is where we were at... it was absolutely beautiful out and there were already 85 people there with us, working like crazy to get this done.  My Uncle was there again all day, my Mom and sister and I had a surprise visit from my grandparents who just got back from GA the other day!  I also was blessed to meet a couple more blog friends and be surrounded by my baby loss friends.  I had been talking to one girl and as she walked away realized her name tag said Dorie... She has been following my blog and we talk on line. I ran after her to give her a big hug.  Her daughter Ella had anencepahly and was born on 10/27 (Rachel was born at 10:27) 8 years ago.  Her older daughter and Des really hit it off too - but there is nothing like a hug from someone who really gets "it".  Des told me tonight that she met her new best friend :o)

At lunch I put on the video that I made - it had the two videos from my blog together on one DVD.  I was getting sad cause every time I looked around, nobody was paying any attention to it.  Thursday I had someone ask me how old Rachel was.  She was there helping for a community service project and didn't realize what we were doing.  So it was on my heart to make sure that everyone knew what we were doing, but also that in case we were all getting too task oriented, that we would be reminded of why we were there.. and so when nobody was watching it, I started crying.

And that was right before this happened at 1:00...

As I saw the storm clouds moving in, and the thunder started to roll, my heart was screaming for the storm to pass... People started scurrying to finish what they were doing and get electric tools out of the open.  I didn't know what this meant for the rest of our day.  It could change everything.  I stood there in the middle of all these people just staring at the sky...  begging God to not let it hit us. 

And it still did.  Just like our 'storm' with Rachel.

Carrie noticed me from a distance and came and put her arm around me as we both looked up... she noticed my pain and fear because she knows.  She & her husband (who was also there)  lost their son Ethan 7 years ago and although I didn't know her before, has been a huge source of encouragement to me these past few months. 

I started to get discouraged... everyone was saying it wouldn't last long.  But all I could see was the rain.  It was too real to ignore and it had completely stopped all progress.  And if it was just rain, we could've kept going, but the lightening wouldn't allow it.  And so we all gathered inside and under tents and waited for the storm to pass....  I saw blue skies in the distance and thought for sure they were going to bring that rainbow that I joked about months ago.  It never came, but soon the storm moved and we were blessed with the rest of the day of sun!  Within minutes everyone was back to work, as if nothing happened.  I stood there watching this and realized that before the storm, I was actually in a really sad frame of mind... but after the storm, I was so thankful.  And so the storm was really a blessing to me... and while there was no rainbow in the sky, I had one in my heart.

Soon after, we put up Rachel's Memorial sign...  it's amazing.  The pictures don't do it justice at all - but I would say that's true of the entire playground.

See what I mean?  We've been learning how to dance in the rain since August 4th!

This is Joe and Kelli Cicerelli from Learning Structures trying out our swings... These two people are amazing.  I have been so blessed working with them! Not just because of all they have done for us and donated to make this possible, but also because they are amazing people, great to work with, and both made it a point to remember Rachel with me throughout this process.  I love these guys!

Putting up the elephant!  You can also see the giraffes that come up through the roof!  So cute!  Denise painted these...  Me, Des, Isaiah, Sam and new baby were the first to go down the slide - we all went together... pic coming soon!

Des & Isaiah try out the swings!

And so by 7 pm, we were all cleaning up - Matt & I left with the kids around 7:30 and there were still a handful of people there painting the sealer on!  (that is a tedious job that was taking forever!)  But as we drove away, we looked at what we had accomplished...

A beautiful playground to add to Rachel's Legacy.  This picture just doesn't do it justice, the entire playground is absolutely breathtaking.  Everyone who walked around the corner and saw it for the first time would go "wow".  Next week, we'll put up the sign in the top of the entry arch!

In 3 days, we built and ark!  And so without further adieu...

The Rachel Alice Aube Memorial Playground!

Thank you to everyone who helped us make this happen... and Glory to my amazing God without Who none of this would have been possible.

We miss you like crazy Rachel....