Today we celebrate Ella

We all hope to see you today at 3:30 at the Daniels Funeral home in Rio Rancho. 4310 Sara Road Southeast. Following the memorial for Ella, Christopher and Emily have invited everyone to join them at their home for appetizers and to share their stories.

-maria

To the out of towners

Emily and Christopher wanted me to relay to all of the friends and family that may be closer to OH that they will be having a memorial service there in the coming weeks. They will be traveling East soon and would like to have a memorial in Emily's home town. If you are near the Columbus area, please join them for this ceremony rather than trying to travel out to NM next week.

The family will be planting a tree here and in Ohio in Ella's honor. They would love if each of us would plant a tree for our children and Ella.

If you will be visiting Chris and Emily, please try to take a meal that they can freeze. The coming months are going to be tough and this is a simple way to help them out. Be sure to mark what your meal is, what temperature to cook it at and for how long.

Many of you have asked if you can bring children to the services on Wednesday. I encourage it. The family wants this to be a celebration. Don't feel obligated to wear black. And please feel free to bring your children.

-maria
on behalf of Emily, Christopher, Aiden and Ella

Funeral Arrangements for Ella

http://danielsfuneral.frontrunnerpro.com/runtime/113092/runtime.php?SiteId=113092&NavigatorId=385853&viewOpt=dpaneOnly&ItemId=961415&op=tributeMemorialCandles

The link above will take you to the Daniels Family Funeral Home page designed for Ella. You can leave messages and view the details for the memorial service. The service will take place at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011 at the Daniels Family Funeral Services on Sara Road in Rio Rancho. Please see the link for a map and detailed directions.

Ella is being cremated so there will be no viewing of the body. The service is a celebration and Ella's first party. Please feel free to wear a bright color and celebrate with the family. The family has invited everyone to join them after the service at their home. 8000 Bluffs Edge NW, Alb. NM. They would love to share stories about Ella and see all of you who have been such a strong support.

If you would like to visit Christopher and Emily in the coming days, please send me an email: mariaoue@gmail.com or to the hawkes.family@hotmail.com. Please do not show up unannounced. Of course, you are welcome to reach out to Chris or Emily to arrange a visit, but your chance of a response is better if you email or call me. 505-715-7976.

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this update. There were lots of details that had to be worked out.

love,
-maria
on behalf of Emily, Christopher, Aiden and Ella

Update 9/14

Thank you for all of your calls and emails. There is lots of work to be done and each of you will be needed to some capacity over the coming weeks/months and years.

For today, Emily and Christopher are trying to get a little rest. They are exhausted and trying to get some important decisions made. There is still no concrete plan for the date and type of memorial service as of yet. There should be more information about that by tomorrow. I will definitely update you as soon as I know.

Your love and visits are important. Please respect their need for a short visit when necessary and I recommend you bring food that can be frozen and is labeled with what it is, how long and at what temperature it should be cooked.

Thank you again and I will see you all soon.

-maria

Ella 8/31-9/14 2011

Ella passed away at 5:05am today. She was at home with her parents, where she belongs. So many interesting things about her time of death. She was, almost to the hour, 2 weeks old. She had been in her own home for exactly 24 hours. The girl has style. And she made her exit on a storm filled night complete with lightning and lots of dramatic rain.

Tiny Angels

Tiny Angels rest your wings
sit with me for awhile.
How I long to hold your hand,
And see your tender smile.
Tiny Angel, look at me,
I want this image clear....
That I will forget your precious face
Is my biggest fear.
Tiny Angel can you tell me,
Why you have gone away?
You weren't here for very long....
Why is it, you couldn't stay?
Tiny Angel shook her head,
"These things I do not know....
But I do know that you love me,
And that I love you so".

Author Unknown
There is a lot to be done, but a few decisions need to be made first. Please look here for updates to come on the services. 

-maria
on behalf of Emily, Christopher, Aiden and Ella

Ella 9/13

Ella had a pretty good day. She arrived home around 5 am. She has had a couple of "episodes" where it gets very difficult for her to catch her breath and then she locks up a little. I have seen Emily calm her down when this happens until she is breathing all right again. Emily is a beautiful mother and takes wonderful care of that precious baby. Christopher does his part as well. He is a strong husband and an excellent father.

Ella slept today, which gave her parents a chance to sleep a couple of hours as well. Ella's pain is being managed very well and she seems rather calm. She is definitely an "old soul".

I was able to see her today. She looks beautiful. Aiden gave her lots of kisses and that is saying a lot because he is pretty stingy with his kisses. She still has very kissable cheeks. I told her about all of your prayers for her. I let her know that she could leave Chris and Emily and Aiden with all of us and we would do our part to help take care of them.

Ella is a very tough, determined little girl. She has had several of these "episodes" and she pulls through them to give us all one more chance to tell her how wonderfully blessed we are to have her. She will not be with us much longer, but she sure has left her mark already.

She is two weeks old as of now. I love her very much and I know so many of you do too.

-maria
on behalf of Emily, Christopher, Aiden and Ella

Ella is back in NM

She made it through the flight! Chris said she had one little scare, but she knew she needed to be here with her family. They arrived around 4 am, exhausted.

I'll keep you posted

-maria