have you heard of the Livie Project?

   Have you heard of the Livie Project?  I came across it today, and despite the tears that inevitably fell, I thought it so beautiful.  In short, Livie was diagnosed with a severe and fatal defect in the womb, and if she survives to term, her life will be lived within a short, sweet day.

  Livie’s parents set up the Livie Project, asking people to ‘take Livie with them’ on the adventures and moments of life that she will not be able to have; through photos of Livie’s presence in these moments by a sign, lettering, or something of the like.  It is deeply touching, and people are responding from as far as Ghana. 

  Livie’s parents are living through everything that I, and so many other women, are haunted by during our pregnancies.   I was too terrified to sleep with the nightmares that kept coming, but I was able to wake up to a healthy baby in the end.

  Livie’s brave parents won’t wake up to that.  Yet they have taken this terrible tragedy and they have turned it into something beautiful.  Livie would be proud of them.  I am proud of them.  We should all be proud of them, as a species, because turning something so negative into something positive is also something that makes the world a better place. 

  The result?  Livie has probably done more good with her life than most of us will do in all of our years.  Her parents plan on turning the Livie Project into a memorial foundation, in Livie’s honour, to support other parents that find themselves in the same tragic circumstances. 

  I didn’t have a big adventure to share with Livie, but I thought that maybe Livie would like a friend close to her own age, so for the project, I snapped a photo of Evening playing with Livie.  Evening tells me she was honoured to have such a playmate. 

Evening and Livie playing in the garden

   Please take a moment to check out the project for yourself, here, and consider how to include Livie in your life as well.