We’ve made progress on planning Landon’s service and celebration of life.

Coldren Crates (Findlay Ohio) will host the public viewing from 2:00-4:00 pm on Friday, April 30th. We will have a short service at 4:00. After the service, weather permitting, we will have a blue balloon release. An official obituary will likely be posted on Monday in Findlay, Somerset, and Romney newspapers. We understand many who would like to attend will simply not be able to, or are not comfortable traveling, and we completely respect that. If you are able to attend, masks are encouraged for those who can wear them.

We worked with Sink’s Flower Shop and Green House (Findlay Ohio) for his flower arrangements. That process today felt very easy, I already knew what I wanted, and we were helped by a very kind person who made the process simple.

The pastor will be Ben Borsay. Pastor Ben was there for us during the pregnancy, counseling us, introducing us to other special needs parents, and coming to the hospital for the birth and to visit the boys. It feels comforting to have him here with us for the end as well. We will meet with him on Monday.

We chose clothing today. My mom and Justin’s mom came with me as we went shopping for missing items for my whole crew, all focused around Landon’s outfit. Choosing from those too little suits that should be worn for parties, weddings, or Easter was hard. Landon will be so handsome though. It felt good to do a good job for him, and I think we got it right.

I’ve been asked about a balloon release. As mentioned above, we plan do to one (weather permitting) at the conclusion of the service for those in attendance. If we are unable due to weather, we will send balloons home with those who want to release later and take a photo. For those who cannot attend, please feel free to join us from your home in releasing a blue balloon, placing a blue rock, or planting a blue flower. Please send me a photo if you do (text, Two if by Faith Facebook page, My personal page, Facebook messenger if we are connected, etc). Karson and I looked at Nolan’s green balloon pics so many times, and I posted them publicly. It was amazing to see people from all over joining in a final special send off. I have a special plan for the photos we receive, and will share that with you once completed.

I plan to write for the service, and hope to be able to speak again as well. So far, I honestly have no words. I hope they come to me soon.

We worked on Landon’s room a little, I’m trying to make that a normal process that we (especially the kids) are comfortable with. We boxed up 5 boxes of medical supplies that we will donate to The Parker Lee Project. It’s an amazing charity that will help get these supplies in the hands of families that need them. It feels like a beautiful way to honor Landon as well. We’ve donated to them in the past, and I understand the benefit to the supply recipients. Until now I’m not sure I realized how much it helped the sending families as well.

I have also been asked about gifts. We plan to gather, add to, and donate monetary gifts to charities such as Make A Wish, and Awakening Minds Art. I’m hoping we may even be able to sponsor a wish. The funeral home will help administrate (links pending, bear with me) or if you want to work directly with Justin and I let me know. We will announce later what we were able to donate to the charities.

If there’s a question I’ve not answered, please let me know and I’ll provide updates. My mom/Karen and Dee Dee can also help.

We are holding up fairly well. I’m trying to make sure I don’t spend the entire day only focusing on what I need or what Landon’s planning requires. It would be much easier to crawl in a hole for the next week. Maybe I want that, I’m not sure. A couple of Kentucky cousins came up for the weekend to keep Karson company and that has been a perfect distraction. We had s’mores this evening, and at Karson’s request, we finally had that adult vs kids nerf war he’s been asking for for a couple of weeks. The adults dominated. But based on smiles it felt like everybody won.