Why THIS Bear??? How did this happen?

My Noah is special, he's Mighty and he's 8 years old. He's also standing victorious before God. My little Noah, who has always been nicknamed The Mighty, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumor when he was 5 years old and in kindergarten. The doctors gave little hope or expectation that he would or could live past 9 months, but those doctors just didn't know my Noah. He was tough. He was and is Mighty. He never questioned or complained. He never quit. They gave him 9 months, we prayed for 90 years, God granted us 29 months. On October 3, 2009, my sweet little boy passed peacefully from my arms and into God's. My heart is broken, but I know where he is, who he is with and that he is saving a place up there for me.

Shortly after The Mighty had passed, we decided to carry on his legacy - he was all about giving and cared deeply for everyone around him - so we decided to collect money for what we've decided will be called Mighty Bears. We will personally deliver these Mighty Bears to sick children in the hospital in the hope that they will come to know they are not alone in their battles. In my head, I imagined the Mighty Bear and it grew and took shape and gained breath. Yes, in my mind's eye, I had the picture of exactly what I wanted the Mighty Bear to look like. I knew what it would do, what its purpose would be.

One particularly difficult morning which dawned on the heels of a sleepless night, many tears and my aching heart, I remember literally crying out to God, begging him to please, please let me know that my Noah was okay, that he was happy and being well taken care of. Then I asked Him for the impossible. My baby had been gone from me for 2 weeks and I pleaded with God to let me hear from him that day. Sounds fairly impossible, right?

Well, later that miserable day, I walked into a shop that I rarely go to. I walked around and I don't even know how, but my attention was drawn to a teddy bear perched at the top of a shelf - his foot was embroidered with a heart and 'Noah.' He wore a shirt that said, 'Mom - you feel what others see,' and it was signed by Noah. Then I saw his face - he stared back at me with earnest brown eyes and had a crooked little smile on his face, just like the crooked little smile my Noah had, that he used to smile at me all the time. I snatched the bear from the shelf, pressed the button on his arm and he began to talk. I fairly melted to the floor as he began to speak and I began to sob...his words were exactly words that my Noah would have said to me and had said to me when he was here...

"For a lot of us, there is something we always wanted to thank our mother for, but never got around to saying. Now's the time. Thanks Mom, for showing me that what others see, Moms feel, for teaching me how to make cookies and that Mom can be a tough cookie. Thanks for teaching me that life is a surprise party and the invitations are in the mail. Thanks for reminding me that feelings are the facts of life and laughing is sometimes the best way to cry. Thanks for kissing my forehead and telling me your kiss was a secret sign so only good things could ever, ever happen to me. Mom, I think you're out of this world because I love you more than anything in this world and I'm proud of you and I'm surely proud to be your child. Thanks Mom, you're the best."

That bear means so much to me now because it was an answer to a desperate, impossible prayer as well as the answer to an unasked prayer...it was the exact bear I had pictured in my head (before I even knew Noah Bears existed) when I started thinking about the Mighty Bears and the project I would begin working on to get them into the hospitals, to the children battling these life-threatening illnesses just like my Mighty had done. You see, God heard my cries that October day, He knew my needs and He met me there, in that shop with a teddy bear and He let me hear from my sweet little boy. Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. I know that.

Since then, I have begun this project, which was originally supposed to be just for the holidays and has now grown into a year-round project and a non-profit organization. 9D Years for Noah will continue the work my son would have done: giving and caring for others, providing hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. We are still in the infancy stage, but working hard to grow this into a Mighty giving and caring organization to help others.