by: Heather Ortega
A simple rock to us equals love like no other....her name is Noni and she is our heart shaped rock. She has picked us up from sadness, grief, and struggle and become our heart shaped rock. The story of the heart shaped rocks is hers alone to tell, it is story full of love and grief and sadness and more love, but the best stories usually are. Now my daughter 11 now looks for heart shaped anything in her day, she collects them, buys them when we are on vacation, makes them from the oddest things (toilet paper rolls, paper towels, cookies, glue), she's very creative. I have this great appreciation for these hearts she makes, grief and sadness, came to us, loved us, hugged us, fed us, shared her life with us, and adopted us as hers. This is living like Jesus, she is who I hope to be one day. She is our Noni, she is loved, she is special, and she is our heart shaped rock.
I am humbled by her love and acceptance. When I started blogging almost 6 years ago, Heather was the first person that I didn't know to follow my blog. Only God knew that she lived right here near me and that we would become not only friends but family.
We met several years later at Celebrate Recovery. She had quit reading my blog but remembered it. Then she took a day and read the entire thing. Exposing our hearts is a blog thing so what better way to get to know a person.
Heather has a strength that astounds me. She lost her Mom on Mother's Day unexpectedly. The lose seems harder to take that it happened on a day we are to draw near to our moms. There have been several other trials in her life and she has overcome. Her faith is honed by the path her life has taken. She speaks freely about her own missteps and the heartaches she has endured. Yet at the heart of her life is her love for Christ and for others. What a powerful testimony.
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