It’s been almost a year since Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012, and shot and killed 20 children and six adults. The students in Victoria Soto’s classroom hid in a corner and held hands, but 6-year-old Jesse Lewis stayed at his teacher’s side. After Lanza shot and killed Soto, his gun jammed. That's when Lewis yelled for his classmates to run, according to law enforcement. That allowed six of them to escape before Lanza reloaded, shot and killed Lewis.
“The story changed a little bit over the ensuing months for the investigation but ultimately we learned that Jesse used his last moments on earth to call out to his friends and yell to them to run, and they ran because of what he said and he saved their life,’’ Jesse’s mother, Scarlett Lewis, told Matt Lauer on TODAY Wednesday. “I knew when I was waiting at the firehouse, and it was looking like he wasn’t coming back, I knew that he had done something brave, so I wasn’t surprised.”
Scarlett Lewis has written a new book, “Nurturing, Healing Love,” about her experience with the tragedy (read an excerpt here). She admitted to Lauer that she wishes he had run away with the other children, but understands why he decided to yell for them to get to safety instead.
“I believe that Jessie was put on this earth to do what he did, and I believe that he fulfilled his purpose, and I’m proud of him,’’ Lewis said. “I believe that he left a message for me (about) nurturing, healing love, and I am trying to fulfill mine.”
When I heard her words...that she believed her son was put on this earth to do what he did...I did think of Jay...and thought of my own life...am I doing what I was put on this earth to do or do I get distracted and forget my focus?
As I was working in my office...there were all kinds of robins out my window. Does one know how hard it is for me to focus...much less when so much is going on!
Can't really see them all real clear...but I am sure they were feasting on the berries...but though I love some robins that was not the part that got me...I was working away minding my own business well as much as I mind my own business...However, I was taking some messages off of my phone. In listening to my messages, I had ones from March 2009...messages before...messages after...Phillip Phillips was singing Gone Gone Gone as I listened when all of a sudden I was stirred by a type of bird I had not seen before. He flew right up to the window and just continued to hammer on it. As though definitely a Selah moment...to stop and think of this. I know some say there she goes talking of her birds again...no I do not think people come as birds...but I do think God uses so many things around us to just stop and listen...to stop and give thanks...a reminder to stop and pray...to stop and give thanks. BUT back to the bird I was just taken aback by the bright orange collar. Yes orange is the color that always makes me think of Jay.
I described the bird to Mary and I seen it go my window and so I went outside. I told her I thought it was a woodpecker. But I had never seen one quite like it. She said that her mother-in-law called some birds Flickers...though of the woodpecker family, I look up a pic and there is one at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_flicker/id --a Northern Flicker! I put in a pic because I was so fascinated and struck of how it just stayed at my window pecking on it trying to almost get my attention...
I wish I would have got a picture of the one I seen...but I didn't have the snow on my window. And it just all seems to be little reminders of love that stays with us...and I think back of the song that came on "I love you long after you're gone gone gone." And though those we love...the Jay's and Jesse's are gone in how we know...parts of them...I choose to say their love...their love from GOD for others...continues to stay with us if we choose to just feel it.
I go to the link of the excerpt from the book written by Jesse's mother...Scarlet Lewis...Nurturing Healing Love...a book I would like to read. A story that inspires me to want to write.
"That single act of anger and violence on December 14, 2012, shocked the world and plunged the idyllic village of Sandy Hook into despair. And it left the parents and family members who lost children and other loved ones that day to endure a grief so grueling and profound, a life sentence of sorrow and suffering so insurmountable, that surviving the heartache seemed impossible.
But this is not a story about a massacre, although that is how my journey begins.
It is a story about how we can face, endure, and survive the seemingly impossible, and find courage when we think we have none. It’s about choosing love instead of anger, fear, or hatred, and standing your ground, like Jesse did. And it’s about how all these choices can change your life and even the world we live in. That is why I chose to write this book—to share with you a message that Jesse shared with me: through nurturing, healing love we can mend our hearts and enrich our world.
Although my story has many moments of sorrow, it’s not a sad story—it’s a love story. It’s about my love for my sons, my family, my community, and God. So please bear with me through the difficult times because, after the tears, most of all, this is a mother’s journey of hope, healing, destiny, and even miracles.
In my darkest hours following the tragedy, my son Jesse reached out from heaven to give me signs that he is still with me every minute of every day. And in doing so, he’s taught me anew the everlasting and beautiful truth I first taught him as a child: love never ends.
Copyright © Scarlett Lewis, 2013.
Love never ends...and as it says in probably my very favorite chapter...1 Corinthians 13...LOVE ENDURES. I put it on one of my pics of the sun setting last night or I guess it is now night before last...probably time to get some sleep. Sweet dreams...
lyp
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