Daylia's 6th Birthday - Jan 4 2012

Posted by Milo Wilson On Thursday, January 26, 2012 0 comments

Dear Crossbridge

Posted by Erin Wilson On Tuesday, January 24, 2012 0 comments


Dear Melissa Altman and our Crossbridge Family,


Today marks the two year anniversary of our son Josiah's passing from this earth and on into eternity. The difference that Crossbridge made in our families life during the 8 months of our son's hospitalization in Charleston is unmeasurable. My husband and I have been clinging to a verse for the past two years out of Lamentations that says, "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions are never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. " Lamentations 3:22-23

I know that what Crossbridge does is a physical outpouring of God's Love and so I feel like I could say and not be wrong for changing some words in scripture, "Because of Crossbridge's great love we are not consumed." That is what Crossbridge offered us in the 8 months we were cared for by them. Melissa Altman and Crossbridge was a physical representation of God's great love for us and therefor we were able to live through the struggles of that time without being consumed.

I remember before Josiah was born trying to plan for our "trip/stay" in Charleston at MUSC. At that time we thought it would be for a couple of weeks maybe a month at the most. Early on I felt convinced that we should not worry about the cost of housing in Charleston, that our needs would be met. But as time drew near and we hadn't found a place to stay we began making arrangements to rent a home 45 mins from the hospital for $1,500 a month. I should have never doubted God and what he could do. Just a week before Josiah was scheduled to arrive our rental fell through. That very day I received a phone call from a member of our church saying, "I was at family reunion in Kentucky (i think) and I met this woman (i wish I could remember the exact details, I should have written it down back then). I don't remember if it was Melissa Altman or a friend of Melissa's but basically via a family reunion hundreds of miles away she put me in contact with a brand new ministry in Charleston, SC called Crossbridge, that was seeking to meet the needs of families while their loved ones were hospitalized. Within a couple of days Melissa had found us a place to stay for free for two weeks! We were thrilled! We would just wait and see what God would do after that. I don't think any of us could have imagined how great our God would have been to us and how he would use Crossbridge to bless our family. What was initially two weeks of housing turned into 8 months of accommodations, that turned into a home and a life for our family.

Crossbrige provided us a way more than a physical place to live, meals to eat, and financial resources. They provided us a home where we could bring our other two children and we could continue to be a family while our son was at MUSC. We celebrated 5 birthday's, Father's day, the 4th of July, a first day of pre-school, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas as a family that year because of Crossbridge.

I worried a lot in those days how our two pre-school age daughters would handle all this change. How they would handle mommy and daddy being at the hospital so much with their brother. How they would handle daddy traveling 4 hours back home each week to work for a couple of days. I truly believe that the negative impact that could have happened during these 8 months was greatly reduced because of Crossbridges love for our family. Because of their help we were able to maintain the greatest sense of normalcy available for our kids. We were able to still have family dinners together, around a table. We were able to tuck our precious girls into bed most every night. We were able to take them to the beach, the park, have picnics, teach them to ride a bike, teach them to swim. These things and those moments are priceless. Those are the things for which we cannot begin to express our deepest gratitude to Crossbridge and it's founder Melissa Altman.

On this day as we look back at and celebrate our son's life and cry tears over the fact that he is no longer with us physically we wanted to take a moment to say thank you Crossbridge, for being the physical out pouring of God's great love in our lives. The Wilson family loves you Melissa and our Crossbridge family.


My Name is Milo, and I Don't Know How to Grieve

Posted by Milo Wilson On 3 comments

Today is January 24th. Two years ago, January 24th 2010 was on a Sunday. I led worship at Ridgeview Church, and Erin and my girls were all with me for only the 3rd time in almost a year. You see, my son Josiah was on a hospital bed in the Pediatric Cardiology ICU in Charleston, SC which was 220 miles away. That morning, while I was leading a worship song by David Crowder entitled "You Make Everything Glorious," our medical family of professionals performed CPR on our son for nearly an hour before finally conceding that Jesus had taken him home.

Erin and I received the news via telephone minutes after the church service at Ridgeview concluded. After collapsing on the ground together in a tidal wave of emotions, we began the 200 mile drive, most of which we spent in silence. I found myself quiet and emotionless inside. Now what were we supposed to do?

Two years have passed, and I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do. There are times I am brought to tears, but I still feel a strong emotional tug far less than I would prefer. Grief is a very strange emotion. It takes on forms of anger, depression, intense sorrow, and at times intense joy. I remember feeling a similar way when my grandfather passed away. However, I experienced my father to have a new soft part on his heart. Tears flowed often. First about grandpa, then about graduation ceremonies monumental childhood achievements, and now tears fly at the drop of a hat. This has not been my experience however. I still feel at a loss for what to do. Erin and I experience grief totally differently. How could we manage this together?  In the first few months after Josiah's passing, Erin and I committed to each other to read the entire Bible through in 90 days. We felt that if nothing else, this should be a place to start looking for answers to all the questions spinning around us. She and I loved that season of life. Pouring over such large amount of scriptures gave us a new big picture prospective on God's Word.

The months that followed were very sweet for us. God had unmistakeably directed us to move back to our home region of Buffalo, NY after almost 10 years in SC. He made it so very obvious that we have to have been blind and deaf spiritually to miss all the cues He was giving us. Through this process we became part of the core team and pastoral staff of www.theWELLbuffalo.com which has been a ride of a lifetime, experiencing a Creator God, and how he interacts with his human creation.

Yet, while all of this continues to happen, and joyful experiences surround us on every side, grief continues. And I don't know how to grieve. I've learned that Erin and I don't grieve in the same manner, and that she and I grieve very differently from other people who have experienced loss in this way. Fact is, nobody knows what to do. People don't know what questions to ask. I don't know how to express myself. New friends don't know what we've been through. I can't decide whether to tell them every detail, or just the "highlights."

Part of what we have been experiencing at theWELL has been wrapped up in a massive commitment by our church and our staff to be intentional about building relationships, and sharing our building space with people in recovery. Alcoholics, Drug Addicts, Over-eaters, and so on recovering from their addictions and the damage it has done to their lives. We have learned that this community has a far better understanding of what it means to be real, genuine, and honest about who they are then our typical American churches have been. They know what rock bottom looks like, and know they need help. Through the process of understanding this, we have also come to grips with the fact that every human has hurts, habits, and hangups that are at the end of the day: unmanageable. For some it is alcohol, others adultery, and others pornography. But to some its anger, bitterness, or complacency.

My name is Milo, and I don't know how to grieve. I know at the end of the day, this is a hangup that is not in my own power to remedy. I believe wholeheartedly that Jesus has the power to heal our wounds, and that he is doing so a little each day.

Lamentations 3
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.


Daylia's First Day Of School

Posted by Milo Wilson On Thursday, January 19, 2012 0 comments

Daylia and Hazyl Go Deer Hunting

Posted by Milo Wilson On Wednesday, January 18, 2012 0 comments

Daylia Talks About Her "America Dress"

Posted by Milo Wilson On Saturday, January 14, 2012 0 comments

We stumbled on some older video footage from a couple years back. Its crazy how old you feel like your kids were at the time. Now she looks incredible small and cute! How time flies!



original video source