Odell's Trees

When our son Odell passed away over a year and a half ago, we had an amazing outpouring of support and love from family and friends. In all this we received 3 trees to plant in honor of Odell...one is a dogwood, one is a red maple, and one a japanese maple. We planted these trees about a year ago and MY HOW THEY HAVE GROWN! We are just delighted that they have done so well, and it reminds us of how God brings new life, and also that Odell is growing up in heaven.

This is the dogwood last fall.

I love it because it is in the backyard where the children play.

These pictures were taken this past April. Aren't the blossoms beautiful?!?

We planted the red maple in the middle of the front yard, and I love it because whenever I look out front - there it is, reminding me of my precious son. Last fall when the tree was still small and just starting to grow, it was shaped exactly like a heart. It was the most amazing thing. It was God's way of reminding us that Odell's heart is healed now and perfect.

This is the tree last year...do you see the heart shape?

This spring the red maple has grown SO VERY MUCH! We went to the beach at the beginning of the summer and we were amazed at how much it grew just while we were gone. Here is a picture of what it looks like now...

*this is an update, I have just added this picture 9/8/08, because it has grown so much more even over the summer. **


We are very grateful to those who gave us these trees to plant in honor of our sweet Odell that we lost so quickly. And I know that it is no coincidence the types of trees they happened to be. The dogwood is beautiful in the spring, the red maple in the fall (not to mention is reminds us of his precious red hair), and the japanese maple is pretty all year round. Just so you know, we have not planted the red maple yet, and that is why I don't have a picture of it.


When Odell was at Egleston and we were 'living' in the CICU waiting room, there was the most beautiful red maple outside the window. Brooke took this picture because it was always so bright and breath-taking. I look forward to the day that Odell's red maple looks like this.