Hi All,

This is Ben's cousin Nate. There have been a couple requests for Ben and Kerri's address for Samaritan's Purse purposes, so without further ado:

PO Box 138
Peterborough, NH 03468

Directions to the Memorial Service

The church is located in Dublin, NH off Old Marlborough Road.

You can get directions from Google maps, Mapquest or Yahoo maps. The ending address should be entered as 495 Old Marlborough Rd, Dublin NH 03444. Please note that if you are coming from the east, these mapping services will give you directions that include East Lake Road. The bridge has been washed out, so please continue approximately 2.8 miles around the lake (past West Lake Road) to a left turn onto Charcoal Road. Follow Charcoal Road one mile until it dead ends, then take a right onto Old Marlborough Road.

Once you reach Old Marlborough Road, in approximately two tenths of a mile you will see the sign for Fairwood Bible Chapel on your right. Once on the driveway, the church will be ahead of you on the left. Take the left just before it to the parking lot.

Planning Time

Hello all, it's Kerri's sister-in-law Anna, passing on a few details:

Warren Aldrich is coordinating the reception on Saturday after the service. We're specializing in warm cozy foods and things Paige loved. Since so many of you have asked what you can do to help, Warren wants you to know that he'd welcome any food contributions people would enjoy making, specifically:

hot comfort food (casseroles, entrees)
green leafy salads
French or Italian bread

If anyone is interested in contributing something, please contact Warren so he can coordinate and make sure we don't get 50 lasagnas. You can reach him at: warrenaldrich@hotmail.com or 603-562-7731.

If anyone is available to be on the setup or cleanup crews, let Warren know that too.

Childcare will be provided during the service and there will be kids' activities at the reception. If you know you are bringing your children, it would help to have you post that on here, so we know roughly how many to plan for.

As mentioned, in lieu of flowers Ben and Kerri would love donations in Paige's name to Samaritan's Purse. To donate, visit www.samaritanspurse.org and select “gift catalog” for Christmas 07. Then scroll to the bottom of that page and select “gift catalog index.” You will then be able to choose either number 2 (help save the lives of mothers and babies) or number 5 (feed a hungry baby for a week). Either of those gifts, in Paige Hansen's name, would be wonderful. Thank you.

Directions to Fairwood will be posted in the next few days.

Thank you all so much for the support you have shown. Ben and Kerri are hanging in there-- they're back at home in Peterborough, doing a lot of busywork in preparation for this weekend and a lot of resting. They really appreciate all the love, and the great comments you've left on here!

Memorial Service

The memorial service for Paige will be held next Saturday the 17th at 1pm at Fairwood Bible Chapel in Dublin, NH. There will be childcare provided, and we are hoping to have a child-friendly service.

In lieu of flowers, we will be selecting a specific Samaritan's Purse charity to have donations made in Paige's name. (I'll let you know once we have settled on one.) I am going to wear my cowboy boots to the service, and a pretty dress (when Paige saw me in it a few weeks ago, she said, "Mama, you're pretty!") and I hope people will wear their favorite clothes, instead of dark serious ones.

We're doing ok for now, and we really appreciate the outpouring of love and support that have come our way.

Saturday Evening

We lost our precious Paigey this evening at 9:31.

Friday

My little energizer bunny keeps going on. I have had more great cuddles with her, and there are lots of family around to keep her love tank full.



Here are some pics.

Thursday

This is Kerri's sister Ronda writing. Paige enjoyed seeing family and friends all day today. Gazing around at faces, she named her visitors, doled out candy, and snuggled with various ones. She ate half a banana and some fruit snacks and requested bologna and Lucky Charms. Val and I couldn't find bologna in the hospital so we ended up buying a slice of liverwurst as the deli folks told us it was a close enough cousin. She never tasted it but added it to her stash of goodies on the bed. At one point, I suggested that she tell her Daddy that the Red Sox were yucky. No reply from Paige. Ben offered a counter suggestion and Paige immediately and enthusiastically echoed his "Go Red Sox!" Guess we know where her loyalties lie. Tonight Kerri, Ben, Luke, and Paige snuggled together on Paige's bed and the children held hands for a time.

Tuesday

Today Paigey said something that we couldn't understand. After she repeated it a few times, we figured out that she was saying "want better" so I asked her if she wished she felt better, and she said yes. I forget that she must feel awful. Because her knee pain is under control, I don't think as much about general systemic feeling-yuckyness.

She has a couple good hours each day mixed in with all the hours of sleeping/zoning out. I got to hold her for a long time last night sitting in a chair. She held her arms up to me and said, "I wanna get up." which she never says. Three times in the last 2 weeks she has said "Wanna go playroom" but never that she just wanted to be held. I held her, and she promptly went to sleep and slept for an hour straight. I have some real sweet memories of last night and today to hold onto.

Friday

Pics from earlier this week

Paige's pain is under control, but she sleeps almost all the time now. I guess it caught me by surprise that that could happen so soon. Her swollen face looks like that of a much older child. She only talks when she needs to. Like when I try to get up off the bed where I've been cuddling with her, and she'll say "Want Mama sleep nexxa me!"

The Healing Rooms group came yesterday and added a huge mountain of faith. All I know is, I really want to keep my little girl.

Saturday

We increased her calming medication, and decreased her pain medication just a little, to see if it would make her less zonked out. She had a very quiet and peaceful night, and she did interact with us a little bit more in the evening.

Just a quick thought - if you are planning to visit, could you call ahead? It helps with keeping the chaos level down, when we know what we can expect for a given day.