red balloons for ryan

Yesterday I teamed up with the girls of Coast to Coast Central for their bi-weekly #coasttocoastchallenge on Instagram. The ladies & myself wore the color red the rally behind a family who lost their 3 year old son tragically a week ago today. You can follow the tag #redballoonsforryan to learn more about the story. I don’t know this family personally, but on Monday morning I remember scrolling through my IG feed & seeing pictures of a little curly red haired boy with the most joyful smile. I had no idea what it meant but every one of my blogger friends from across the country were posting about it. It was odd, so I clicked the tag to find out more & my heart just broke. It was such a tragedy to hear what happened just a few days before to someone’s little boy, instantly. But it was amazing to see people from all across the globe come together to support, love, pray, & be there for a family through such a hard time. Most people don’t understand the impact & influence that social media currently has on our culture in our time. And most feel it’s an impersonal form of communicating in life. But it’s also an amazing this to sit there & witness strangers supporting strangers (or people we feel we know because they’ve been brave enough to open up & share themselves publicly) during all the hard, bad, & good times in life. So yesterday I wore red in remembrance of a little boy that I had never met or even known of before Monday morning. But through an iPhone app I have been shown the fragility of life & been reminded that the Father knows us. I didn’t know that little boy, but Jesus did & He welcomed His son home. I continue to pray for healing & comfort for his family during this time. And ask God that through this little guy’s life many, many broken people come to know Him & His perfect love for us. We wear red (& hearts) for you Ryan.

Red Heart Tee; Hello Apparel Skinny Sweats; Macy’s Flats; Burlington Coat Factory

I encourage you to explore & read more on Ryan’s story. Take some time to step outside of yourself & your own little world to see the things & people around you.

—abbey kay