Care packages and community support for families experiencing pregnancy and infant loss – because every life, and every story matters.
Blessing Boxes
Grief care packages made by loss families, for loss families
Community Events
A Ride to Remember 2021
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Dinner 2022
A Ride to Remember 2022
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Dinner 2023
A Ride to Remember 2023
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Dinner 2024
A Ride to Remember 2024
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Dinner 2025
A Walk to Remember 2025
A Walk to Remember 2026
Tribe Support
As Christians, we are called to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 NKJV). That is no longer just a scripture to me. It’s a living, breathing call to action. It’s a pain in my chest that whispers to me there are others out there hurting like me who need to be loved on, taken care of, and advocated for. Pregnancy loss is so isolating because people don’t know how to talk about the uncomfortable; they don’t want to talk about it. That’s where our brothers and sisters-in-loss come in! Because we do want to share about our babies. We do want to include them in our daily lives. And our loss family not only empathizes with all we went through in loss and grief, but in all we hope for in preserving memories.
My name is Desere and I am a loss mom.
November 4 th, 2020, I delivered my daughter, Stella Sarai, stillborn at 20 weeks and five days. Her life and death have changed me to the core of my being. The trauma of losing her (and the miscarriage I had earlier in the year at just six weeks along) will forever be a part of me. But over time, the grief that boiled up inside of me – the grief that was always trying to choke me out at every turn – well, it spilled out as goodness. That is how I know that God was with me! I know it for certain because I, Desere, am too weak to convert such pain into love; to expose my own heartache and use it for His glory.
Because of the support of the Tribe, our family was able to start making “Blessing Boxes” in Stella’s honor. Since 2021, everyone who loses a baby at the same hospital where Stella was born (Cookeville Regional Medical Center) gets to bring home with them a little box of love from the Tribe Ministry. And because of the outpouring of support we have received since starting these boxes, we were able to start sending Blessing Boxes to families outside of CRMC as well. Stella’s boxes have now been sent all over TN as well as all over the United States. But the best thing to come from this project has been the friendships of other loss parents, and the inclusion of their angel babies in our mission to spread awareness and support.
At some point, I started feeling like I needed to open myself up and share Stella’s story, as well as my own. I was so nervous and fearful of judgement from others about what I was feeling, but I knew how much hearing from other mommas like me had been mending my heart. So, I took the scary plunge and wrote a few different pieces that I posted on social media as well as on a blog for people like myself who use writing as part of their healing journey. Then, about a year and a half after losing Stella I felt led to give a spoken testimony – something so far out of my comfort zone that I still can’t believe I did it, but Stella has given me a bravery I never knew I was capable of! This time, I wanted to be transparent about the PTSD, anxiety, and fear that had been crippling me post-loss (https://youtu.be/wernN1–VdQ). I truly hope you will not have to wrestle with any of these emotions on your grief path, but if you do, please know that you are not alone in them. And whether or not you want to share your own story publicly, you never have to suffer in silence.
Everyone’s grief and healing journey will be different. Mine is a messy collaboration of tried-and-true personal restoration, advice from seasoned grievers, and peace from the good Lord above. I share with you hoping that maybe something will speak to your hurting heart as well. But the most beneficial thing to me, was the support and prayer of others. This is what held me up when I was unable to do so myself.
Please feel free to reach out to me anytime. My prayers are forever with you.
~Desere
My name is Brent and I am the pastor of The Tribe Ministries. My wife and I have three children here on earth and another two who were born into the arms of their Heavenly Father – one who was lost shortly after we found out we were expecting and another who was delivered stillborn during my wife’s fifth month of pregnancy.
We were at the routine anatomy scan when we were told “Stella doesn’t have a heartbeat today”. I was in disbelief. I kept telling the ultrasound tech to check again, all the while saying desperate prayers. And when the only sound that filled the room was sobbing – instead of a little heartbeat, all I felt was pure rage.
Stella was born later that same day. After holding my little girl, I didn’t think I was going to make it out of the hospital. Then, God gave me the vision of our Stella safe in His arms. I am so thankful for my faith in Jesus, and I am so grateful to Him for dying on the cross so that we can live again in Glory. Because of Him, I know I will get to spend Eternity with all of my children.
Seek Him whenever you find yourself facing unbearable pain and you will find peace. May He bless you with His peace.
~Brent
