Truth be told, I never met Isaiah Theis.  Or his family.  By all accounts, he was a precocious, curious, exploring little 2-year old.  His life was cut short because of these characteristics.

When little Isaiah was discovered missing, something incredible happened.  Over 2400 people showed up to help search for him.  To put it in perspective, the town of Centuria, WI where he’s from has a population of less than 1,000.  Two and a half times the population of the town wanted desperately to find him.

I don’t know what caused so many people to drop what they were doing to help.  Was it the fact that he was 2 years old and by himself?  Was it an inherent need to help when the community needs it?  Was it to try to fill the hole left by someone else who left too early?  I’m sure the answer to all of these questions is true for some of the searchers.

I’m not going to pretend to know or understand what Isaiah’s family is going through.  I do know what it’s like to lose a child, although in MUCH different circumstances.  The wound from losing Samantha isn’t healed, but it had scabbed over.  The more I thought about Isaiah, the more I was reminded of the pain from our own experience.

If Samantha had survived and was born full term, she would have just turned 2 — Isaiah’s age.  What would Samantha be like as a 2 year old?  Would she have been as daring as Isaiah?  We’ll never know.

What I do know is that heaven has a new resident that was taken from us too soon.  Samantha, if you haven’t already, please show Isaiah around Heaven and help him make some new friends.

If you’d like to help contribute to help cover the final expenses and help the Theis family, you can do so here.