Grace and Grief

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Grace and Grief

http://abc7chicago.com/video/embed/?pid=2572311

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-met-kenneth-hutchinson-obituary-20171024-story.html

My husband, Kenneth Hutchinson, suddenly passed away on October 18, 2017. I️ am now a single mother of four children ages 11, 10, 8, and 6 years old. I️ am grieving and also surrounded and upheld by the grace of God. These posts are to document my process and hopefully be a blessing to myself and others.

02/23/2026

✨Dear ____,

✨You have walked through the fire.

✨You have stood through what should have broke you.

✨You have persevered when you felt like giving up - when support was abundant, and after it dwindled.

✨You heard the voice of fear, but chose to follow the voice of courage - many times over.

✨Many may never know what it took for you to keep going. And so, it goes underestimated and unrecognized. That doesn't make it any less noteworthy - any less impressive.

✨Today, we celebrate you. We see you. We lift you up for all you have been that many may have not perceived, cannot fathom, or never fully understand. ❤️

By His grace,

LaSandra

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02/15/2026

✨C’mon, let’s keep it real…Valentine’s Day can be complicated sometimes. 🥴

✨If you found yourself having a complicated or downright hard day today, please know you are not alone, and it’s okay.

✨I hope you swipe left and find some perhaps much needed comfort and inspiration. 👉🏽

✨You will find some photos from this year’s & Grief | Hope after LossGalentine’s Day meetup for widows at the beautiful on the Riverin Chicago. This is our 3rd year in a row hosting such a meetup and as always, we had a TIME! 🥰

✨My heart is always so full to get cute, go somewhere beautiful, catch up, laugh, hug, and eat delicious food with these ladies! It reminds me every time just how resilient we have been and how important widow sisters are to one another.

👉🏽 We don’t have to walk the journey alone. 💕

✨If you are a widow who would like to join us next year or for another widow’s meetup, please DM me and let me know so I can keep you in the loop! We would love to see you. 💌

✨Regardless of where your heart and mind is today, I hope this post reminds you that you are not alone. You are valued, seen, and loved today and everyday. 💕

✨Sending so much love to each one of you. 🫶🏽

By His Grace,

LaSandra

02/12/2026

✨Grief is the other side of love. 🫶🏽

✨Not only did this perspective bring clarity and comfort to my broken heart so I could allow myself to grieve fully, I have seen it do the same for so many others.

✨It is such a beautiful framing of grief that makes it feel less like a plague we need to run from, and more like what it is - the natural response to losing something or someone that we care for deeply.

✨As it has been said, “Grief is the price we pay for love.” - Queen Elizabeth II

02/10/2026

LIFE LATELY…

1. & 3. - I am a walk in nature girlie, but this cold weather has me on the indoor track and the treadmill. Either way - we still moving, right?!🤷🏽‍♀️💪🏽

2. - I have been reflecting on how many dreams and desires about what kind of person I hoped to be have been fulfilled. I don’t take it lightly.

When I really stop to think about it, it is astounding, and I give God glory for it. 🙌🏽😭

4. A loving reminder that ❤️

5. & 6. - Screenshots of books I have not bought just yet, but am strongly considering given how underprepared I feel for this season of parenting people in transition between teenagers to young adults! And, there’s four of them! 😳

Um…yeah. Apparently, I am not finished yet. *gulp* Wasn’t ready. Still not ready. ‼️

Can anyone relate?

Any new books you are interested in reading? 📚📖

02/06/2026

✨Ah, there’s nothing quite like a memory to get you all in your feelings, is it? 🥹

✨This 2020 “then vs now” photo frame popped up on my feed, and really stopped me in my tracks.

✨The woman in this photo was 2 years and 2 months into her widowed journey, and was on the cusp of the sweetest, messiest, most powerful, and humbling seasons of personal transformation.

✨Wrought with new experiences, questions, relationships, opportunities, self-discoveries, learning, unlearning, breakthroughs, setbacks, trial, error, success, failure, and lots of perseverance - I would become a new version of me.

✨Not new in spite of my past, but beyond it.

✨And yet, all of that change was often so subtle.

✨So incremental, I often barely noticed it.

✨I became someone new, little by little, and was often frustrated that I was not moving at a faster pace. But, deep change takes time. Healing takes time. Development takes time, Fam.

✨Let me encourage you today, to stay the course on your journey even when you don't see signs of radical transformation after adversity and loss. Keep facing your fears. Keep meeting the challenges of your new life, but also take time to recover. To take it all in.

✨Trust that with every single step you take, you are blooming into a new you. 🪷

01/28/2026

✨Whatever the challenge, you are created to win. 🫶🏽

Get back up. Fan the flame. Keep going.

Blessed by these words from 🙌🏽🔥

01/21/2026

Such true and powerful reminders when walking through the thick of grief. ❤️‍🩹

with .repost✨
・・・

01/21/2026

Such powerful reminders for when you are waking through the thick of grief. ❤️‍🩹

Repost from ✨

01/18/2026

✨In 2016, I was being prepared for a massive shift, and didn’t even know it.

✨Not knowing it would be the last full year I would spend with my husband, or that I was about to step into widowhood, and single parenting, 2016 would prepare me as the year in which I would take new steps of boldness in my goals and individuality.

In 2016…

✨I first began desiring and preparing to create a YouTube channel centered around resilience
and overcoming (never imagined it would end up about resilience after loss 🤯).

✨I was positioned for my career and civic leadership opportunities in public policy, social justice, and human rights through getting out of my comfort zone, continuing my graduate school program, networking, and cultivating relationships that would later prove to be more valuable than I could see.

✨I invested more in friendships, self-care, and travel, which would later become significant aspects of my healing process.

✨I intentionally created new, sweet experiences with and for my husband and children, finding more ways to sow into my family, without abandoning myself.

✨I went through many growing pains, not knowing how much I needed that growth for where life was about to take me.

✨I celebrate the 2016 version of me for the courage she had to break out of her box and lay the foundation for the woman I am today.

✨I hope that as you reflect, you too remember to celebrate the past versions of yourself that brought you to where you are today. 🙏🏽❤️

01/15/2026

✨This is such a transparent and true description of how grief impacts everyday life for so many.

✨I truly felt and was inspired by this interview with recent widow, Sheinelle Jones as it shed light on so much of the bitter and the sweet moments that take place after loss.

✨It reminded me just how much power there is in sharing our stories of grief and life after loss.

Sharing our stories helps normalize the experience of grief in society.

Sharing our stories help others not feel so alone.

Sharing our stories helps bring hope to others who are fighting to hold onto it every single day. ❤️

01/08/2026

✨A new year usually = new goals.

✨At times, new goals = facing new or old fears.

✨Fam, I don’t know about you, but my 2026 goals are calling for new levels of courage. 🤯

✨If you can relate, I want to you to know you are not alone. I am in this with you. We can do this. We are in this together. We can face the giants. We can do hard things. 💪🏽

✨Courage often means being able to tolerate difficult emotions without letting them stop you.

NOT easy, I tell you.

Not easy at all.

✨However, we can build up our capacity for this kind of confrontation. We can step out and self soothe at the same time and as needed.

✨If you are stepping into new territory in 2026, and having to face off with fear to do so, type the word “courage” in the comments section!

✨It helps us all to know we are in it together! ❤️

Address

Chicago, IL

Website

https://www.graceandgrief.com/

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