For over fifteen years God has been nudging me toward this book.
Quietly. Persistently. In the way that only a calling feels — impossible to fully explain and impossible to fully ignore.
It started with a question.
Not mine — but one that my sister heard every single morning for months after she lost her baby girl. My nephew — two years old, full of that particular toddler energy that has absolutely no interest in slowing down for grief — would wake up every morning and pad down the hall and find his mama. And every morning he would ask the same question:
“Mommy, is Madison sleeping?”
He asked because he didn’t have other words — he had done it so many times before when Mommy was reminding him to keep his voice down because the baby was resting. He asked out of love and out of hope and out of the beautiful, heartbreaking logic of a two year old mind that had no framework yet for what death meant.
And every single morning — my sister’s heart caught in her chest.
What the Book Is
Mommy, Is Madison Sleeping? is a faith-based picture book for children ages 3-6 and the caregivers who love them.
It follows a little boy named Owen whose baby sister Madison has died. It is the story of a mother sitting down on the couch morning after morning — taking his little hands in hers — and finding the words to answer the question he keeps asking. Honest words. Gentle words. Words rooted in Biblical truth and the real and certain promises of a God who has never broken one yet.
But while Owen’s story is specific — the truths his mother speaks are not.
They are for any child who has ever lost someone they loved. Any child trying to make sense of an empty chair at the table. Any child asking why someone they loved is not coming back. Any child who needs an honest, loving, faith-rooted answer to the hardest question they have ever asked.
The book addresses the questions children actually ask — What does dead mean? Where did they go? Can they see me? Am I going to die too? Will we ever see them again?
It validates every feeling — the confusion, the sadness, the anger, the fear — and gives each one a name and a place.
It anchors every hard truth in Biblical hope — not vague comfort, not empty reassurance, but the real and certain promises of a God who has never broken one yet.
And it includes a comprehensive guide for parents and caregivers — because grief is not one conversation. It comes back in new forms as children grow. And every time it does, you deserve a resource to come back to.
The Two Names at Its Heart
This book carries two names.
Madison Joy — born on Christmas morning, gone at thirty-five days, whose brief life raised a question in her brother’s heart that took fifteen years to bloom into something that could help other families too.
And Lucy Grace — my own daughter, delivered still, whose brief and beautiful presence gave me the courage to finally stop saying someday and start saying yes.
I wrote this book for my nephew — who deserved honest, loving words for the hardest thing his two year old heart had ever held.
I wrote it for my sister — who deserved a resource to come back to every time the question returned in a new form.
I wrote it for my own children — who asked their own questions alongside me and needed truth that was bigger than my grief.
And I wrote it for you — whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever loss has brought you to this page.
What Comes Next
Mommy, Is Madison Sleeping? is currently on its journey toward publication.
I will be the first to let you know when it is ready to be in your hands.
In the meantime — subscribe below to stay connected. And if you are walking through a grief conversation with a young child right now and need resources, I would love to help. Leave a comment or reach out directly.
This book is fifteen years in the making.
It is almost time.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” — Philippians 1:6
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