Help me to welcome our newest hire, Ashley Leger to the position of Executive Assistant. Here is a short bio that she shared with us.

Hi, my name is Ashley Leger. I currently live in Parks, a small village in Louisiana, with my husband, Brayton Leger. We have two children—one here on Earth (Coen) and our special little saint (Cayse). Cayse was diagnosed with Anencephaly at 11 weeks gestation. We were given the opportunity at this appointment to terminate or carry to term. Carrying to full term would come with some risk, but we were determined to try-our son was worth that risk.

Cayse was born at 37 weeks and four days on January 6, 2021, on The Feast of the Epiphany. Which we later learned was a sign from God. He was born straight into Jesus' arms. Our grief journey definitely is not easy. We have lots of good and bad days. Sometimes it feels like there are more bad than good. My husband and I are Catholic but we did not get married in the Catholic Church. In 2014, we were married in Hot Spring, AR where we had a small intimate wedding with only 8 guests.

After we lost Cayse, we decided that we wanted our marriage blessed and Fr. Nicholas DuPre prepared us to enter into that Sacrament at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Parks this year. During our pregnancy with Cayse and after he died, we struggled with our faith. I would beg God to send me a sign as to why this happened.

We questioned God multiple times:

• Why us?

• What did we do wrong?

• Are you trying to punish us for something we did at a younger age?

At times, I blamed myself for Cayse’s diagnosis. What did I do wrong? Why me? I need to find an answer, but unfortunately, we have no answer. God gave us a beautiful little saint to watch over us, but I still struggle every day with the reality of our loss. Some days I am okay, but other days I am not and it's rough. A while back I told my husband I wanted to help out with some kind of organization that deals with loss, but how could find the time when I was working five days a week and still grieving.

Sometimes when you meet people you do not know the reason why. This was the case. After our loss, Father DuPre’ connected me with Kelly the founder of Red Bird Ministries. At that time, we were just meeting to talk about our losses and for ways that I could find support. I do believe that was a sign from God. Something good is coming out of something bad. Working for Red Bird Ministries will help me get closer to my faith. I know I will get to a place where I will be able to say “these families are making it, so will we.” I am excited to be a part of this amazing team.

Ashley Leger