A mother’s last gift — her book of love

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Misty Smith-Luebbert signed the letters to her unborn child: Love, Mom. She told the girl that an angel watched out for their family, that God had a plan for them, that she will love her child more every day. Misty Smith-Luebbert will be buried today, nearly a week after her car was rear-ended on Mother’s Day.

By COLLEEN KENNEY| Lincoln Journal Star

“Would you like to look through it first?” Dan Luebbert asks his mother-in-law. “I don’t know if I can.”

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Misty Smith-Luebbert and her husband Dan Luebbert are shown together in this family photo from April, 2005. (Eric Gregory)

Misty Smith-Luebbert and her husband Dan Luebbert are shown together in this family photo from April, 2005. (Eric Gregory)

They stand in the kitchen. They are back from the latest visits to the hospital and funeral home.

“I don’t know if I can, either,” Leora Smith says.

But she takes the pastel book and opens to Page 17 of “Letters for Tomorrow: A Journal for Expectant Moms and Dads.”

She smiles as she reads.

“This is when she found out she was pregnant.”

11-25-2005

Today is Thanksgiving day. It’s the first Thanksgiving dinner at our house and all I can think about is you. You will be our first-born … I prayed every night for God to bless me and your daddy with you … When the test said positive, my hands started to tremble …

Her handwriting is clear and neat. She draws happy faces at the end of most entries. She calls the baby “My Sprecious” — special plus precious.

She glued a photo from her second ultrasound to Page 36.

1-25-06

You’re growing fast. I saw your heart beating. I guess you were moving around a lot today when were getting the ultrasound. … you’re going to keep your mom and dad busy aren’t you! … I can’t wait to hold you, see you, smell you and kiss you all over. …

Dan stands behind his mother-in-law, reading the words of his wife.

When Leora can’t read any longer — she’s blinking too much — he takes the book in his hands and stops at Page 29.

12-14-05

Things to live by:

Treat others the way you want them to treat you.

Never be afraid of who you are or what others might think.

Stand up for what you believe in.

Don’t smoke, drink, do drugs, talk to strangers, let anyone touch you where they shouldn’t, give in to peer pressure.

Never give up…

“This will probably tell a lot of stories about her,” he says after awhile. “Maybe this would make it more plain than anything we could say about her.”

The spoken word is too difficult for Dan and his mother-in-law, and for his father-in-law Collis, who sits at the kitchen table.

This is Friday, the day after Misty Smith-Luebbert died.

She was seven months pregnant. She was sitting in the car while working a paper route when an SUV rear-ended her on South Ninth Street. The driver was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence.

Jadyn Darlene was delivered by C-section that day. She weighed 2 pounds and 12 ounces and is going to be OK, doctors say.

Misty hit her head in the accident and didn’t wake up.

It was Mother’s Day.

5-12-06

This year will be my first year I get to celebrate Mother’s Day. I’m getting nervous and scared (but extremely excited) about this new role. I hear I’ll be a good mom from a lot of people, I just hope I am. I hope I let you know everyday how important you are to me, how special, how wonderful and how I’m truly blessed to be your mom….

They are here in this ranch house in southwest Lincoln that Misty loved, a new home she painted in earth tones. She painted the nursery a soft green and arranged big green letters on the wall above the new crib. JADYN.

She painted the letters twice, to get the shade just right. She had Dan move the crib away from the window and the hot afternoon sun.

4-21-06

I just think your room is the cutest thing ever. I didn’t want something completely girly. I had a pink room growing up and hated it. I wanted something calm and earthy. We picked out a teddy bear theme. Who doesn’t like teddy bears?!

Everything is ready. Pink clothes in neat piles in the dresser and on hangers in the closet. A teddy bear growth chart on the wall, from 24 inches to 60 inches, to mark Jadyn’s height with a movable star.

A rocking chair she found at a garage sale.

It’s as if Misty knew everything had to be ready, her family says.

Like this book.

Most pages are filled. She wrote most every evening before bed.

“She read some of it to me just the other night and started crying,” Dan says. “She was so excited to have a baby. It was about all the things she planned to do with Jadyn.”

She ended the May 12 entry, the one with her thoughts on Mother’s Day, this way:

I will always be there for you, Jadyn. I promise. Even during the time it doesn’t feel like I am — I am — just let me know. … I love you my Sprecious.

Good night sweet pea.

Mom.

Reach Colleen Kenney at 473-2655 or ckenney@journalstar.com.

Services today

The funeral for Misty Smith-Luebbert, 30, will be at 11:30 a.m. today at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home.

Smith-Luebbert, a drug and alcohol counselor at First Step Recovery Center, died Thursday after being injured in a crash Sunday — Mother’s Day. She was delivering newspapers with her husband. An SUV struck their car from behind. She was seven months pregnant.

Jadyn Darlene, their baby, is in stable condition at Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center.

Donations to defray the cost of medical care for the baby and to set up an educational fund can be made at any Union Bank location.