Religion & Spirituality
Ashley Opliger didn’t have any plans to start a nonprofit. She was just a woman excited to be pregnant for the first time with her baby girl, Bridget. Early on in her pregnancy, complications were evident and Ashley was given orders for bedrest. Despite doing everything in her earthly power to care for her baby girl, Ashley went into labour at a mere 24 weeks and sweet Bridget entered this world already in the arms of Jesus. Ashley’s mom, a nurse in the very hospital where her granddaughter was born, had anticipated this devastating outcome and had knit baby Bridget a tiny blanket to match her little frame. She followed a nudge and decided to close up the sides turning this little blanket into a cradle. This small act of love enabled Ashley and her husband to hold sweet Bridget and connect with her in a way they would not have been able to had she been draped in a hospital blanket designed for full-term babies. In the following months, Ashley not only learned to lean into her grief but she began to use her pain for purpose and Bridget’s Cradles was birthed in the very nursery meant for Bridget herself. Bridget’s cradles now supplies hand-knit and crocheted cradles to over 1,000 hospitals in the US. Ashley’s story is one of grief and loss, but also one of redemption and choosing to say, God you are still good; these circumstances are not good, but you still are. Ashley’s desire and mission is to share the hope of Christ and Heaven with families grieving the loss of a baby. Ashley also leads Hope Gatherings monthly Christ-centered support groups in person in Wichita, Kansas, and online for women and couples throughout the country.