On my feed today from an exmo acquaintance in one of our support groups, this touched me, thought I would share:

"Some of you may remember that I came on here to rant about a decision my parents made to NOT do a portrait painting of my youngest daughter because she did not get baptized in the LDS Church. My father did portrait paintings for each of the other 4 kids although those paintings had never been explicitly tied to baptism."

"Out of this group stepped up someone who was a total stranger to me. Olena Owens. Upon hearing my story, she offered to do a portrait for my daughter. That portrait arrived this past weekend. My daughter could not have been more thrilled. My daughter felt very special and excited to not only have her own portrait finally hanging alongside those of her brothers and sisters...but also one that was in a style that was uniquely hers."

"I cannot thank Olena enough for such am amazing act of love for a little girl she did not know other than to publicly express my gratitude to her and encourage others to support her and her artwork."

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/lena-owens.html

What a wonderful thing she did for this girl. Her grandfather sure showed her how valuable she is to him.

Thank whomever, my parents weren't like that. They weren't perfect. I will certainly say that, but they would never treat their grandchildren different for not being TBM. So many of us have exited, my daughter is the only TBM of all their grandchildren.

Those are parents that my Dad would have given a lecture to about loving your children and grandchildren unconditionally!! My parents loved me and my brother and my Catholic wife and my nevermo kids unconditionally....because that's what good people do!! And Olena Owens shows how good folks react to an injustice. Good on her.

Ron Burr

Three cheers for Lena!

What a lovely thing for Olena to do!

How appalling that it couldn't be done by her grand father, but this is a good lesson for everyone.

I hope her grandfather gets to see her painting.

Me too. He might be so dense that he only critiques the art, instead of celebrating his grandchild. =[

Olena has raised the bar for ex-Mos. ;0

It was a loving gesture that will be remembered for many years to come.

The grandfather lacks compassion. What a void he'll leave in place of a legacy when he's gone. It isn't words or things people remember about someone, after they're gone. But how they made you feel.

He missed his opportunity with that little granddaughter of his.