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" Not long ago,\u00A0Karina Sorensen\u00A0of Denmark\u00A0found\u00A0a partially deflated\u00A0balloon in her front yard\u2014an ordinary piece of debris at first glance, but the star-shaped object had a message on it, written in English: Daddy misses you so much.\u00A0I am having\u00A0a really hard time. It&amp;#039;s hard to keep going without you here.\u00A0I miss the time we had together, hearing your voice is what I miss\u00A0the most. I&amp;#039;m asking you to give me strength to keep going. Daddy misses\u00A0you so much. I hope to see you again one day.\u00A0Love, Daddy A mother of two girls, Sorensen began to cry. She knew she had to get in touch with\u00A0the father\u00A0behind the letter.\u00A0 What she didn&amp;#039;t know was that the family was in Rowe, Illinois\u20144,200 miles away.\u00A0 Don Seifers and\u00A0Carmen Rodriguez\u00A0lost their son, 7-year-old Blake Seifers, in a bicycle accident on July 19, 2014. At the funeral, a family friend suggested everyone write messages to Blake on\u00A0balloons and release them in his honor.\u00A0 That act\u00A0became a family tradition, something they do\u00A0when they&amp;#039;re missing their son and brother (Trinity, 11, and Brenden, 12, were big sister and brother to Blake). On Oct. 14 of this year, they gathered again to &amp;quot;send messages up to heaven.&amp;quot;\u00A0  They&amp;#039;d never had any balloons come back before, so Don Seifers\u00A0was shocked when, a week later, he received a Facebook message from Sorensen.\u00A0&amp;quot;Karina told us that when she found it, she felt as though she knew us, just from reading the message on the balloon,&amp;quot; Rodriguez told TODAY.\u00A0\u00A0 Sorensen&amp;#039;s daughters, Signe, 7, and Sophie, 10, were thrilled to find a balloon\u00A0from America.\u00A0Signe&amp;#039;s teacher is even used\u00A0it as a\u00A0teaching tool, asking\u00A0her students to\u00A0email the family\u00A0to improve their English. Meanwhile, Sorensen said she&amp;#039;ll keep the balloon until the two families can meet one day and &amp;quot;bring it full circle.&amp;quot;\u00A0 &amp;quot;To us, it was the ultimate show of respect to get in touch with after finding the balloon. That was\u00A0above and beyond what we ever expected anyone to do,&amp;quot; Rodriguez said. Friends of the Seifers-Rodriguez family have set up a Change.org petition calling for the Livingston County State&amp;#039;s Attorney to reopen the investigation into Blake&amp;#039;s death, which was the result of injuries the boy sustained after being\u00A0hit by a speeding driver.\u00A0 [via TODAY.com]\u00A0 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a52723/family-shocked-when-balloon-sent-up-for-late-son-found-4000-miles-away/>