Boy's Letter to Father in Heaven Lands on Woman's Yard

A helium balloon with a boy's letter and picture attached fell into her yard.

ByABC News
December 12, 2016, 5:07 PM

— -- A 7-year-old boy's letter to his deceased father was answered in what his mother calls a "Christmas miracle."

Alejandro, originally from Colombia and currently living in Oxford, Georgia, releases two helium-filled balloons each year with a photo and letter attached -- one on the anniversary of his father's death and another on his father's birthday. He believes the letter reaches heaven, his mother, Yudy Catherine Bonilla Ramirez, told ABC News.

This year, the letter to his dad, who died when Alejandro was 4, fell into the hands of a mother of two who lives 20 miles away in Monroe. "My husband and I found the balloon in our yard," Suzanne Womac Edwards told ABC News.

The letter reads: "Daddy, I wish you were here so we could have fun together. I wish you a Merry Christmas. I hope you tell God to give me those presents. I hope you are happy in heaven. If you are, then tell me. I love you, Alejandro."

"After reading it, I was in tears. My heart was broken for the little boy," Edwards said. She said she was hesitant to take action at first, because of the intimacy of the letter. However, she changed her mind when she read the last line of the letter, asking his father to let him know of his well-being in heaven.

"I thought that if he did not receive a respond he would assume that his dad was not OK. So I felt a responsibility to respond to him," said Edwards.

She took to Facebook to answer Alejandro's letter in hopes that the post would reach his family. "I am certain that your daddy didn't want to leave you or cause you to feel lonely or sad. But in Heaven, he is OK and he is happy," she posted.

Edwards' Facebook post quickly circulated and eventually made its way to Alejandro's mother. She read Edwards' response to her son. "He had tears in his eyes. He was happy to know his father is OK in heaven and heaven is a very good place for him," said Bonilla Ramirez.

"For Alejandro, his father was his hero. They were inseparable," she said. Bonilla Ramirez reached out to Edwards and now the two moms are planning to meet, Bonilla Ramirez said. Edwards said she plans to bring a handwritten response to Alejandro's letter, as well as a Bible and some more balloons.

As for the gifts Alejandro requested in his Christmas letter, he will receive plenty from the online Good Samaritans that read the Facebook post and reached out to Bonilla Ramirez. She set up a P.O. box on Monday to receive these gifts.

"I feel that this happened because miracles exist. I believe my husband used angels to tell Alejandro he’s OK in heaven," she said.