One of the last statements Anthony said to me (text message)....."I know I am in God's Hands..........."

......and that is a precious thing for anyone to KNOW.

When I think back to life and what it used to be all those years ago, I have to believe that God knows exactly what He is doing. He does. He is the Master Planner of all things. He sees the end from the beginning. And I believe with all my heart that sometimes His children are taken home to Him to protect them from whatever lays ahead in this life.  If I think back to a happy time years back, Anthony came on holiday with us to Natal.  He and Chad were around 2 and 3 years old…..had them on the beach every day, covered in sunscreen. They had a blast. Bed at 6.30 each night and slept right through.  What tickles me about at this holiday is this: each evening I took then to bath at the ablution blocks, nice long bubble baths, (that I might add had me covered in bubbles every night too)…One particular time, both standing stark naked after the bath - time to brush teeth before getting into PJ’s.  They did both have lovely, long hair (Anthony with curls) …..a lady come in and says………”Your daughters are beautiful” …… WHAT, don’t you see the “boy parts” right there!!  They were too little to understand, but I giggled for days!  The lady was very apologetic and said it was because of their hair.  LOL.  One as blond as the other dark…Anthony with his dimples & curls…...’sisters’  Okay…..Seems like a lifetime ago, and yet it seems like yesterday too.

From Christmas 2013 we will be lighting our
FOUR  CANDLES  OF  REMEMBRANCE

The first candle represents our grief.  The pain of losing Anthony is intense.  It reminds us of the depth of our love for him

The second candle represents our courage.  To confront our sorrow;  to comfort each other;  to change our lives.

The third candle we light in memory of Anthony.  For the times we laughed;  the times we cried;  the times we were angry with each other;  the silly things Anthony did;  the caring and the joy he gave us.

The fourth candle we light for our love.  We light this candle that his light will always shine.

As we enter this holiday season  (17 December to 2 January), and share these candles of remembrance, we cherish the special place in our hearts that will always be reserved for Anthony. We thank him for the gift his living brought us.

Anthony, we will always love and remember you  -  Pops & Mumsy xxxxxx 

I will love you for the rest of my days, in fact, beyond the world as we know it.  Beyond forever, beyond always.  Loving you is what I was put on earth to do.

We all wore these armbands to be in solidarity with Anthony during his fight with cancer. They were kindly donated to us by Anthony's boss Matthew.  Evidently all his workmates also wore them.