* ( Sophie was just 9 years old when she wrote these for her brother Jack...  The original copies of the letters with Sophie's drawings on them were given to Jack to take to Heaven with him.  Sophie placed them so carefully beside him in his Moses Basket)...

Dear Jack...

A lot of things have gone wrong in your little life, even though you are still in mummy's tummy, but I will always love you...

I am looking forward to cuddling you and kissing you when you are born. You are a very special brother to me and Ben...
Our mum and dad are very sad knowing you are not very well, but I will help them as much as I can and wish for the very best of everythings that they can do...

I love you more than the whole world, your brother Ben is very good, I know he loves you so much too...
So, remember, I will always love you and a piece of my heart is kept especially for you...

I LOVE YOU JACK...

Love from you sister Sophie and brother Ben

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Dear brother Angel Jack...

Sadly you cannot be here with us this Christmas, but you will always have a special part in our hearts and minds...

We will remember you dearly, we will never forget your lovely face...  Your hands were so small, you nails like little drops of rain...

I already know what I am going to give you for Christmas...I am going to pray for you to have a happy life with God, to sleep in peace and look down upon us like we will be looking up to you...

When we 'come with you' ~ we will be together again and we can hold you in our arms once more...  Just promise me you will wait for us...

The 'tears' in our mum's eyes hurts so bad...  We feel all her pain as well as our own...

You were too precious to be born into this world...

We love and miss you so, so much...

Lots of love...

Sophie ~ your Sister...

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'JACK'S PRAYERS'

God of Love and Life,
You gave Jack to us as our Son,
Give us now the assurance
That though he has passed from our sight
He has not passed from your care,

Draw near to us in our sadness,
Bring Blessing out of grief,
And help us in our tears and pain
To know you are standing alongside us

And to experience your love and healing;
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Heavenly father,
You alone can heal our broken hearts;
You alone can wipe away the tears
That well up inside us

You alone can give us the peace we need,
You alone can strengthen us to carry on.
We ask you to be near us,
Whose time of joy
Has been turned to sadness.

Assure us that with you
Nothing is wasted or incomplete,
And uphold us with your tender love.

May our love for one another
Be deepened by the knowledge
of your love for us all.

Amen.

*This is a poem that I wrote for our Midwives Lisbeth & Bev to Thank them for their care and support thoughout...

'THANK~YOU'

You helped us through the toughest times,
You made sure all was fine,
You asked me "have I felt Jack move?"
I felt him wriggle all the time...

You came to visit or just to chat,
You grew to know our baby Jack,
You advised us well, and listened good,
You helped us through as best you could...

You knew that things were not so 'right',
You knew Jack's kidneys were too bright,
You knew the heartache soon to come,
The pain of losing 'our newborn son'...

You helped our son be safely born,
You knew the time would come to mourn,
You tried so hard to make him stay,
But 'knew' that this was his 'Birth~Day'...

You stayed strong for us all the while,
You knew 'Our Jack' was just too tired,
You knew when Jack was safe from harm,
and placed him in his 'Daddy's arms'...

And with the love surrounding him,
The 'Angels' came and visited,
They held him tight and through the light,
They carried Jack to Heaven...

We know he's safe up in God's care,
But dearly wish our Jack back here...

'To a very special little baby boy'...

I am your auntie Mandy and I think of you a lot...  Your mummy and daddy are very special to me.  You have a sister Sophie and a brother Ben...    'Little~one', I light a candle for you everyday and pray for everyday that you are here with us...    'Little~one', you have a very loving mummy and daddy, lots of aunties and uncles, cousins and not forgetting nans and grandads...    'Little~one', 5 years ago I prayed for the life of my little girl, your cousin 'Shannon'...  She was a very tiny baby.  All my praying came true...  She got strong everyday and I 'did' bring her home...

Now I am doing the praying for you and your life...   Be strong 'Little~one' ~

Love, Hugs and Kisses...

Auntie Mandy

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This letter was written for Our Jack by Mandy...  (Andrew's sister~in~law, above with her husband Dean)...  We only received this letter over Christmas~Time, it had been written a lot earlier...

As we hadn't thought of a name for Our Jack at that time,  Mandy used to call him... 'Little~one'...

We had no idea that they were lighting a candle for our little unborn baby, and the candle that Mandy used to 'light', was given to us to place in Jack's memory cabinet in our lounge...  (It even had Jack's name on it, and her eldest daughter had even decorated it for Jack with 'Tinsel'...

It is beautiful and to know that it was lit for Jack all this time, makes me smile...

The 'light' will never go out 'Mandy & Dean'...  There will always be a flickering flame in our hearts...

Thank~You for your most precious gift for Jack...

'To Our Sweetest Angel Jack'

My darling ~ it is now 8 weeks since we had to say 'farewell' ~ and we miss you terribly...  Not a day, hour or minute passes when you are not in our thoughts...

When we knew you were going to be poorly ~ the pain in our hearts cut deep inside...  We cried for you everyday, hoping and praying that the Doctors and Specialists had made a dreadful, dreadful mistake...

We tried so hard for you 'Angel' ~ to find something to make you better when you were born...  We did everything we could.  We nearly even took you on a long, long plane trip to the other side of the world, when you were still in my tummy ~ thinking that someone over there may be able to help...

Every day my darling that you were in my tummy, we looked everywhere for some help...  'God' was the only one who knew what to do...

When you decided it was time to come to our arms ~ our hearts broke hunny ~ you were so beautiful, so perfect...  Why did you have to leave us we kept saying?  I wish I could have carried you in my womb forever...

I think we understand now though that 'God' needed you too...  You were just 'lent' to us for a little while before you went to join the 'Angels'...

It was so hard though 'hunny' to let go...  but we know you are safe in God's arms...  He is taking good care of you until we can all be together again...

We miss you so, so much sweetie... as does your sister Sophie, your brother Ben and all your other family members, from your nans and grandad to your cousins...

We all miss you terribly...

I carried you for a wonderful 9 months in my womb ~ feeling each and every move you made...  If only I could carry you again, just to feel your moves once more...

No~one can feel the pain we have in our hearts ~ people pass us in the street ~ oblivious to the heartache we have ~ the tears just don't stop sometimes ~ to hold you in our arms once more ~ to have you here with us...  'if only'...

Sleep Peacefully our precious Angel...

We will all be together again soon ~

Love you so, so much...

Mummy, Daddy, Sophie and Ben...

He lives not on earth,
But way up high... 
With his 'Angel Wings',
He passes by... 

A gentle breeze,
To let us know...
He's watching us,
On earth below...

Don't think of them as gone away,
Their journey has just begun,
Life holds so many facets,
This earth is only one... 

Just think of them as resting,
From the sorrows and the tears,
In a place of warmth and comfort,
Where there are no days or years... 

Think of how they must be wishing,
That we could know, today,
How nothing but our sadness,
Can really pass away... 

And think of them as living,
In the hearts of those they touched,
For nothing loved is ever lost,
And they were loved so much...

~Author Unknown ~

Such a strange thing happened this 'New Years Eve'...  Jack had only been born just over a month ago when this happened!

Andrew and I felt like doing nothing, just sitting in remembering 'Our Angel'...  Our daughter Sophie was sitting in the lounge with us, our other son Ben was asleep in bed...

It was getting pretty close to the strike of midnight, we decided to turn the TV on to hear Big Ben chime...  We couldn't believe that a New year was on it's way ~ and our Jack was not with us...  We could hear the laughs and cheers from neighbours and in the street, yet there was no laughter in our house...  Usually the phone rings ~ everyone wishing us a Happy New Year ~ yet this time it fell silent...

Just as midnight approached ~ we stood up and held each other tight ~ it was then that we heard it...

'A Baby Cry'

Where from?  We have no idea...  All of us heard it, and although it never lasted long, just long enough to know...

We will never get an explanation for this, but then again...  'we don't need one'...

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