When Jeremiah was born we were told the cost of privately cremation was insanely high for wee little babies like our Jeremiah. And besides that we’d have to transfer his body from the hospital to the cemetery ourselves. It all has to do with laws about when someone is actually considered human (but this isn’t the time or place for that particular rant/soapbox/campaign). What we were offered was that the hospital takes all the little tiny ones, like Jeremiah, and cremates them together and those ashes are then interred in the Angel Garden at a local cemetery. We found out where the cemetery was and where this garden was located and have visited this garden a number of times in the past year.
The past 6 months or so I’ve been talking about finding out if we could get a marker put there for Jeremiah. Right after he was born it seemed like a trivial thing to me but as the months went one I wanted his existence and presence acknowledged. This became especially important to me when I thought about how someday we would leave Australia and only a small handful of people would ever know his body was there. We know HE is with Jesus but I also want people to know that he was here. He exsisted on this earth – even though it was a short time. After we lost Kyla I had similar thoughts for her too.
But I kept putting off that phone call. Who wants to call a cemetery to talk about a grave maker for your child? Today we were already planning to go out to the garden for Jeremiah’s birthday with two of our very closest friends. This morning I suddenly thought – I should call and talk to them about a marker for our babies. So I did. I spoke to a lovely man who told me it was possible and he could meet with us today. I was so excited. Then he told me the price. It was way more then we could ever afford. And due to some timing things here I didn’t want to wait to see if we could find the money. One of the friends going with us asked me if I had called the cemetery and I told her yes but it was out of our price range. Before I could say much more she said “Yes.” I looked at her confused. “Yes, what?” I asked. “Yes, I will front the money for you so you can get this done today,” she replied matter of factly. Dale and I couldn’t quite believe it. But before we knew it were sitting in an office speaking to a lovely man named Greg going over options. An hour later we were the proud owners of a small granite stand in the “Angel Garden” where a plaque that looks like this will be placed sometime in the next ten weeks:
Our babies have a permanent marker for the world to see. Even when we are gone their names will be read and people will know that, for a short time, they were here. It was surreal designing their plaque and choosing a “plot” in the garden for them. But it gave me such joy and a sense of closure I haven’t had. Not that we will forget them. But now they can be remembered beyond our influence.
We are also so, so thankful to have such amazing generous friends. God has blessed our lives so richly with the people he has put into our lives. This is a gift that is worth far more then the monetary amount given to us today. But, with out that logistical gift, we could not have recieved the peace and joy we did. We would love to be able to help our friend with the financial side of this blessing. If any of you would like to contribute to the cost please let me know. I may set up a go fund me to facilitate that if we get enough of a response.
God is good. On Jeremiah’s birthday God gave me the gift I didn’t know I needed. What a loving and faithful God we have. A small bonus – we had been going to the same area of the garden to put flowers etc this past year with no specific reason. And it just so happens that the area where we had been putting flowers was available! I am also thankful that I kept procrastinating. Because I did we were able to put Kyla’s name on the marker as well. Little big blessings from our amazing God! Happy Birthday my little Ewok – this was a blessed day.
Our Ewok's Adventure 