Our beautiful and adored daughter, Ava, arrived on Earth on August 22, 2003 and unexpectedly returned to Heaven at three years of age on February 05, 2007, forever changing our family, our lives and our future.  If you wish to read back to my posts from that time, you will find them here.

We could never have imagined losing Ava, or surviving life after that day. I am grateful to have been able to share the bad and the better days here and will always be amazed and overwhelmed by the incredible support shown to my family by friends and strangers.   I am determined to keep sharing my memories of Ava, our on-going grief and our hopes for a happy future for our other children as a way of recording this time while we adjust to life without our “Beauty Full” girl.

We would be honoured for you to visit Ava’s memorial site – please light a candle when you visit.

For the celebration of Ava’s life held on February 10th, 2007, our wonderful friends Kate and Steve from Inhouse Studios put together a beautiful slideshow, which you can see here. (It may take a little while to load).

On this day, fellow photographers and friends around the World released pink balloons in Ava’s honor. You can see some of those balloon releases through amazing images here.

Early last year, we approached the incredibly talented Mandy from Belle and Boo to complete a series of illustrations that reflected special moments in Ava’s life. We could not have been more delighted with how they turned out. It brings comfort and makes us so happy to imagine Ava’s image hanging in homes around the World – over 350 have been sold to date. Thankyou.

“Ava With Wings” was chosen for Ava’s headstone, along with some adapted words from The Backyardigans song, Rockabilly Lullaby. {Please click to enlarge}.

We’ve also been so blessed to have beautiful artwork done by complete strangers, inspired by Ava.

Beautiful painting by Kristina York

Illustration by my sweet friend Krysta’s aunt Susan.

Illustration by Steph

It is impossible to put into words what all of these beautiful tributes mean to us. When we first lost Ava, I vowed to keep her memory alive, to share her light, to let other people see just what we were missing so desperately. Through the generosity, love and support of so many people around the World, I believe Ava’s memory burns brightly every single day. From the bottom of our hearts, thankyou.

To our angel, Ava. For choosing us, for being everything we ever wanted and more, for teaching us lessons and for making the World a better place. Sweet Super Princess, thankyou.

Honoring Ava

The money raised from the sale of the Superprincess series is safely tucked away while I work with Liz, our Mater Social Worker, to provide families of sick and injured children in PICU with some of basic essentials you need when staying in hospital. It seems a small thing but when you find yourself suddenly at the PICU with no toiletries for days on end, it does add to an already unbearable situation. We hope to have this project completed quite soon.

Barb Uil had a beautiful idea in the weeks after losing Ava to have a book pulished to celebrate Ava’s life..She kindly approached Tiffany Ard who did something amazing and has worked very hard on this very special book. Presently, we’re finding a publisher to make distribution in Australia a little easier. Not long now!

This year, I’ve begun Eye Candy Workshops where a portion of proceeds will be donated to Paradise Kids. I don’t believe we would have survived our first year after losing Ava without the incredible support of this wonderful, privately funded, organisation.