We bade farewell to our precious daughter Ashley Joy Sim on a bright and breezy Saturday afternoon - the same type of day she entered our world and gave us a short but meaningful privilege of being her parents.
About thirty family members and close friends, many whom have prayed and stood by us through this agonising ordeal, were present. Everyone was given cream-coloured gerberas, specially selected by Angie upon entry. The congregation sang three songs: Amazing Grace, I was Made to Praise You and 'Pokarekare Ana' a traditional Maori folk song. These were songs which we would sing to Ashley every night.After a brief 30-minute memorial delivered by Pastor David Chan, each guest bade their solemn farewells and paid their final respects to Ashley by placing their gerberas alongside our Princess in her tiny white casket. Her grandmother gave her a hand-knitted red cross to symbolise God's presence is always with her. Among the items which accompanied baby Ashley were a crocheted beanie hat from Aunty Teresa which she wore, a cute lil' lamb, cards drawn by her cousin from KL, fresh flowers from Uncle Allan Heng and lots of love and tears from everyone who loved her dearly.
It is said that a picture paints a thousand words but really, no amount of words nor pictures can ever represent our immense grief and sorrow of losing and burying one's child. We seek solace that even God Himself buried His only son for our sake and we seek comfort in knowing that one day, just as He did, we will be reunited back with our beloved Nathaniel, Joash and Ashley in Heaven.
But still...we miss them all so much...
Photo Copyrights 2007, Alan Ng.
