The Service

There is so much that I want to write about Noah's funeral so that I don't forget anything, so I will be doing a lot of different posts about the whole day. I can't say how grateful I am to Chelsea, Fiona, Leona, Chrish and Alison for taking photos for us all day.  I missed so much that was going on because there were so many people there and I was focused on just getting through the day, and am so grateful that I have the photos to look back on now to remember the little things and see photos of people that I didn't even realise were there.

Before the funeral service the whole family, Di, Alison, Simone and Annette all came early to the chapel so we could view Noah's body and spend some time with him again. It was actually really beautiful as we all gathered around his coffin, kissing his head and talking to him as we all said how beautiful he looked.   Every Sunday at church Annette would give Noah a 'Nettie kiss' on his forehead where her lipstick would sit there all day (or until Aaron would rub it off :) It made us smile to see a big lipstick mark on his forehead after Annette gave him his last Nettie kiss.

The day that Noah passed away, Di came to say goodbye to him and put on him a beautiful colourful bracelet that she had made him.  After he passed away we took it off in case it got lost, and we got her to put it back on him again, before the service started.

The night before we had gone to the chapel to set up a table of some of Noah's special things that were in our bedroom.

We also got a photobook made up of some of our favourite photos.  It was lovely seeing his school friends and others looking through it.

Annette and others helped put some beautiful flowers together for the chapel and foyer areas.

There were two memorial books in the foyer for people to sign as they came in, and we asked in leui of flowers that people donate money in memory of Noah for ward 4K at the Launceston General Hospital (the kids ward).

The Reeve boys were the ushers and handed our programs at the door which quickly ran out as only 300 were printed but a lot more people than we expected came.

As everyone came in we were overwhelmed with how many people wanted to show their love to Noah and us and were so grateful for it.  We asked that everyone wear bright and happy colours so that we could make the day a celebration of Noah's life.

Something I had thought about for a number of years was the music that we would have played and sung. The opening and closing hymns sung by the congregation were 'I know that my Reedemer lives' and 'God be with you till we meet again'.

When Leona asked me what she could do to help after Noah passed away I knew exactly what I wanted her help with.  I asked her if she could organise two choir items - a prelude and also the intermediate hymn.  I didn't mind what the prelude was going to be, but really wanted either the choir or a children's choir to sing 'I am a child of God'. A couple of days before the funeral Becky and I were messaging each other and she told me that they had a choir sing 'I am a child of God' at Ben's funeral last year and that they sung a different version which she had found on the net. When she sent me the lyrics I knew they were perfect and quickly let Leona know that I found the perfect item for the choir to sing.  It was so beautiful with Bec singing solo for the first verse and then the choir joining in for the second and third verses.

The prelude song was sung by our friends Sacha and Belinda and was Jenny Phillip's song 'Every Breath'.  The primary children and youth sung Noah's favourite primary song 'I know that my Saviour loves me'.


The whole service was beautiful and spirit was really strong. I spent hours writing my talk the night before, until about 1 am and was so nervous about how it was going to go, and how I would find the strength to do it without crying the whole way through.  Jalen, Harri and Aaron also spoke and also President Prebble our good friend and Stake President spoke.  I will share more of our talks later, but I spoke mostly about how much Noah changed our lives for the better and how we often get comments like 'you guys are amazing' but to us Noah was the amazing ones, and we were so blessed to have him as a part of our family.  I also thanked people who meant a lot to us and Noah over the past ten years such as his doctors, nurses, therapist, teachers and carers.

Jalen was amazing as he spoke so confidently and shared some experiences that he had with Noah including some funny stories. He started off by saying that most people would think that having a brother who was disabled was a bad thing, but he didn't think it was at all.

Harri only decided to speak the night before so his name wasn't on the order of service, but he wrote his entire talk by himself.  I was so proud of him and he did an amazing job of talking about Noah and how he will be once he is resurrected again.

Aaron shared many stories about Noah including lots of funny things which made everyone laugh and also said how proud he was to be Noah's dad.

President Prebble then spoke about what we believe as members of the church and how Noah passing away isn't a tragedy.  It is sad, but it isn't a tragedy because we know we will be with him again, and know where he is.

My brothers Chrish, Eden and Jared and also Alex were pall bearers and the boys walked in front of Noah's coffin as it was taken out of the chapel, and Aaron and I followed behind.

It was so wonderful to have so many people there with us to celebrate Noah's life, and it was so good that some people who couldn't be there in person were able to watch it via a live webcast on the internet.