Here are some more of the special tributes from the service on Friday:
From Samantha (Sam) McKay, a lifelong friend:
It is with great honour that I stand in front of you today, to speak to you about Nikki. It is also a little daunting, to try and put to words, something that does justice, to the amazing person that Nikki is. I can’t guarantee that I will deliver this without interruption, so please bear with me.
I don’t believe that there is anybody in this room, who does not have a special place in their heart, dedicated to Nix, and the same can be said for me.
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know Nikki, we have been friends from an early age and I can say with conviction that I have few childhood memories that don’t include Nikki, Eve, my brothers and a pony. As children, this was how we spent our time, out and about enjoying the freedom and extraordinary amounts of fun that having ponies provided.
And I think that this is how I will always remember Nix, doing something daring on a horse, or dressing up a dog and always having fun.
Nikki was and will remain, in our hearts, an extraordinary person:
· She was a caring friend from whom nothing was ever too much effort and you just have to spend a brief time reading all the posts, to appreciate how many lives she touched and the extent of her reach.
· She was a loving daughter, sister, wife and mother, for Nix, it is clear, that her family meant everything to her
· and throughout her journey, her faith and relationship with God, have been an example to us all
Chris and Weeze, you can be proud to know that you did an incredible job raising your beautiful daughter
To Adrian; Hannah and Daniel are a testament to the brilliant job that you and Nikki have collectively done as parents and are indicative of how close you are as a family.
Eve, you have been a rock, we are so grateful to you for your unwavering dedication and commitment to your sister and willingness to keep us all involved through what have been some very trying times.
Strange as it may sound, there is a piece in the Winnie the Pooh books, that has always reminded me of the relationship between Eve and Nikki, it is a piece of Tigger wisdom, where he is commenting on the nature of boots. He states that the funny thing about boots, is that they travel in pairs and when you find one, you will very likely, find the other . . . and this is how I have always felt about Eve and Nix, where you find the one, you are more than likely going to find the other.
I believe that this remains the case, Nikki will never be far from any of us, always in our minds, always in our hearts, never forgotten.
So, to an extraordinary woman: Nikki Boyd. God Bless and Thank you.
From Tania and Steven Webber, special friends
Dear Nix
Well Nix, we have tried for the last few days to sum up our special friendship and it is nearly impossible. My friendship started with you back in Grade 1, 1981!!!!! And Steven’s over 20 years ago, when we were in Standard 9!!!!!
Steven and I don’t know what we are going to do without our special Nix!!!! We cannot believe that we are up here having to say our goodbye’s.
Thank-you for being our sweet Nix Naks and for always loving us ‘truckloads’. We will never forget the chai tea’s, the suppers, the holidays, the laughs, the fun, the chats, parenthood, the ideas, the tears and the love we shared.
Thanks for always being soooooo super strong, and trusting Jesus your whole life. Thanks for always phoning us when you were listening to some beautiful piano music somewhere and letting us listen over the phone!
We will always remember your desperate need for sleepovers!!! You would always beg us to sleep over, you’d tell us “Adrian won’t mind, we can all sleep in your bed together”. You even tried to get us to sleep over on your honeymoon, when we met you for dinner! I feel so privileged that we got to have a sleep over on your very last night with us!
There are endless funny moments that we experienced together too many too mention………!
Have you ever been invited to a baby shower at a hospital, and been told to dress up as a patient! And then still been dragged out to a restaurant still in your get up, to carry on the celebration! Many heads were turned.
Steven will keep on being Vlokkie’s woobie blanket. We’ll look after him and your precious boydlets in the years to come. Maybe we’ll even get to go on that yacht trip we’ve always talked about.
We made these caps in honour of you Nix. They have one of your latest quotes printed on them “Hair today, gone tomorrow.” One of the funniest things I have seen was After I had finished shaving your hair, I walked into the bathroom to find you had a sheet of contact paper stuck to your head, you were trying to get the last few tufts that the shaver had missed. We would like to pass these caps on to other cancer patients who may lose their hair, so that we can share a little bit of Nix around. Who knows maybe we’ll get a whole lot made and give them to the sunflower ward.
We also did one more ‘webbersish’ thing and left packets of NikNaks on the food table, in honour of your love of CHIPS!
Huge Humungus hugs
Niatan and Mungry!!!!
From Chantelle Van Zyl, our "surrogate sister":
Nix was always full of life and spontaneity. She didn’t hold back in the way she lived and always gave whole-heartedly. And this story encapsulates just that:
While I was working and living in London 12 years ago, my sister and I went to Cambridge for a couple of days. My cellphone battery went flat early on in our trip and when we got back to London on the Sunday evening I had about 10 messages – the first few from Nix and the last few from Adrian (they weren’t married at the time). All the messages asking me to call them urgently. Nervously, wondering what could have happened, I called Nix’s phone and Adrian answered and asked if I had heard from Nix yet. Concerned, I said “No …. Why?”! And he told me that Nix had spontaneously decided the day before that she was coming to visit me for a few days and that she should have just landed in London – this was all much to Chris, Louise and Adrian’s dissatisfaction of Nix not being organised and her ‘host’ not knowing that she was even coming. When we met up later that evening and had a good laugh, I asked her what she would have done had I stayed on in Cambridge, and she said “Oh, I would have made a plan, and it would have been an adventure!
I have taken my que from Nix and am following through with what Nix’s desire and heart for others was at the prayer meeting, Thursday 2 weeks ago.
Nikki so often told me that her desire was for people to experience her God and His love and compassion for them. And I know that Nikki would count this all worthwhile if she could end up dancing in Heaven with them one day.
There is no doubt, just looking around today, that she has touched hearts through her courage and faith.
Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what He loves. He allows suffering so that His glory can be revealed. And I know that Nikki would be delighted if her suffering could be used to accommodate God’s glorious purpose somewhere, somehow.
Joyce Heatherly once wrote that real Christians know that sometimes the only way that the world around them will ever see Christ is through the fiery flames of our own trials and suffering – and we certainly saw Christ in Nikki’s unwavering faith in Him even to her very last breath. The furnace that Nix experienced refined her into the purest gold and allowed those around her to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
Nix let Christ take over: The weaker she became, the stronger Christ in her became, until he was carrying her. I have seen that in these last 3 years Nikki and her family have probably walked the closest they ever have with Christ.
And I now have incredible peace knowing that Nix is having the time of her life, laughing and playing up an absolute storm and that Heaven is that much richer for their new arrival.
She lived without holding back while she was with us and I’m sure she’s doing the same now. She lived her life in honour and praise of God and it was an absolute privilege to have walked besides her in friendship these last 22 years.
...Me again....
And, lastly, I leave you with a link to a song on You Tube which is just lovely (thank you for sending Lori). Enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa8w7mGug0c&feature=related
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