Children are our most precious reward from God.

They can give you the most perfect love...while at the same time, drive you slap up the wall with all their antics.

They come to us ready to learn how to be adults and it is our responsibility to teach them.

They can be healthy one minute and terribly sick the next.

BUT, one thing is for sure, a child is a gift you need to be ready for and if not, then you just need to get ready for the ride of your life, while raising your child.

"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow,
yet we forget that he is someone today."
(Stacia Tauscher)

“Our children are not going to be just "our children"-they are going to be other people's husbands and wives and the parents of our grandchildren."
(Dr. Mary S. Calderone)

Comes now our World Wide Organizers. They come from all walks of life and from different parts of the world, but one thing is for sure, they are helping to brighten a child's life and that of their families on this their special day.

If you would like to help organize a candle lighting in your town or maybe even just in your yard, please let us know at three3sides@aol.com.

We would like to have pictures of your event once it is over so we can publish them in the location section.

You may have a candle lighting in your yard, or at a special place in your town with either permission or maybe a permit.

As our candle lightings reach out to more and more areas every year, we hope to one day light up the world one candle at a time for all the hurting children and their families during this hardest time of the year.

Ayumi Temlock, Japan

Jeannie Kritner, Arab, Al.

Being away from children any time of the year is hard at best. Getting by from day to day without hearing their voices or helping them solve problems leaves us sort of empty inside. BUT, Being away from them during Christmas is almost unbearable.

That's why we established "Lighting Candles World Wide.

We think it might just be better to join together to light candles then to set at home on the sofa crying and trying to understand...when in fact there are no real answers.

If you feel like this is a good idea, we would like to invite you to join us by organizing a candle lighting in your own town.

The lighting can be in your own yard, on your town square, the courthouse steps or maybe your state capital.

At the end of the day, nothing is more important then family!

The bonding of family and the lengths we will go to for our family, is everything.

You should check with the correct agency to get permission to have the lighting on their property if you should chose to have it other then your own property.

In LaGrange, Georgia we will be having ours on the town square with permission from the city manager.

We will be lighting candles around the whole block in our downtown area.

As the old saying tells us, "when you are handed lemons, make lemonade". Or maybe, "if you are left in darkness without your children, light up the world, one candle at a time".

Never under-estimate the power of the love of family.

Children need both parents and grandparents and all their extended family.

Children need to come first and they need to know they come first.

Nothing or no one will ever love you more then your children and grandchildren.

Joining together at this time of year as family, we can warm the hearts of those that might other wise be sad this year.

It's true that you may still be sad, but it is also true, that your sadness can be lightened by joining us to light candles for your family.

We would love to have you join us for our second annual "Lighting Candles World Wide"

" Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts."
(Author Unknown)

“The family.  We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."
(Erma Bombeck)

"You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
(Desmond Tutu)

As our list of organizers grow, so does the need to light more and more candles for all our missing children from our lives.

If you would like to help organize a candle lighting in your town or maybe even just in your yard, please let us know at three3sides@aol.com.

We will have a table of snacks to share with you as well as candles for everyone to light.

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." (Jane Howard)

"Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family.  Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted." (Paul Pearshall)

"I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich." (Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H)

"Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future." (Gail Lumet Buckley)

Carrie Briggs, New Jersey

Jim Briggs, New Jersey

"The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family." (Lee Iacocca)

"If there is one thing you can count on, it is family. While they may let you down from time to time, they will always show back up at the door wanting to give and take the love that goes with being a member of your family." (Bessie Hudgins)

We ask that you take a minute to search your memories and see if there may be someone missing from your family. We suspect there just might be at least one person that you have longed to see, but for one reason or the other, you have lost contact with that person.

Maybe this year will be the year to reach out and contact that person...maybe you can light a candle for each other.

You can never be to loved.

Always remember what really matters; love, life, happiness and FAMILY!