Hope for Anton Online Fund-raiser

“Hope for Anton” Necklace & Earrings

The story behind the jewelry

The donations of these pieces are part of a fund-raising auction for a family who is adopting an overseas special needs baby.  Designed by human hands, inspired by God, three themes emerge in the necklace and earrings. Read and see the stories of Hope, love lost and love found, and woven throughout, faith in a loving God who if we allow Him, will provide for the emptiness in our life and fill us with uncommon love! 

Anton was born with Epidermolysis bullosa making his skin delicate, unreliable, and as fragile as a butterfly's wing. The slightest brush, bump, chaff, or fall causes his skin to blister.  Born under unusual circumstances, to a surrogate mother, Anton is a twin! Although Anton was conceived by parents who had Hopes and dreams for their child(ren), the discovery that he has this skin disorder must have been too much for them to bear as they took home the healthy child and left Anton in an orphanage.  ... A strand of this necklace is inspired by Anton’s country of origin, the separation from his brother, and the pain his mother must endure. Moreover, how God has consecrated him and set him apart. Set apart by EB, by rejection and abandonment, by the direst of circumstances at almost losing the safest home he has ever known.

Meanwhile, almost on the other side of the planet, there is a family whose twin children were also born under unusual circumstances, irreparably conjoined.  While the life of their twins was brief, the love they brought with their birth remains part of their parents and helped confirm that ‘special needs adoption’ was in their future.  … This special family, the loss of their own twins, their hearts softened by love and faith that God is with them and seeing them through their grief, and their desire to adopt, inspires another strand of this necklace.  

There is a third strand to this necklace, but it is conspicuously missing to honor and remember Anton’s brother, the conjoined twins, the missing genetic component that causes EB.  More importantly the third strand is there to remind the owner that, if we allow Him, God will provide for what is missing in our lives, just as He is providing for Anton and his "forever family"!  There is another trinity found in these pieces in the sterling silver links in the necklace and earrings.  They each have a word inscribed on them … faith, hope and love.  Faith and Love adorn the earrings and Hope, adorns ‘Hope for Anton’.   And a final trinity exists at the clasp of the necklace.  A decorative dangle made from the Hope link and two 4mm garnet rounds, one for each twin as it is their birthstone.

This weekend our pastor gave an entirely different Easter message and taught us how God is a "God of the third day"!  Abraham set out with Isaac to do as God requested and on the third day God provided the sacrificial lamb … Jonah set out in direct opposition to God’s request, was swallowed by a ‘big fish’ and on the third day spat out on dry land, now willing to obediently follow God’s request … Christ, obedient unto the cross, rose from death to life on the third day.  For many of us ‘day 1’ comes with devastation, grief, loss, pain, fear, anger …. ‘day 2’ dawns as we experience depression, resignation, numbness, disobedience, disbelief … but our God is a ‘day 3’ kind of God!  You see, ‘day 3’ brings HOPE.  ‘Day 3’ brings RESTORATION.  ‘Day 3’ brings our hearts in line with His IN SPITE of our circumstances. ‘Day 3’ means we walk with God through our devastation, grief, loss, pain, fear, and anger.  Day 3 reminds us we stand forgiven, and above all else, loved and cherished.  Anton is a ‘day 3’ kind of baby and his "forever family" are ‘day 3’ kind of people! 

Only a third day God could weave such a story of love and hope through faith!  Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NIV) says “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:  If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.  But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.  Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.  But how can one keep warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

Through His saving grace, God is uniting a new family, healing old wounds and filling a God sized void with His HOPE! You can be a part of this story when you bid on ‘Hope for Anton’ and

help bring him home.

Materials used in Hope for Anton:

Aquamarine, Quartz, Moonstone, Opal, Freshwater Pearls, Czech Crystal, and Sterling Silver.

Necklace length:  22-inches

Earring(s) length:  2-inches, link and cluster portion is just under 1 ½-inch