Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We Hope
and pray that this Christmas will be the happiest and most blessed Christmas
you have ever had. The most special of days when our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, willingly left the splendor of heaven to come to a sinful world, to
die a shameful death, that we could some day live forever with him.
Much has happened since our last update. We
must apologize to you, especially those of you who are so faithful to visit
erinhope.com .
Erin Hope's dad is feeling much better and the
doctors found no reason for his anemia. We think that it is resolving and
he will have more tests this week.
Thanks so much for those of you that prayed for
and encouraged us during the year anniversary of Erin Hope's "Homegoing".
The family went on vacation that week to Florida. The main reason we went
there was to swim with the dolphins. Swimming with the dolphins was Erin
Hope's most favorite thing and we wanted to honor and remember her by doing
the activity that brought her the most joy. It was incredible! I can't
tell you how emotional that was. Thanks so much again to Make-A-Wish for
sending our precious Erin and us a couple of years ago so she could swim
with the dolphins!
To catch you up on some of the things that have
happened lately:
- Erin Hope's Dad bought a motorcycle. With
the high cost of gas, this thing gets almost twice the gas mileage as his
car.
- Hannah enjoyed cheering this year for
football and will continue into basketball season. She really enjoys it.
Erin Hope was also a cheerleader and it was really cool that Hannah was
positioned in the squad exactly where Erin Hope was.
- Andrew continues to excel in sports. This
fall it was soccer. His team went undeafeted during the regular season and
placed second place in our county out of 97 teams his age group. He scored
ten goals this year and will be going to soccer camp over holiday break and
will play in a big tournament in February.
- Both Hannah and Andrew continue to do well
in school. We are so proud of them!
- Crystal is continuing to work hard and is
enjoying exercising. She goes for daily walks and is getting quite fit.
She looks great!
- We sold our van recently. This is the van
that we bought 2 weeks before Erin Hope's death. She helped pick it out.
The only reason we bought it was for her. At that time, we were planning on
traveling back and forth to Washington, D.C. often to the National Cancer
Institute for treatment. At the time, we had 2 small cars and it would not
have been comfortable for her to ride and lay down, which she often needed
to do on long trips. We also had an older SUV which Crystal is now driving.
- This year we are hosting Erin Hope's dad's
family for Christmas.
We miss our little Erin Hope terribly and take
comfort only in knowing that she made Jesus Christ, the savior of the world,
HER savior, and that we know we will see her again in heaven because we have
also made Jesus Christ our savior. If you had the privilege of knowing Erin
Hope in this world, you were truly blessed. If you did not know her, we
hope and pray that you will be blessed by the continuance of her website.
But most of all, we pray that you too will be able to meet her again, or for
the first time, in heaven by making the true meaning of CHRISTmas, Jesus
Christ, your personal savior. If you visit the "Free Stuff" link on this
website, you will find a prayer that you can earnestly pray to reserve your
place in a paradise called heaven. You will also find the nearest and
dearest friend you will ever have, Jesus.
Merry Christmas