On June 3, 1996 my husband Brett and I were blessed with our second child Hope Christine. Instead of the usual lifetime of love and care and nurturing, we had just four short hours before our daughter passed away. She was born with a neural tube defect called anencephaly, which is without exception fatal. Her name was chosen do to the fact that doctors told us there just in no hope for these children to survive. Now she would always have hope, if only in name. Though it is now five years later and we have added another child to our family, Hope is never gone from my thoughts and lives on forever in my heart.
I first started making web pages right before Hope's third birthday, with the help of another mommy to an angel born with anencephaly. I was in awe of these virtual memory books filled with love and longing and photos and memories. In a touch straight from heaven, I found out about a month after Hope's site was up that the graphic I had chosen for her main page contained an angel taken from a painting the artist titled "A Little Hope Lights The Way." In short, I had illustrated Hope's site with an angel named Hope. No way could THAT be coincidence. It touched me so much to have found a visual element for her site that was IT; just what I was looking for. I had the desire to help others achieve that every same thing. I had really cut my teeth doing Hope's page and started doing pages for others who were overwhelmed by trying to do it themselves. Each site I do, I try to fill with the same love the parents themselves would put in. As for making graphics, that came a little at a time until I opened her "official" graphics site, Heaven's Hope Graphics, last June for her fourth birthday. I have been so touched by the responses I've gotten and have accomplished what I set out to do: help others who are trying to create a memorial to their child say "That's IT!" Recently, I was honored to be asked to create new cards for hospital doors of those families suffering the loss of their newborn, and currently have memorial birth certificates in the works to commemorate the births of those angels. In the midst of the darkest dark there is, I hope to create a beautiful light that will become a treasured memory in the years to come. MISS has been instrumental throughout all of this, allowing me to share and have a place where my baby's memory is safe and loved. Through a tiny angel who is loved and missed with all my heart, I have been able to reach others who can now share their child with many who will carry with them. always a little piece of their spirit.
