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Faith & Hope Faith's little sister Hope has gone to be with her Heavenly Father.
Hope Noelle Francis
Born: 2/22/03 at 2:27 PM Weight: 5 lbs. 7 1/2 oz. Length: 19 1/2 Inches
Journal
Monday, March 24, 2003 1:45 PM CST Hope had the most beautiful memorial service imaginable. The day was just like our little angel....warm and sunny. Hundreds of friends and family came to honor Hope Noelle.
It began with a wonderful display of pictures, outfits, blankets, cards and countless other reminders of Hope. Visitors were able to listen to our friend Bill Sergeant playing the violin as they viewed flowers, plants and Hope's beautiful little pink floral urn, which was placed at the front of the church. Friends John and Lucinda Sperry created the very special full color programs, which included a picture of Hope praying with "Hope" the bear and a family picture of all four of us. Our friend and pastor from Minnesota, Mike Lee, lead the service. He is such an inspiration to us all. We were so happy he brought his entire family. Scott Dorman (Dohrmann) and his father Wayne Dohrmann brought out the tears during the songs "With Hope", "I Hope You Dance", and "Angels Among Us". Scott came all the way from Nashville to be there with us and Wayne has been a close friend of ours for years as well. The wonderful Bible verses Romans 15:13, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, and John 14:2-3 were read by close friends Curt Hartman, Pat Minnick and John Dencklau. I, Hope's daddy, delivered the Eulogy. It turned out to be the most difficult thing I have ever done. I prayed for the strength to get through it and by God's grace it was granted. The highlight of the service was at the end. As the violin played and the congregation sang, "Jesus Loves Me", everyone walked outside, where pink balloons were given to the children and dozens of friends and family members. Cousins Tennie and Grant Carlson blew up the balloons, while Darryl and Kellie Anderson created a note that was tied to the string, which read, "In loving memory of Hope Noelle Francis. There are three things that will endure - Faith, Hope & Love, and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13. www.caringbridge.org/mn/hope". A prayer was said and the balloons were released as Teresa exclaimed, "This is for you, Hope!" Once again, the day was perfect for this. There was a slight breeze which slowly lifted and carried the balloons to the southeast. We all watched them float off into the distance until they faded away. I cried as I thought about how Hope slowly faded away from us in the same way.
We are very excited to find out where Hope's balloons have traveled. We encourage anyone who has found a balloon to sign the guest book and send us an email. This is Hope's way of continuing to touch other people's lives. She is a very special little angel to so many people, so please let everyone know that you too have been touched by HOPE.
We are sure we have missed saying "Thank you" to many special people that have given so much of themselves though this difficult time. However, please do not think for one minute that it has gone unnoticed. We mean it from the bottom of our hearts when we say that we do not know how we could have made it this far without each and every one of your prayers and love.
The only way we know how to show our appreciation is to keep Hope's memory alive by doing good things in her honor. We do not know exactly where this lead us, but one thing we know for sure is that we are going to let God lay out that road map for us. Then all we have to do is follow it. Our first mission is to establish a foundation for Hope. The specific mission of the foundation will then present itself. We would love to have your input as to possible directions to take the foundation.
Again, thank you for all that you have done. Please stay in touch with us and with Hope's website. We'll all be waiting to see just how far Hope's message of "Faith, Hope & Love" has traveled.
God Bless,
Dale, Teresa & Faith
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Hospital Information: Patient Room: NICU
Children's Hospitals and Clinics (Mpls and St. Paul)
2545 Chicago Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404
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