When we were little, we loved bikes and big wheels. We rode everywhere. It was one of our favorite things to do (besides building forts in the woods behind the house). We biked to Bill Grays on the corner by the underpass when we were really small to buy pockets full of five-cent bubble gum. We would take bike rides on Saturday mornings with mom and dad to The Mountaineer for breakfast. I was always in last because my bike didn't have different speeds, and the hills were harder.

When we were young, it was our annual chore to rake up all of the fallen leaves in Autumn. It was an all-day event for the two of us, that I wasn't very good at — let's be honest. But at the end of the day, before we bagged them, we would drag out of big wheels, mound the leaves at the base of the hill and ride full speed down the hill and into the leaf piles. It was never as big of a pile as it seemed at the time, but it's still one of my favorite memories. I think that's why I love Fall so much.

I remember when we tried to play chicken when we lived on Jefferson Drive. I don't know why we thought that was a good idea. I started at the top of one hill and you started at the top of the other, facing me. We rode as quick as we could to meet in the valley in the middle to see who was the "chicken" and would swerve first. I think we both swerved about the same time, in the same direction. Your peddle cut into my shin and you went over the handlebars and skidded a few feet down the asphalt. You were really cut up and we were both bleeding. We got in trouble for playing in chicken in the road that day.

I also remember when we were building the addition on the house when mom was pregnant with Seth. We had a huge dirt mound in our backyard and you had a dirt bike. After practicing a few times going over it on your bicycle, you decided to go over it with your dirt bike. We were really young, and you didn't quite make it without crashing at the bottom. You got in trouble for riding your dirt bike over the dirt mound that day.

When we were a bit older, we would take your dirt bike to the top of the street to ride around the "dirt path" with Ryan Marshall. I rode on the back with you sometimes. (I still can't believe mom let us do that.) You had a small wreck one time when the bike slid out from under you when you were going around a curve. You didn't want mom and dad to know because you were afraid they would take your bike away. It didn't take them long to find out when they saw the cuts on your leg. I think you probably got in trouble that day too :)

When we were little, you were afraid of stuff. I know we both were, but I felt like I had to prove myself. I tried to play the "big kid" role by acting unafraid. I can remember when we were in our "den" with the family at night and you were too afraid to go upstairs to use the bathroom by yourself. I mocked your timidity and offered to walk you up the stairs so you wouldn't be scared any more.

That's the only time I can ever remember you being afraid of anything.

March 9: A day that our family always celebrated. Mom was always the best at making creative cakes, from dinosaurs to football fields and everything in between. There were lots of matchbox cars; socks from mamaw and papaw, of course; tacky ‘80s clothes; and L.A. Sneakers, because Eric was definitely cool enough for them.

In later years, we did away with the sleepovers that snowed in three elementary school boys at our house for 2 weeks and stuck to the more traditional, grown-up parties: a dinner at any restaurant of choice or a cookout at home and clothes for the office or some sweet kicks, because he never stopped loving his shoes.

This year, for the first time in 27 years, there is no celebrating.  We grieve the loss of someone so dear to us. Even Heaven sees no need to celebrate an earthly birth for it is his birth into the family of Christ that merited placement in his new home. And in Heaven, there is no more aging. There is only perfect and pristine. In Heaven, there is celebration every day for those Christ redeems.

We now take hope, despite the hurt, in what we cannot see. We trust in Christ’s goodness, in His faithfulness and unending love. We trust in what He gives us and in what He takes away. We trust in His Word that He makes all things work together for our good, even when it doesn’t feel good.

And while we do not celebrate, we can rejoice. We rejoice at the testimony Eric left behind and the urgency with which he carried the gospel his last few months. We rejoice at the life he lived and for the family he gave us. And we rejoice at the hope of salvation that transformed his life — that Jesus Christ left His thrown in Heaven to become like one of the lowliest, despised and rejected; that He was beaten and bruised for our iniquities; that He died in our place to satisfy the punishment for our sin; and that He gloriously rose from the dead, defeating even death. Yes, we rejoice.

It was a happy day of birth in 1984, but today we must rejoice, even in our loss. We love you, bubba.

What a beautiful Family!

I just wanted to share a few of my memories of Eric.  I remember when Bob and Sharon dated, got married, and had little Eric.  I remember watching Bob and Sharon dedicate Eric to God not long after he was born.  It was a quiet and emotional moment for all of us watching.  I do also remember them dedicating Brittany when she came along a couple years later.  I now look at the Photos and see Seth smiling as he looks at Eric's little girl and what a beautiful wife Eric married!

I remember when Bob announced at Church when Eric was saved at such a very young age.  I may not have been there for everything, but these are the memories I have.  I remember Eric standing up for Christ in front of the Church later on probably when he was in the Youth Group (my memory of time may be a little off - but I remember).

Going through this website, reading Bob's and others' testimonies, viewing all the photos, listening to Eric's Testimony and hearing his honest, modest, and humbling voice with his Love for God, I felt chills.  Eric's testimony and life is still working for God's Kingdom even now!  May God Bless all of you and those who hear Eric's Life Story! We don't always know the "why" things happen the way they do, but God's Master Plan and Will is always Perfect.  It is very hard for me and I can only imagine how hard this is for others to "get through this" as Bob said on the Home page.  May God grant you the Peace and Comfort you need to help get through this.  You are a Blessed Family a Christian Family for God!

With Love in Christ,

Angela Richards Tipton married to Kenny Tipton with two of my own Teens, Brittany and Kody