My best friend Christal Shaver will turn 20 on Jan. 9. If Christal were still on earth, I would post on her Facebook to tease her about being an adult, and she probably would respond by teasing me about being older still. Unfortunately, we won't get to have this exchange because Christal will be celebrating her 20^th birthday in heaven.

Christal was shot and killed by her boyfriend Jeffrey Greiner on Feb. 16, 2016. She was a good student, had a fun and caring personality and most importantly loved the Lord. Her surviving family members are her parents Dennis and Phyllis Shaver, and her two little brothers, Alfred, age 14 and Daniel, age 13.

“The hardest thing about Christal’s death is I don’t get no more text messages ‘I love you, daddy,’ I don’t get to hear her singing around the house,” Dennis said, ”I don’t get no more doggy kisses. Those are the three hardest things for me. She would always sing around the house and when she’d left she’d always go 'hi, daddy' and give me a doggy kiss and run.”

“The way she gave kisses to me and brothers weren’t just regular kisses, she’d lick our faces," Phyllis said, "Or she’d call you over and say ‘I’ll tell you a secret’ and she’d blow in your ear.”

Christal helps the community

Christal was an active member of her church, school and community.

Through school, She was a DARE role model, meaning she taught younger students to say no to drugs at Zellers Elementary School and Albion Middle School. One of the students she taught was her little brother, Alfred.

In addition, Christal was a leader in a school antibullying program called Rachel’s Challenge, which honored the first victim to die in the Columbine shooting. She was also an active member of the school Bible study as well as another Christian program called Campus Life.

At church, she helped in the church nursery, vacation Bible school, church outreach programs and was planning on going on amissions trip to Guatemala in summer 2016.

She also loved to read, and regularly checked out books from the Strongsville Branch of the Cuyahoga Public Library.

The community helps Christal's family

The community has given back to the Shaver family in multiple ways, from Officer Don, who heads the DARE program, leading the funeral procession, to Strongsville Foodbank collecting $800 in cash in Christal’s honor after she helped with her church’s food drive. On Christal’s last day, she picked up $70 worth of food that was later taken to the foodbank by her mother, her Pastor Kip and two other gentlemen from Pathway Church.

Alfred said that he and his brothers’ educators have been very understanding of their situation.

“They just tell us, the teachers and stuff, we can have a break if we need to,” he said.

Dennis said he was very moved by the support of the community.

“There are only a few ways to find out if your kids succeed in life, and that’s when they’re sitting with their wife and or their husband and their kids and you’re sitting back and you watch them and they’re successful and you watch how they treat their children," he said, "or in the situation that happened to us, when they’re tragically taken away from you and you don’t know and you find a thousand people in two days show up just to say ‘I’m sorry and if there’s anything we can do we’d like to help you.'”

Phyllis said there were many more people who later found out and showed their support later.

Christal's relationship with Christ and the importance of forgiveness

Alfred said the important thing is to not feel guilty about Christal's death.

"Remember not to blame yourself about what happened to Christal," he said.

Phyllis said she was convicted by and agreed with her son's statement. She also emphasized the importance of working toward forgiveness in order to honor Christal, regardless of whether you a Christian or not.

“Christal was about forgiveness, like Jesus was, and the best way to honor Christal’s memory is to work toward forgiving Jeffrey Greiner,” Phyllis said.

Phyllis said Christal was majorly about serving Christ and Alfred said Christal wanted to serve God with her life.

"She was about being a missionary," Alfred said.

Dennis said that he and Phyllis always ask their children who they represent.

"We always asked her who she represented and she said 'I represent Jesus first and I’m a Shaver second,' and she was Princess of Shavarnia third,” Dennis said with a laugh, referring to the nickname Christal gave herself.

Phyllis said that Christal was very involved in her brothers’ lives, helping them with their homework and looking forward to watching them in sports this school year.

Alfred and Daniel said God has been a source of strength for them and their family during this difficult time.

“He got me through football, he’s getting us through life,” Alfred said, “He’s taking care of the courts, he’s taking care of justice, He’s serving justice,” Alfred said.

“Basically, [God is helping us through] everything,” Daniel said.