Joyful Days

Today is Jess and my 8 year anniversary. Tonight we are going to dine in high style at Three Forks restaraunt. Even the gift card we got to there is classy-- it's a huge gold-colored coin. I think of our wedding as one that almost didn't happen. First of all our minister, Barbara, found out she had breast cancer and started undergoing chemo therapy. It seemed to me that she wouldn't have the strength to perform our wedding, but she did complete with wig and a smile on her face. Then, Jess rear-ended someone on the way to the wedding, crumpling the front end of her now barely driveable car. Amazingly, when the other car found out she was going to her wedding they started appologizing to her. There's further proof I have a charming wife. As for me, my alternator went out in my car and my best friend and I were stranded on I-35 in Dallas. We wouldn't have made it except Aunt Sandy spotted us and gave us a lift. I guess you could say that we have been dealing with adversity from the beginning.

The thing about adversity though is that God raises people to support you. Last year at our faculty Christmas party, Pat Cooper announced that the YJH staff had raised money for a new mattress (Jessa wasn't sleeping well because of back pain). However, when went to go buy one, Matress Giant decided to give a great matress to us so that we could use the money raised for other things. I'm getting tears in my eyes just thinking about all those caring people. Would you believe the YJH faculty did it again this year? The staff and teachers are very good at keeping secrets-- I had no idea they would do it again last year. The hard thing for me is that I will never be able to outgive those loving people there.

Jess is having her next scan for January 18th. We were trying to get in before the end of the year, so that it wouldn't cost having already met the maximum amount on our insurance. However, when they scheduled it for next year Jess quickly pointed out that each infusion which she gets every two weeks are $5,000.

The neatest thing happened to the Curtis family. A teacher at Wood submitted Aunt Jaque's name to KLTY's (a local radio station) Christmas Wish. If you don't know we lost a fabulous uncle, but Jaque lost a husband when James passed away recently. Well, Jacque's roof has been leaking and her fence is in need of repair. KLTY matched her wish with a local, generous family. The donor lost both parents when she was a child. Now she is donating a new roof and a new fence to the Curtis family. What a blessing.