Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Jason the Graduate!!!


I am so proud of Jason!!! He graduated on December 12, 2008 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He completed a 64 hour Masters degree in just a little over 2 years!!

This is us before the Graduation Reception at the EM (Educational Ministries) school and Pecan Manor (Presidents home):



The next day was Graduation Day!!! Here are some photos of the graduate with family and friends!!! (Even my dad came :) )



Proud Mama.
Before the Ceremony!

Its official!Group Pic!



Co-worker Jacob and then a pic with sis in law, Amy :).


Father and Daughter and then sisters!


Proud wife and proud father in law!


Jason's family, sisters, parents and then aunts :).


Jason with his Grandmother and then our Pastor, Scott.

Frito Pie Spread

Right now J's resume is "out there." We are excited for what God is doing in our lives, would like to know what the plan is, but "patiently" waiting.......:). I am still working on my Masters so we'll be in Fort Worth, until God tells us to go :).

Congrats Babe!!! I'm proud of you! -Love-your wife

Friday, December 19, 2008

The Legacy of a Man...

A week ago today, a very close family friend passed away. He had battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma (stage 4) (I believe this is the accurate diagnosis), for about a year and a half or more. I grew up with this family, I remember playing barbies with Mel, and Lance and Nathan producing their own show "My World". (I was the behind the scenes cameraman and Mel was the commercial gal) We had grown apart throughout the years (different grade levels and etc.) but I believe we all knew that if we needed each other we were there.

I will not claim to know Eldon on a very intimate level. I knew Eldon as Mel's dad (and Nate's) and Lorna's husband. Still knowing this very little of him, he was still the most happy guy you could meet. Many times you realize as you grow older, you wish you could of gotten to know somebody on a more personal level (talk about life, etc). Eldon, would of been one of those men, that if not me, even if my husband could of known him, I think would of affected him in many ways.

At the celebration of life, I got to hear of a man I never knew. I got to hear of a good friend, a wonderful colleague, a man of many deep discussions about life and faith, and somebody who was there for you when you needed him the most. The letters written from his son, daughter, and wife spoke words of love, admiration and thankfulness. But the neatest thing to hear of this mans life, was his passion for God.

I always knew Eldon was a Christian,we attended the same church and lead music at the church us kids grew up at. When we (both families) left that church, we looked for a new church home, and both families ended up at the same church. To my knowledge, our dads, attended the most. I know my dad always looked forward to each Sunday morning getting to say HI to Eldon and catch up on the week. They would according to my dad, sit by each other or behind or in front of one another (depending on who got there on time :) ) The pastor who spoke, spoke about the time when they were colleagues, and he could tell that something was different about Eldon, later to find out that something different, was the evidence of Christ in his life. Eldon had a daily quiet time, something that his parents embedded in him. My dad said that every Sunday Eldon was able to be there, he was always taking notes, as my dad said "he was a student of the word." From what was said of Eldon, he knew who his God was. What an amazing testimony. The testimony of his wife, in the letter she wrote to him to say "goodbye" was amazing. Lorna, also I was amazed by and challenged by. In her letter she said "sweetheart, you've got the best retirement package." To know that she misses him, I can't imagine how much, but to the point that she too, knows where her husband is, and would know that he is with our Heavenly Father, what a testimony. Thank you Lorna, for the strength that you wrote in that letter. The words said about this man were words, that many would want said of them. But, the words said about Eldon, were words of truth.

This celebration of life was truly an amazing celebration. Many tears were shed for this amazing man of God. His son promising to go on that motorcycle trip next Spring, his daughter saying "I don't want to say goodbye daddy", and his wife saying just the word "sweetheart" almost brings tears to my eyes as I write this. I cannot imagine the pain and grieving they are going through, and honestly, I do not want to ever experience it.

In the pamphlet given, in the inside was a scanned written note of Eldon's that had the verse: Psalm 29:4 "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to mediate in His temple." After this verse, were the words "This is what I want...3/11/2007 ELR" Eldon knew his God, no matter what trial he was facing, he kept his faith and he fought the good fight. The legacy of this one man has challenged me in my own faith, I want to know the God I worship on Sundays and throughout the week. I want to truly say that "This is what I want" when I read Ps. 29:4. I have a long journey ahead of me. Thank you God, for letting this man be part of my childhood that one day, his life would be one that I would like my own life to resemble.

After the celebration of life, my husband looked at me and said "I have never been so impressed by one mans testimony." This truly sums it up, I know that I have left some things out, but this is what I felt compelled to share. The legacy of a man, can truly change your life and challenge it for the better. Jason and I are going to strive to have faith like Eldon and Lorna both had and have, faith like Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

God Bless.

(This was published by permission of Eldon's family)

New Info Regarding Santa's Reindeers:


Hehe, though this is not the true meaning of Christmas at all. This is just a funny little story, and continuing the battle of how men have no sense of direction and women do. Although I cannot claim that to be true in my marriage at all times, (believe me, you'd rather have J driving you), its just pretty funny. So heres a little laugh for you during this Christmas season:

REMEMBER THIS AT CHRISTMAS TIME

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl. We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Since the Great Smoke of '08!

Well J and I have officially named this incident as the Great Smoke of '08. :) This past month has been a whirlwind. It has not been a lot of fun, but we have survived. Lynn (J's mom)has been down quite a few times to help, I know we would not have got as much done as we did without her. She came pre-clean with Rodney (J's dad :) ) and they helped us pack up the house. She then came after the company cleaned the place with a chemical and wiped down our kitchen, then put my kitchen back in order. So thank you Lynn!

So if you ever have a "Great Smoke" here is how the process works. J and I first tried to clean the house ourselves with vinager and a carpet cleaner. Give up now, do not try, it will not get the smell out. Call the company to come clean your house. There is no use in you wasting your time cleaning and having no results. (FYI :) )The seminary brought the company in for us, at their own expense, and we are so grateful. There are two options with this company, 1. they come in, pack up your house, and take your items to be cleaned at their warehouse and then clean your house or 2. you pack up and then they will clean the walls and carpet and get the smoke out of that. Choose option 1 if it is up to you, we were fine with packing, we're not complaining, but we pray this doesn't happen again, but if it does, we will choose 1. So they come in and do one round of cleaning, then they do another round that is a therma fog that will "kill" the previous chemical smell. This chemical they use. It does not go away, you have to wipe down everything, like a deep deep spring cleaning. So that was our Thanksgiving break. We cleaned every item we own, with concentrated Lysol. And we slowly moved back into our house after living at J's sis apartment for 3 weeks. We were happy to be home. The smell is still there, but we are thankful for hazelnut candles and apple cinnamon, they make the house smell like home again. I'm told the smell never goes away (unless a new paint job is done I assume). So as long as we live there it'll be there, but we're happy to be home.

It was a long process, imagine deep cleaning everything you own. The baseboards to every dish you own. Some things still smell, so we'll see how it goes. We are so thankful that we were cleaning items and not sweeping them up. We were very lucky. We also had a company come in and clean our carpets and furniture.

We are thankful for the prayers and support from friends and family. Our parents have been willing to help us with anything and everything we need. We are blessed with great parents ;). And family that lets us stay with them (thanks Amy (and Allegro :) )) and store stuff in their homes. A great "landlord" that has helped us to the end (Housing Director and Associate Director of the Physical Plant at SWBTS.

Like I've said, it has not been fun. But we have survived. We are now waiting on what God has for us next. Jason graduates this Friday with his Master of Arts in Christian Education (emphasis: Teaching). He has worked extremely hard and I am so proud of him!!! We are still all packed up, waiting to unpack until after Christmas, so we'll see what God has in store!

We will be seeing J's family during the week of Christmas and mine the week after! We are both excited to be seeing family and relaxing. And J will be singing "No more papers no more books, no more teachers dirty looks!" (he has a revised version, but I can't remember it :) ) Thank you again for all the prayers and we have a few blogs to post that were "Pre-Great Smoke of '08" :)

Merry Christmas and enjoy and savor the time with your family!!!

Blessings,

Curry's :)