The Greatest Happiness of All

Ok, maybe that's a little exaggerated but it's definitely way up there--Jer passed his oral comps yesterday so he is now done with his Master's degree! He is the first sibling in both of our families to do so and we are very, very proud of him. He will graduate Dec. 18th at 10 in the morning. He is getting a Master's in Music (vocal performance) from Austin Peay, but due to the fact that he has a gazillion hours from all the work he did trying to get his Master's in Art (tuba performance) from UAF, he can teach both now (tuba and voice). It's so funny how many times it has seemed like our world is falling apart, but everytime, without fail, things have been for our benefit because Heavenly Father is always watching over us. I've even gotten a little better at recognizing that even if things seemed to be turning out all wrong, if I'm patient, and sometimes it takes a lot of patience, I will get to see the whole picture and how truly blessed we have been all along. For example, in the early days of Jeremy's Army career, I was pregnant with our second child and he was about to be kicked out of the Army because of his feet. We were trying to do what was right, and I was mad that Heavenly Father would let this terrible thing happen to us. It turned out that because I was pregnant, I was assigned to the one doctor in the entire Army that would have done what he did to save Jeremy's job. Jeremy even came to one of my OB appointments to talk to the doctor about his problems and this doctor (Dr. Contino--bless him, wherever he is) must have felt so sorry for us because he truly reached out in a big way to save Jeremy's job. We never would have met Dr. Contino if I wasn't pregnant. Then later when Jer did not pass his orals in Alaska after all those hours and all that schooling...we were frustrated but I wasn't completely distraught. We moved to Arizona and in less than a year we were in massive credit card debt for the first time in our married lives. I was a little distraught then. I had spent plenty of time judging others for their stupidity that landed them in debt like ours and here I was experiencing it for myself. I had to wonder what I had done wrong. It was going to take us years to get out of this debt, Jeremy didn't get his degree that could have given us extra $$, etc. The thought crossed my mind for a second...well, if we didn't pay our tithing...yeah, not going to happen. I've seen in the very early days of our marriage how tithing works. You pay it, you get blessed (even if you have to patient sometimes). You don't pay it, you tie Heavenly Father's hands. He can't bless you. Through nothing short of a complete miracle, we not only got out of that debt but paid off our cars, etc. and came through it unscathed in one year. AND, most importantly, I learned through my own experience the stress that debt places on a marriage, on a family, on one's heart, day in and day out. I will never judge or mock others for such a thing again. It was a lesson I really needed to learn. So Jeremy gets back to the point of taking his orals in Alaska one more time and has to fly up there to do it. Again, he fails. Before we can spiral into a deep depression, the Army decided to move us to Ft. Campbell. Not a top pick for either of us, particularly due to the fact that this is the first time Jer has been in a "division" band meaning they deploy to the Middle East. But, we weren't even here for a month before Jer was transferring credits and he was back in school. And here we are 18 months later and Jer is DONE with his Master's degree. The one he started 9 YEARS ago. A degree that is better than the one he was originally going to get. I don't even think he'd care if he died right now, he is so happy to be done with this. And I am blessed with a husband and the kids are blessed with a father who DOES NOT QUIT! How important that is! Of all our siblings, he is the one who probably did the worst in school growing up and here he is--the first one with a Master's degree. We love you Jeremy and are so very thankful for you! Congratulations!

And I am so deeply thankful, more than I could ever say here, for a Father in Heaven who is so constantly watching over us.