My wife, Jill

Today’s blog post is being written by Chris, the husband. Not Jill, the wife. Jill’s blog is sacred territory to her so I hope I don’t get in trouble for hijacking it but I just want to tell you all how great she is. Jill is always saying wonderful things about me on here (most of it is untrue). I think I’ll tell everyone about her for a change.

My life has gotten better everyday since I met Jill. She makes it so easy to be married to her. She has been such a support to me. She doesn’t feel like she does a lot but she does so much. She’s actually the reason why I got accepted to Penn State for graduate school. I was so sick of filling out school applications. I got real discouraged one day a few months ago and almost didn’t finish the application for Penn State. After a few hours of moping around, I found a note on my bathroom mirror that said, “ Chris, I just want you to know I love you so much. I am so proud of you and I know you can do anything you want to. Love, Jill.” I don’t think Jill realized at the time how much that note meant to me, but I decided then that I couldn’t let her down so I got the computer back out, finished the application, interviewed on the telephone a few weeks later, then got accepted to Penn State Graduate School a few days after that. She is such an inspiration to me. I don’t know how she deals with her sickness so well. Jill has been dealt a tough hand and she’s played it well. Even with her sickness, she is a great help and support to me. I hope this wasn’t too mushy for you all, but I really wanted to make sure everyone knew how great she is.

Love you Jill.

Chris

Also, I would like to echo what Jill said in her last post. We are extremely grateful for everyone who has helped us over the last few weeks. Jill’s mom, Nada, for coming to stay with Jill so I could go to work. Jill’s aunt, Laura, for working for Nada. All of our parents for dinners, cleaning the house, doing our laundry, and for the visits. Jill’s co-workers for picking up the slack for 3 weeks. Melissa for bringing dinner. And all our family and friends for your visits and prayers. I didn’t want this to turn into an Oscar acceptance speech but we are truly blessed. So thank you all. Mostly, we are thankful for a loving Heavenly Father, who hears our prayer and often immediately answers the cries of a choice daughter when she needs relief. He has intervened numerous times and has taken over at the right moment.

PS.

I’m also grateful for those little bottles of 5-hour energy that allow me to stay awake most of the night with Jill and then go to work the next day.

Jill is thankful for nurses who can insert an IV into a vein in one try. (They are few and far between but she loves them.)

Lastly, we are thankful to Ameriben, Jill’s health insurance company.

We are incredibly blessed and have much to look forward to.