One More German Post: A BIG Thanks

I just wanted to say again how darn happy that I passed that test. I also wanted to say a quick word of thanks for all the good folks in Houston and abroad for their prayers and for putting up with all my trips and making me feel welcome and loved.

Thanks to the Holtzmans for their constant love and warmth. You guys made my trips feel like a visit to my folks. You've been there prodding me along from the start and I can't express how much I love ya.

Thanks to Josh and Elise Moore, for your constant encouragement and inspiration. You guys are just a powerhouse of a couple.

Thanks again to Greg Stahl for all your encouragement and understanding throughout my whole degree process. I can't thank you enough for always telling me that my degree comes first but at the same time using me at WTBC in the ways that always emphasized my strengths. I'm sorry I didn't get to catch lunch with you last time I was there, but you are loved and appreciated.

Thanks to Cary and Popcorn for letting me use Barney (their spare car!) on my visits. You guys saved us a truckload of money on my visits and you've also been a constant fount of prayer and encouragement. Cary, your project is one of the most enjoyable things I've ever worked on. I can't wait to hear the finished product.

Thanks to Tim and Angela Boone... these guys have been quietly helping Amber and I since we've known them. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have been able to complete our last CD or move to NYC. I'm not sure if they want people to know all that but I just had to include them into the mix. I have hardly met kinder people. When I needed testing for dyslexia this past month, Tim (a well known surgeon) and his wife went out of their way to find a friendly neurologist for me to take the exam. Also, the man saved a friend of mine's life one time at church when Tim noticed the staff infection on my friends arm and how it was swelling. My friend's doctor had prescribed the wrong antibiotic and Tim called in the right prescription right then and there at church! Just salt of the earth people I tell ya.

Also would like to thank my Mother and Father-in-law. (and Baca and Tinydancer too!) I don't know what I ever did to deserve to be welcomed into such an amazing family, but they have been nothing but flat-out-incredible in their constant love and support of a such a odd-ball son-in-law. Along with my family, they are the most incredibly wonderful people I have ever known. When I first came to visit them at their house while courting Amber, I had to take a walk because I was overwhelmed with love for these people. I say a quiet prayer of thanks every time I hear a horror story from one of my buddies about their in-laws. I am truly, truly blessed beyond comprehension.

Another big thanks goes out to my Dad and Mom... if I get going here, I might not stop. A quote from my mom after I failed my German test the second time: "Son, I don't want to hear any of that business about dyslexia or ADD. Attention deficit disorder? How about attention DISCIPLINE disorder? If there is anything I've known about you since I gave birth to you, is that when you set your mind to something, hell or high-water won't stop you. Just like when you decided to get into all the honors classes in the ninth grade because that's where the pretty girls went. You just have to WANT to do it. So, buck up and get a tutor." Yes Mother. Needless to say, I got a tutor and passed. (I also got a cover letter written to the German department, not to mention an incredibly pretty wife.)

Of course, my wife... Off the charts. She deserves a truckload of diamonds and a hundred love-songs for all the encouragement and support she has given me. More on that later. (Five year anniversary coming up in three days!)

Of course there are a ton of people who have been encouraging and who have been praying for me all the way... Joan and Rick, Susan and Dave, Michael and Jean, Susan and Rick, Phil and Brenda... the list goes on and on and on.

All of that sounds like I just won the Nobel prize or an Academy award or something, but for me, I might as well have. It has been a looooooong haul with this here degree and this German test just about kicked my but in the 11th hour. (Cue Rocky music.) So I'm feeling mighty good right about now, and sometimes you just need to give thanks. It feels like a giant German Waterbuffalos' hoof has just been removed from my crotch (Or something like that,) allowing me to FINALLY graduate. Oh the eloquence of a DMA candidate...

Thank you guys, and thank you JESUS! Hallelujah Howdy-doo-ya!!!

Now lets all hold hands and join in the Doxology...