Our 16th Anniversary

By Derrick:

This Dear Saint.

A bittersweet day. A funeral/anniversary day.

Anniversary first:

Today, I celebrate life with my bride of 16 years. Here’s our track record since June 29th, 2002: 1 apartment, 3 houses, 6 jobs, 4 deployments (away from home 345 days), 10 vehicles, 3 cats, 1 dog, 6 fish, and 1 hermit crab. 5 church families, 7 kids (3 boys, 3 girls, 1 ??? - due in August), and multiple ER visits. 34 college semesters, 7 degrees, and 11 majors (ha!). 1 political campaign and 3 years in office. Vacations to Branson, Hawaii, Mexico, both coasts, and the gulf. All the major theme parks from Disneyland to Sea-world, SilverDollarCity and Frontier City. Good times of laughing and sad times of tears. Hard times of disagreement and happy times of joy. Weddings and funerals. Birthdays more than I can count...but if I had to try, I think it’s 87 within our family alone. I love her more today than I did the day I met her. Amber is truly a saint. I say all of this - not to boast (read that again), but to count my blessings, and more importantly today, to reflect...

Funeral:

Ironically, today is also the home-going funeral service of a dear sister in Christ, whom if it wasn’t for her by the grace of God, all of the memories above would be erased, gone, never have happened. Wouldn’t be celebrating an anniversary today. Wouldn’t have 5 of these kids today. Life would be very, very different. Pam knew that. 

Pamela Devitt is a saint. Pam and Terry entered into our lives in 2005. This was about 3 years into our marriage...just as it was spinning wildly out of control into an inevitable disaster of an end. From all likely outcomes, it looked like divorce, heartache, split family, years of picking up the pieces, and trying to start over with less of a foundation than before. Pam was bold enough to step into our lives and not let this happen.

This sister in Christ, this dear saint (along with her husband Terry), pointed Amber and I to scripture, to Christ, helping us understand what marriage was, and more importantly who we were in Him. Our marital foundation before had been built on sand, on the lusts of the world, and on Hollywood projections of marriage. Not upon Christ and his bride, the church. Pam and Terry spent months into years investing in our life. Without God’s grace shining through Pam, I am certain the top paragraph of this post would not exist. She lovingly served Amber and I in a way in which we will never forget and forever be grateful. And she lived in such a way, all the way, to the end. Helping others. Loving others.

Pam is a dear saint and she will be missed tremendously. But our reunion in Heaven will be so wonderful, so joyful, and everlasting. I am certain she is spreading joy and seeing the fruit of her labor here on earth. Well done, good and faithful servant. We love you and Terry and will see you soon. 

With love, in Christ,

Derrick and Amber