Sunday, September 23, 2007

Homework

Dear Friends and Family:

Will and I are experiencing something new. Homework! When Debbie and I were educating our children at home, our children were normally finished with school by the time that I got home in the evening. Now it is not unusual for Will and me to spend several hours together in the evening finishing his daily assignments and doing his homework.

Recently his grandmother asked what he liked most about going to Christian Heritage Academy. Will said it was the homework. I wish that I had the same attitude.

Is it the homework or is it the personal time with Dad? For a ten year old who has just lost his mother I would conclude that it is the personal time with Dad. His need for me is even greater since Debbie’s home going.

Who would have thought that something like homework would help meet Will’s need? Homework is normally something that students despise. Homework is normally something that students want to finish as quickly as possible. Homework is normally something that students dread.

God is always giving us homework. Our homework is those people and circumstances in our lives that we would rather avoid. But with each assignment God is meeting a great need in our life. Will’s homework makes him more dependent upon me. God’s homework makes us more dependent upon God.

May we all have the same attitude that Will has about His homework. May we see each assignment as God’s way to make us more dependent upon Him. And may we always delight in more personal time with our Heavenly Father!

Prayerfully,


Jerry Wells

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

An Update And A Request

Thanks again for supporting our family during such a time as this. Each prayer you offer on our behalf is pleasing to the Lord. I know that you are sharing His heart with us when you pray for us.

We are very busy. There are eleven of us living in my home. Josh and Jill and my two grand babies moved in with us in July. They have been such a tremendous help and support to us in so many ways. It is has been a smooth adjustment because of their maturity in the Lord. I am very grateful.

Josh is completing his last year of law school at OCU. He had done very well and we anticipate he will have several opportunities to start his practice when he is finished.

Besides Josh finishing law school, Zach is a junior at Mid American Christian University which is just down the road from us. That is where his fiancée Karla Davis also attends. It appears their wedding will be early next summer.

Jacob is my only child that is not living at the house. He is doing a remarkable job selling cars at Bob Howard Toyota in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Caleb is a full time student at Moore Norman Vocational Center. He is studying auto mechanics. This will be very helpful to the Wells since there are normally seven or more cars in our drive way at home.

Grace is taking 16 hours at OCCC, a local two year college. She is just getting her basics out of the way as she considers her major.

Jeremiah, Mercy, and William are all fully involved at Christian Heritage Academy thanks to the gifts that were given in Debbie’s honor. Jeremiah is playing football for the first time and it has been a great experience. Mercy has several new friends and is preparing to play basketball. I call her the best athlete in our family but she does not know it. William is literally a full time student. We have some catching up to do so Will and I normally spend several hours each evening doing his homework. All of the children are being challenged academically and are embracing the challenge. CHA is definitely exactly what we need at such a time as this. I am very grateful for this opportunity for my children.

I am very busy at church, preaching and teaching twice a week, counseling, and leading our wonderful staff. Our church has embraced our new lives and loved us beyond measure.

How are we doing emotionally? It is still very hard for all of us at times as you would expect. We all have our moments! But we enjoy one another and enjoy life like Debbie wanted us to do. She told me that she wanted our home to be a happy place where people would enjoy themselves. Jill has done a wonderful job creating that kind of atmosphere. There is lots of laughter again in spite of our moments.

I want to make an unusual request before all is lost. We are compiling all of our resources for the book that we plan to write about lessons that we learned from Debbie’s life. If you have any e-mails that you received from Debbie that would be helpful would you please send them to us before they are deleted and lost. If you have any stories in which you learned something from Debbie’s life, would you send us those stories and what you learned from her?

I know that this will not be easy for some of you. I have wept many tears re-reading her e-mails or recounting stories about her. But it is also very healing and it will be a great help to us. Obviously I cannot promise that we will use everything we receive in the book but whatever we receive will be maintained for our future generations.

Please send your e-mails from Debbie or stories about her to jerrywells@westernhillschurch.com or jerrywellsfam@gmail.com. You can send mail to our home at 6301 S.W. 123, Oklahoma City, OK 73173, if you need to send a copy of a letter that she wrote to you or send us some other information.

Friends are wonderful. Thank you for being there for us. Please let us hear from you.

Jerry Wells