Sunday, December 12, 2010

HEROES & SAINTS: My Brother in Law

I'm fortunate to have lots of trustworthy and compassionate men in my life. One of them is my brother-in-law Dave.
I've been wanting to blog about Dave for awhile because well, he keeps me out of jail.

Okay that might be overstating the facts but the thing is, I'm just not the sort of person who cares about keeping track of money and financial records and all that stuff. I've got books to write. And to research. And to market. Who has time to keep track of how the business is running?

Dave.

Well, actually - timewise, this is probably a sacrifice on his part. But Dave has the skills for sure. And I trust him implicitly. Because he does this, I feel safe knowing that when the tax man comes, the numbers are all lined up in their columns and accurately totalled.

Which means I won't be going to jail for tax evasion.

That's one of the reasons I look up to Dave.

And here's another. Dave's brother needs a bone marrow transplant. As I write this, Dave and my sister Kathleen (his wife) are giving 11 days of their lives in hopes of saving his brother's.  As I understand it, the process is something like this:

1. Medical testing to be sure Dave can go through this successfully.
2. Stimulating Dave's bone marrow stem cells for multiplication and waiting until they're ready for harvest.
3. Harvesting the stems cells over a two day period.

Dave is a man of methods. He's meticulous and likes to be on time.  He has a well-ordered life and he likes it that way.  But he also knows when to allow it to be disrupted for something greater than his own comfort and convenience. This is only one such example I could tell you.  But I won't digress.

Dave's stem cells will be frozen until the date of the transplant. Please pray that all goes well for these two truly honorable men!

Thanks, Dave - you really are both a hero and a saint!

9 comments:

  1. My hat is off to Dave, my brother in law as well.

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  2. My hat is off to Dave, my cousin-in-law :). One of our friends had a bone marrow transplant from her brother. It all went well and they are both fine today.

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  3. Thanks, Joanne and Yolanda! Yo, it's encouraging to hear about your friend's experience!

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  4. Wow. Beautiful post. Sending hopes for Dave and his brother (and you!) that all goes well.

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  5. Will pray... A great example of sacrifical love.

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  6. Joyce, you are most kind and you have a way with words. You should be an author.

    On taxes ... I'm just a nerd who likes numbers. I enjoy balancing my checkbook.

    Thanks for all the encouragement on the bone marrow transplant, especially Yolanda's comment.

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  7. Dear Dave- my favorite bean counter.

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  8. Dear Dave,

    What a couragous and selfless gift especially over this Christmas season. Your gift is not a surprise to me from a man who met me at the door of church many years ago and greeted me as if I were a relation; coming home. Praying for God to work a miracle once again, through you.

    Many blessings,

    Elena *Ellen Hostetler

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  9. Thanks Elena for dropping by. Did you see Dave's pic on his FB?

    Have a very happy Christmas.

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