Encouragement

---

I met my husband, Mark, in February of 1989. I had been married for ten years before that, and had three kids, Christina, Joe and Elizabeth. Mark had two kids, Melody and Nick. Nick was just a baby when I met Mark, Elizabeth was five, Joe was seven and Christian was nine. Mark and I got very close, very fast. We met in February and moved into our first apartment together, in June. We had a turbulent first year, then I gave my life to Jesus and Mark re-committed.

1990-1994, Mark and I had a sign business. We had quite a bit of work but we struggled financially. We had our kids every weekend and every other week in the summer. We all attended a Church in Downey. Mark and I were very involved in that Church. Mark played on the worship team, I had a prayer line and we were on the board.

1994, I gave birth to Elijah. During that year, Mark suffered with bad headaches and leg swelling. He was tired all of the time. Our sign business started doing very well, we just had a hard time getting the work done, between Mark being sick and taking care of the baby.

In November of 1994 I found out that I was pregnant, again, and within a week, Mark found out that he had hepatitis c. He also had very high cholesterol, and his blood pressure was very high. He began taking a large amount of medications for his health problems.

1995 Michael was born. We had to quit the sign business because Mark was just to sick to do it anymore. We both got on SSI.

All my life I suffered with depression and anxiety and in 1999, I started taking medication for it. I tried many different kinds and finally got on something that helped, somewhat.

2000, we moved from Anaheim to Buena Park, where we now live. Elizabeth, my daughter, moved in with us. Our two boys grew up here and except for kindergarten, they both went to school in Buena Park. Nick, Marks son, also moved in for a couple of years.

2006, Mark had open heart surgery, and while in the hospital, his kidneys failed. He was in the hospital for a whole month. When he got out, he had to have dialysis three times a week. After about a year on hemo dialysis, he went on to peritoneal dialysis, and I learned how to do this dialysis, and I did it at home for him.

2008, my dad died. It was a hard time for me and the family. Mark was in and out of the hospital a lot. And Mark got a bad infection in his peritoneal, after having surgery to remove his gallbladder. We took classes and I learned how to do hemo dialysis for Mark, and I did that for about 6 months. It was very difficult and I couldn’t continue, so he went back into the center for his dialysis. He is still going to dialysis 3 times a week.

Present, our family is very close. We have gone through, and are going through many hard things together, but we continue on with the help of Jesus. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to handle all of this without God.

James 1:2, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE