Lompoc, California

My husband and I met last October after an interesting story which I will not go into detail about here…we got married 41 days after we met. We counseled with our church leader and felt it was the right thing to do. He has 2 boys from a previous relationship and I have 1 as well.

We have had a ROUGH year to say the least (emotionally, financially and any other way you can think) and for this past Christmas we decided to go surprise my parents for Christmas as all of our boys were with their other parent for the Holiday. The day before we were getting ready to leave, we had taken off to walk the block to Walgreen’s for an errand and came home to find a Christmas gift bag that we hadn’t expected and thought, “dang it, somebody got us”, thinking it would be a small family gift from a friend.

To our surprise we found a jar with money and a book. The Christmas Jars book! After our shock wore off, and my tears subsided….we started to count. The money helped us with the expense of the trip and allowed us to be reminded that there is good in the world and that we need to be a part of that good. I am truly grateful for this inspired story and those who help keep it alive! We hope to be able to do the same one day!