La Porte City, Iowa—

On August 20, 2019, my husband Ryan, who was 43 years old, was heading to work in the morning, when suddenly something went wrong with his heart. He went unconscious, veered off into a steep ditch and crashed to a complete stop. He suffered severe lung damage, internal bleeding and brain damage as a result of prolonged lack of oxygen. I made the decision to take Ryan off life support, per his wishes, on the evening of Wednesday, August 21, 2019. We have two daughters, 14 and 11 and a 6 year old son. We buried Ryan two days after our daughter’s 11th birthday and one day before our 21st wedding anniversary. This Christmas Eve, my kids and I came home to find a huge Christmas Jar sitting on our porch steps. The Christmas Jar book was inside the jar with the most beautiful message about my husband. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift.