Dear Family and Friends,
We got up late that night to just to watch the lightening flash. Kentucky’s summer storms are usually quite beautiful once you learn to ignore the howling winds and the thunder rattling the dishes. But that night was unusual. Suddenly, the wind seemed to come from everywhere at once and began to roar and shake the house. Knowing that a tornado warning was in effect for our county, we ran for our sleeping son and took cover. CRACK! The storm died away less than a minute later and, while Emily took care of Jason, John investigated the source of the horrible cracking sound. He came in from the garage and announced that our garage door had crumpled under the force of the wind. This distressing news barely registered with Emily. She was too busy trying to mop up the water flooding one side of our house through the failed window seals, while trying to keep Jason calm, who alternated exclamations of “Storm is cool!” and “Jason scared, I shakin’!” every few minutes.
In the following weeks we learned that our house had been hit by a “microburst” which, according to the encyclopedia, is “distinct from a tornado in that the destructive winds are divergent rather than convergent.” Whatever. Bottom line: our house and garage sustained $15,000 in wind and water damage. The roof, garage door, and sections of wall and floor needed replacing. This happened in July and as we enter 2009, there is still work to be done. This is partly because of the agonizingly slow insurance claim process and partly because we have been busy with so many other things this year:
John is still working as an instructor on Fort Knox, teaching new privates how to not to get blown up. He was recently promoted to Staff Sergeant and won Non-Commissioned Officer of the Month and NCO of the Quarter boards over the summer. He finally found an offroad club in the area and is getting to know some local wheeling buddies, though he still keeps in touch with the guys from Alaska as well. He has also earned a reputation as the resident mechanic in his company and often spends weekends troubleshooting friends’ cars in our garage. Somehow he has also become the go-to guy for people looking for new homes for their animals. In August, friends gave us our puppy, Summer, and another family gave us a pair of pygmy goats. The goats were supposed to help John keep down our five acres of grass, but sadly one of the goats was killed by a neighbor’s pitbull and her bereaved buddy spent all his time bleating forlornly on our back porch and trying to dash inside whenever the door opened. We finally found him another goat to keep him company and he has happily returned to grazing. Not having to chase the goat out of the house or sweep droppings off the porch makes John much happier too.
Emily started nursing school in January, which has essentially run her life – all of our lives actually – ever since. She enjoys what she is learning even though the schedule is very demanding and she misses being home with Jason. Two more semesters and she will graduate with her second associates degree and become an RN. When not studying, she spends as much time as she can with her boys.
Jason has adapted well to all the changes this year. Several of our family friends have graciously helped take care of him while Emily is in school for which we are very thankful. He turned three in September. Since the therapy program he was in for his cerebral palsy only works with kids until they turn three, they referred us to the school district to continue therapy. The school district tested him and promptly told us he didn’t qualify for any of services, since he scored too high in every category. Great news, but we still felt like he could use a little extra help, so he has been seeing private therapists to strengthen his right arm and leg. He is making wonderful progress. He is sweet and sunny, a joy to be around (usually, anyway...), and enjoys helping Daddy in the garage, stealing Mommy’s stethoscope, playing with all the pets, and asking constant “Why?” questions.
Jason has also become quite the traveler. We realized on our way to a family reunion in Oklahoma that he has already visited half of the 50 states! In addition to the Oklahoma trip, John also took Jason to attend his great-grandmother’s funeral in Kansas. Then Jason and Emily visited Washington in the summer, and John joined us for a second trip to Seattle over Christmas. It was the first Christmas in five years we have spent with family and it was wonderful. However, Emily was a bit over-ambitious in thinking she would get Christmas cards sent while we were there, which is why our seasons greetings are a little late this year. We hope you all had a merry Christmas and a blessed new year. God bless your 2009!
Much Love,
John, Emily, and Jason Cupps
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