A Snow Story

Here we are, the weekend of Christmas 2006. Our family has been reflecting over the past year as we walked through a difficult trial with our dear friends, the Snow Family – Curtis-38, Melissa-37, Elizabeth-14, Marilyn-11, Abigail-10, Emily-9, Anna-7, Molly-3 and Isaac-1.

The Snows moved to our little town of Neosho (Missouri) a little over 3 years ago. We met them through the home schooling group we are all a part of, the Advanced Training Institute. Chiree began teaching violin to three of the Snow girls in 2003. Each week Chiree would come home and share with me all the things she learned from Melissa about childrearing. She would stay a long time after teaching just to talk with Melissa. Because our family is small with only Nathan and Chiree, it was a blessing for her to be a part of a large family and watch how they trained and educated. After Chiree helped care for her great-grandma for 19 months and was with her when she died, she shared with Melissa that since she had witnessed a death, she would love to witness a birth. Melissa told her that she could come to the next birth she had, which happened a little over a year later.

Chiree and I were called in the middle of the night of November 18^th, 2005, and both of us watched the miracle of Isaac David’s birth in the guest bedroom of the Snow home. There were six Snow Angels, and now there was a Snow Man! It was such a special happening and we were honored to be there for it. Little did we know that just two weeks later Curtis would again call us in the middle of the night asking us to come to the emergency room. Melissa had experienced a bad headache the evening before and had become incoherent, so Curtis insisted they get to the hospital. Within two hours the test revealed that Melissa had either experienced a stroke or had a brain tumor. It was determined later that day that is was a brain tumor and the biopsy revealed that it was inoperable. December 2005 was very difficult as Melissa continually had seizures and by the time she came home for Christmas, she was a very different looking mommy to her children with no hair and she had begun to swell, which has continued throughout the year.

We helped to care for the family, along with Melissa’s parents and sister that came from Ohio to stay through March. January- June was filled with doctors' appointments for chemo and radiation. Many people helped in many ways, including 4 nursing moms that pumped their milk for 3 months in order for us to give Isaac a good start in life with nourishing food and several churches brought meals for the whole year. Chiree and Leanna Wilkins home schooled the girls that semester. I headed up a team of 11 godly, efficient young ladies from the ages of 16-24 that volunteered to be nannies taking one-week shifts. It was a full time job caring for 6 little girls and a newborn, 24/7, and each one of the nannies grew to love the Snow children. There is a bond with all of them and many special memories during that time.

Melissa’s parents and sister returned for the summer months to help with the family. Chiree and I continued to help them and spend time with the children. By September, the Snow family truly needed to be a family without any people being around. We all understood how they longed for it to be like it used to be. I know it was hard, but it was worth it to them to have their family alone after having others live with them for nine months straight. Melissa wanted to begin doing the home schooling herself and really tried to when she would have an hour or two without pain. We continued to come over and visit or bring the children to our home for special activities, but we did not assert ourselves as we had done before when we were the ones in charge. We knew how important it was for Melissa to feel like she was the mother of her children and the keeper of her home.

In November the Snows came to our home to celebrate Isaac’s first birthday. His first year had gone quickly, but at the same time, it seemed like ten years wrapped up in one. The girls had so much fun shopping for him and getting to buy BOY toys! There were no pink gifts or dolls for him to open, which was what they were accustomed to for each of their birthdays. Isaac was the center of all our attention and it was a wonderful evening of celebration, even though Melissa was totally exhausted.

Now it is Christmas weekend. Curtis was in the hospital Thursday night and Friday morning with symptoms of a heart attack. After thorough testing, it was diagnosed as extreme stress. (Just 3 years ago, he spent 11 days in ICU with 50 blood clots that passed through his lungs. It was a miracle that he lived through that. His own health has been a concern to us.) Curtis is the Director for Teen Challenge for our area, so he is a much respected missionary throughout the state. Melissa and the children always traveled with him in the past sharing the ministry with churches each weekend.

Curtis’ mother arrived on Thursday afternoon and Melissa’s parents will be here soon. Both families are already grieving over losses this past year. In February Curtis’ father died. A month later his grandmother died. In March Melissa’s sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and died in April. This fall Curtis’ grandfather died. So, you can see that many other stresses have been a part of their year. Through it all, Curtis and Melissa have been such a precious example of full trust in the Lord. What a testimony they have been to all of us!!

If you would like to read Melissa’s journal, it can be found at www.caringbridge.org. After you click on the “visit” at the top right, you write in melissasnow on the second page under site name.

Please pray for this dear family and for Melissa to be out of pain. She is very peaceful and has a beautiful smile on her face, even through her pain. How blessed we are to know the Lord will be their constant source of strength in the upcoming days as He has faithfully been this whole year!