It’s been almost six weeks since my surgery for hydrocephalus and I am enjoying a new quality of life! So thankful. I still need stamina…it will come.

Last weekend my oldest daughter and I drove to North Carolina to attend the 70th birthday party of a man who helped my family for over half of his life. He sacrificed his life for the lives of my parents and us – even the grandchildren.

He knows everyone! They’re were about 200-300 people there. It was so much fun to see many people I had not seen in a long time – many people connected to my family in some way.

He is the most positive person I know. Anything you ask him to do he acts like it’s the greatest thing in the world. He always has a smile and is full of enthusiasm. He is always thinking of something he can do for others. If ever someone had a servant’s heart, it is Maury Scobee.

He has a special place in our family. My younger brother, Franklin, met him when they were at LeTourneau College in Texas together. They became friends and one day Franklin took him to meet with my parents and as my father said, “Franklin never came back to pick him up.” We are glad he didn’t.

He babysat the grandkids taking them on fun adventures. He had to find Revlon’s “naked pink” lipstick for my mother. He went to the grocery store. No task was too small or too large. He travelled with my father around the world, giving of himself to my father’s needs of any sort. He was always smiling and laughing. He was at my father’s hospital bedside many, many times. My father trusted Maury and relied on him in so many ways. A world-wide ministry takes a toll but Maury eased the load for my Father. We are grateful to and for him.

Along the way he made countless friends – some famous – some just regular folks – it doesn’t matter to him. He loves them all and stays in regular contact with them. I don’t think he has an enemy.

He accompanied my Mother and my 2 older sisters and me to China back in 1989. He was the only man along and we counted on him for so many tasks – hauling our luggage which, at that time did not have wheels, and we didn’t pack lightly, photographing our journey as well as being the videographer creating documentation of our trip back to the place of Mother’s birth. On the first night back to Hong Kong after an arduous journey through China, we dispatched him to MacDonald’s to get us cheeseburgers! Even though he was as tired as we were he did it cheerfully. It was a trip of a lifetime and he was integral to it all.

It wasn’t easy and sometimes very difficult but I never saw him angry or upset. He usually was cheering up someone else. He’s had his share of heartaches – losing a brother to cancer, losing his own mother. But he never wallowed in his sorrow instead he looked to find someone he could help. He is a very special man.

He never married – though we tried to set him up more than once. He was married to the ministry to my family. He is someone who had our backs – over and over again. He was always a constant. We could count on his smile and laugh and his prayers.

The whole family loves him. Maury Scobee is an example of a servant’s heart, if ever there was one. God blessed my family with Maury.