Deo Juvante

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe."

Gail Devers



A couple of days ago, the principle of the adult school invited me and another young man (also a student) to lunch. During lunch, I had mentioned to her what beautiful details the building had and she couldn't have agreed with me more.



On one side of the building, there are some brass tiles placed up very high towards the tile roof. Each one of them are very different and unique. In noticing the beauty in the details of the building, I have wondered often if there were some meaning behind them.



In our conversation, I asked her if there was any significance to the details of the buildings architectonic artifact's (I don't know if I am saying that right) and she said it was just decorative and there was no meaning behind them. I have to admit, in hearing that, I felt a little disappointed.



It might be a romantic notion, but I am not convinced that who ever took part of the design in this old building, hadn't put any thought into what they were placing onto it.



This one tile actually had something written on it and I found myself saying it out loud every time I walked by it to class. I decided to google it and find out exactly what it meant.

The Latin phrase Deo Juvante translated into modern English means:

"With God's Help."

When I read this, I felt a warm tingle wash over me from the top of my head to the tip of my toes and started to cry... you have no idea how many times I had prayed for God's help throughout all of this. It has been a whirlwind for me ever since we learned of Charlie's cancer last year in January. This month of May, it has been one year since his last chemo treatment. In that year, I diligently attended school. Last summer, Charlie and I decided that I needed to go back to school and get my High School diploma. In the state of California, you have to pass the Cahsee to get your Diploma. If you don't pass it, you will only get a Certificate of Completion and that is not a Diploma. You can only imagine the discouragement I had felt.
Just to let you know, I did pass the Cahsee!

We barely got through the summer after his chemo and I felt like I had jumped into the race without any training or conditioning for that matter. School has changed a lot in twenty five years! It has felt like I have had blinders on to keep me all the more focused on what I needed to do. In trying to even compete in this race, I have also felt like I haven't been able to spend time with people that I love. It has been hard and with God's help, I got through it!

To know that I have been saying With God's Help in Latin, without even knowing what I was saying this entire time, is mind blowing to me. Then waiting for the teacher to unlock the door, I would pray before each class in English for God's help to get me through it.

Wow ~