Font Size in Outlook Express Emails

..when I send emails, Font size used to be 14. Now it defaulted to 8 and when I type, characters are too small. I can change it tempororaly but Ihave to do it each time when I send a n email.
Is there a way to make Font size permanant for typed out going emails in Outlook Express?
OS is WinXP Pro
Outlook Express is version 6.
Thank you