31 Years! A Short History of Our Marriage (so far)

December 1979 (married 2 weeks)

   

  

December 8 is our wedding anniversary.   31 years now!  John and I met on September 5, 1976, in a vespers service in my freshman year at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia.  I was trying to get over my "first love"...we had broken up during the summer and he went to college there also.  It was a mutual "breaking up" after almost a year and a half of dating.  It was rough because we were very close and had grown spiritually together also.

 I met John that September day and we became good friends.  Not until the next fall, a year later, did we began to date.  We had a somewhat stormy relationship....dated 9 months, broke up for 9 months, got back together and got engaged and then we were married 4 months later two weeks before Christmas in an evening candlelight wedding on a very cold night!

 Our first years of marriage were spent with one or the other of us in school.  I finished first while John worked full-time. Then I worked full-time while he finished.  Four years into our marriage found us in New Orleans at seminary.  We lived there 3 years and had our two babies there.  It was a growing time in our marriage as we were separated from family and home as I had always known it.  But we made it with the Lord's help and patience with us!  Within 6 months of seminary graduation we were living in Costa Rica with our 2 year old son and 5 month old daughter. We attended Spanish language school there as we prepared to serve as International Mission Board missionaries to Guatemala.  One year later, we were living near the rain forest in north central Guatemala, planting churches and raising our family. We served the Lord there for 9 years in both Coban and Antigua, Guatemala.  I would not trade that time for anything.  That was another very "growing" time in our marriage....good times and bad.  Any missionaries will tell you that issues in marriage can become even more pronounced when living in another culture and in a foreign country.  But we made it and have precious memories of our time there together.  Thank You, Lord.

Back to the good ol' USA in 1995 and no jobs, no house, all household belongings stored in a crate sitting in a Guatemalan port.  A year of furlough and then we found a house here in our hometown area with the help of my parents.  No bank would give us a loan considering we hadn't lived here in 14 years and most of that overseas.  The Lord provided jobs for us and somewhat easy adjustments for our children and a wonderful, supportive church home.

2010:   Now we have an empty nest!  We have 2 beautiful grandchildren.  The Lord has blessed our lives through family, friends, church, our jobs and especially our marriage.  We look forward, Lord willing, to many more years together.  I love you, John.