My Valentine

My sweetie & his "new" truck! (7/08)

It is hard to believe that Jeff & I will be married 20 years in July!! It doesn't seem that long, but time has a way of telling on us. :) Anyways, as I was reading through my blogger friends' posts, one of them had written how they had met their husband and was interested in the stories of how other couples met and became Mr. & Mrs. This of course, made me do some reminiscing. So...... here's how Jeff & I met:
We first met at Hobe Sound Bible College while serving on the Bus Ministry for our Christian service requirements (8/86). My initial impression of Jeff was that he was a bit "strange" :), but he became one of my circle of friends during my freshman year of college. Jeff & some of his friends worked for an electrician and I had a group of friends that I chauffeured to & from their cleaning & babysitting jobs. We all usually arrived at the dining hall around 5:30 and had to eat "late-tray" suppers, which we did together. Thus we all became pretty good friends while eating together (a conservative/Holiness/church tradition :) - eating!). During one of these times Jeff asked me to marry him. I told him, "NO", since I was dating someone from NY at that time (which he knew & was confident I would say, "no").
Then in January 1987, I broke up with the guy I was dating from NY, and sometime after that I had a hilarious dream about Jeff asking me to marry him. It got me "thinking" about him and watching him a bit more closely. Eventually we both knew that we liked each other, but Jeff was determined not to date anyone until his parents became saved. After a conversation with his pastor about dating & prayer, and me leaving on Spring Break ("Absence makes the heart grow fonder" actually worked this time), his ideas about dating changed and Jeff finally asked me out on a date about two months later (Yes, 2 mths later). I couldn't stop smiling after he asked me, so my friends were able to quickly figure out what had happened. We went to a musical that Hobe Sound Christian Academy performed called, Fat, Fat Jehosophat. My friends also decorated a corner of the snack shop with a sign (Friday Night Special: Jeff & Marea), streamers, candlelight, & sundaes. And thus began our dating days.
During our college Christmas break in 1988, Jeff asked me to marry him. When he got down on his knees by the couch ,with the Christmas tree lights glowing beautifully beside me, I wondered....."What in the world is he doing?" Then he asked me those words that every girl dreams of hearing, "Will you marry me?" This time I said YES!!
I didn't mention that he had asked me to marry him a second time (the first time was, as mentioned before, during our freshman year) sometime during our sophomore year and I turned him down. Now before you think bad of me, I should explain that Jeff asked me if I would marry him in ten years. I said no, because I wanted to marry him sooner than ten years.
So, the third time was the charm and it was the perfect setting (I love everything about Christmas) for a marriage proposal. I still wonder about him at times, know life with him will never be boring, & plan on being married many more years!!!!
Now that I have shared my love story, I would love to read about how you met & fell in love with your sweetie.
Remembering has certainly made my heart smile! :)

FRIENDS

Friends. What a wonderful word! I am very thankful for my friends: new, long-time, near, far, intimate, etc. I do not want to ever take my friends for granted because my world would be quite "yukky" without them. It is a blessing to have friends to share my joys, frustrations, concerns, fears, discoveries, & the blond moments :) of life with them. I have some friends from high school and college days (25 years+) that when I talk with them via phone or in person, it does not seem that we have been apart and our conversations seem to pick up from where we last left off. I have newer friends since our move to Ohio (it's been about 14 years since we've moved here) and cherish their friendship just as much. It is nice having them close by, so I think I'm going to start making "play dates" with them. That is one thing I miss the most- going shopping or just doing something- with a friend, since most of us have families to take care of, live a bit from each other, and have work obligations.
Now you may be wondering why I have been going on about friendship. Well, my daughters have each had some of their friends from church over recently (Kerri's a couple of weeks ago & Sharree's today) and I am thankful that they are cultivating some lasting friendships with some awesome young ladies. Life is so much easier to navigate through, when you have a friend beside you and I feel it is a double blessing when that friend is on the "same page" as you.
So to all my friends and family (those that I know read this our my friends besides :)), I want you to know that I thank God for you and try to remember each of you in my prayers every day.


Kerri's buds: Evangelyn & Lindsay

Sharree's buds: Heather, Christianna, & Jennifer. (sorry the picture is a bit dark)

Wonderful White Wetness!

The ruler measures the snow at 10 inches. YAH!!!

Zeus LOVES the snow. Jeff threw a shovel of snow up in the air and Zeus jumped & attacked it, which he loves doing.

Bundled up against the snow, Jeff & Kerri are pondering, "Where exactly is the driveway?" I think it looks like they are thinking, "Yep, that's a lot of snow we have to shovel! :)

Views of our homestead (free lodging & food for any family & friends visiting OH :))

I am soooo proud of the weather forecasters/meteorologists! They predicted our snow storm on Wednesday at 8-12 inches, and we ended up with a total of 10 inches. We had no school and Jeff took a personal day, since his work called him and told him not to hurry in. Jeff and Kerri shoveled the first time around, and then everyone helped shovel the driveway again after it drifted over. Of course, I had to make homemade potato soup for lunch & nothing beats hot soup on a cold, wet day! Later on we played Dominoes for a couple of hours together, read books, & caught up on little things that needed to be done. It was nice having an unexpected day together. :)

Happy Birthday Zeus!

I forgot to post last week that our "baby" turned two on January 13th. :)

Our majestic baby.

Zeus' birthday cake: 2 slices of cheese, doggy peanut butter spread, with 2 halves of a dog b0ne for candles. :)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

July 2008

This week my dad turned 63 yrs. old. He decided in August to stop working because of his health, and just last week he learned that he would be getting disability. This is an answer to prayer, since 90% of the time when individuals apply for SS Disabililty they are denied the first time (wait of 6mths.) and have to reapply (wait for another 6 mths.). This will enable dad to get some medical coverage for his many medicines that he takes. Thankfully, his health has been fairly good since August so he only had to pay a full amount for one doctor's visit and a couple of dossages of heart & diabetes medicine. We keep telling him he needs to take care of himself (exercise & diet) because we want him around for a long while yet.

Jeff's parents are older than my mom & dad, so we phone once a week (Yah, for free weekend minutes on cell phones!!) and plan our vacations visiting them. Some of my friends have lost one of their parents already, and we know that it will happen to us sooner than later now. :( So time spent with them is wonderful. With the girls getting older, we have also realized that they may be doing their own thing in a few years, so these vacation times are precious to us, as well as, to our parents.

So anyways, I am thankful for my dad. He taught us to be friendly, lend a helping hand, and to love God. He may not be perfect, but neither am I. When you look around and see so many families falling apart it makes me thankful for my dad & mom! :)

Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you!

Former Students

Yesterday I had some free time all to myself. (Yes, it was wonderful! :)) So after finishing my floors, I spent some time looking around on some of my blogger friends' contacts. Anyways, I found a page of one of my former students, from when I taught fifth grade at Hobe Sound Christian Academy. She is a writer and has been published in a couple of magazines, but she recently signed a book deal with Steeple Hill. Possibly in October of this year, her first book will be published. It will be a Love Inspired Suspense called, Deja Vu. I don't have the opportunity to hear much about some of my former students, but I am very proud of Jenness (Peak) Walker. I will be anxiously awaiting her book's arrival.
It boggles my mind, and makes me quite aware of the awesome responsiblity of teaching my students the basics of learning, besides building character, and a love for God and His teachings & principles. You never know, with your students or your own children, what potential is wrapped up in them and what plans God has for each of them if they will follow Him. If any of my former students read this or someone knows about some of them, I would love to hear from you or directly from "my students".

Happy New Year, ...

My brother emailed this to me a while back and I thought I would share it with my family & friends. If I don't email, write, or phone you on any of the holidays in 2009, then you can refer to or remember this "all year" card/picture and know I thought of you! :)
At any rate, I hope each of you has a Happy New Year! Even though things look bleak for our country, knowing that God is in control, gives me peace and inner joy, no matter what the year may bring. I pray each of you will experience this as well.