Jeff and I celebrate 40 years of marriage today!
We are so grateful for the union God decreed and for the love and blessings throughout these 40 years. As I wrote in my A-Z posting, we were such an "unlikely" pair. I was the shy, backward, sheltered girl from a strong Christian home that was in church every time the doors were opened. Jeff, on the other hand, was the popular, all-sports jock, played in a rock band, and did not have a godly heritage. I can only credit our attraction to the divine intervention of God. Jeff had had several girlfriends and had been dating for a couple of years. However, because of my shyness, I did not have a boyfriend nor had I even had a single date. The attraction began in our Junior year of High School. Our desks were right beside each other in Mrs. Hiland's history class. However it wasn't till the fall of our Senior year that we had our first date, which was my very first date. We went to Pittsburg to see the movie, "Love Story." We dated off and on our Senior year but it wasn't until our Senior Trip to the Lake of the Ozarks that we verbalized our love to each other. In the fall after graduating, Jeff moved to Topeka, Kansas where he was a student at Washburn University, playing football and studing to be a lawyer. We made the decision before he left, that we would not tie each other down and would be free to date others. Which we did, however, when God got a hold of his heart in the Spring of that second semester, then it became apparent that it was meant for us to be together. Jeff moved back home after completing that year and we became engaged in the summer. We started attending a little mission church in Pittsburg, Kansas, where Jeff began his spiritual journey of commitment and dedication to the Lord. Jeff enrolled in Pittsburg State University that fall and I was working full time at McNally's in Pittsburg. We intended to marry in May of the next year (1973) but decided in October or so that we didn't want to wait and set the date as December 22nd....his last day of finals/college semester. My poor Mom had to put it in high gear to get my wedding dress made and all the other things arranged. She did a great job on my dress and our wedding was very pretty.
After the wedding, we lived in Girard in a small apartment for a few months but because we were working, Jeff going to school, and going to the mission church all in Pittsburg, we decided to buy a mobile home and live in a nice mobile home park on 20th Street in Pittsburg, KS. That also was the hand of God as Jeff was then hired by the mobile home park to work for them during the duration that he was in college.
Jeff surrendered to the ministry on his 21st birthday at Saginaw church camp near Joplin, Mo. After he graduated from Pitt State, we moved to Independence, Kansas, where he was on staff with Ernie Watson at Highland Park Baptist Church.
From there, we moved to Tyler, Texas where we worked and he attended the BMAA Seminary in Jacksonville. Jeff has pastored churches in Kansas, Missouri, Texas and Arkansas as well as worked/taught on several college campuses and worked in the BMA Missions office which allowed him to travel world-wide for several years.
To commerate these 40 years, I created a photo book of our family pictures down through the years and gave to Jeff earlier this month. I am posting many of those pictures in an album on Facebook but for this blog, I just took pictures of the book itself to put here. The pictures bring back so many memories. It also reminded us of how quickly time passes, how fast your children grow up, and how much water under the bridge there is!
And through it all.....God has been so, so good to us!
So many of you have walked this journey with us -- all the way or only a short distance -- and for that we are also very thankful.
Ministry has brought so many wonderful friendships along the way.
I have some dear girlfriends who have lost their husbands early to accident and/or disease and so I want to cherish every day of my marriage and the days we have together.
Thank you, Lord, thank you!!
(If you doubleclick on the picture, it will enlarge).......
Book Cover
We were married at my home church, Mt. Olive Baptist Church, rural Girard, KS in 1972. My Uncle Marvin Boore officiated the ceremony
We had a small ceremony and only invited immediate and extended family.
Steve Williams and Sheryl Ragonesse who were our best friends, and at that time husband and wife, stood up with us:
Yes, royal blue was our color!
Baby, toddler and Senior pictures of us
First picture below was on our Senior trip when we realized we were in love
Second picture was at a fraternity party at Washburn University when Jeff "pinned" me
Last picture was what we put in the local newspapers to announce our engagement
Miscellanous pictures of the early years of marriage and our first pet, Buttons
First picture below: we always had so much fun during those Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Garland, Kansas days when we would dress up for Halloween parties, have haunted houses, etc. Not something many churches do now with a change in our culture, etc.
The second picture was when I was pregnant with our first child, Josh:
It took a while before we were blessed with children, but we sure were happy when we did get our kiddos! Our firstborn, Joshua Jerome born in 1977 (his wife Erika, joined our family in 1999).
2-1/2 years later, Andrew Ryan joined our family in 1980 (and then Carman became a part of our family in 2005).
And then to complete our family circle, Rachel Ann was born in 1985 (and Jonathan joined us in 2012).
More pictures as our children grew......
Fun picture from above that I enlarged below.....this was during our days at Calvary Baptist Church, Mesquite, Texas. We had a 50's party!
The kids became teenagers......and we all survived!
Pictures at Disneyworld or the beach nearby....wonderful memories!
More vacation pictures below....all except for the motorcycle pic....that was Jeff's dad's motorcyle. I wish I had some pictures of Jeff and I in the very early days of our marriage when Jeff owned his own motorcycle. We had a lot of fun riding it (there are many days he wishes he still had a motorcycle). However, we sold it while still living in Pittsburg to put the money toward the building pledge committment we had made for the new church building (that is now Meadowside Baptist Church).
Our 25th....1997
We went on a Caribbean cruise that next summer to celebrate our 25th.
Additional pictures of our family as our kids grew into adults. Even though some of these family dynamics have changed, I did include them in my book as these seasons of our lives were important to us.
Josh as a blondie......I liked it!
Pictures during vacations.....most of these were with Mom and my sisters and their husbands:
Holy Land trips......
And then begin the pictures of the "icing" on the cake of our union. And yes, there are probably more pictures of the grandbabies than there are of the kids.......but that's just the way it is when you become a grandparent!
My only real "text" mistake....second picture should say, "Laine's 1st Birthday"
Ellie's first six months....
It was after the completion of the book, that we were told the news that "Baby Mac" will be Copeland Ware McCrary. We are looking so forward to meeting our grandson!
And this is the back of the book..........it was a lot of work over several months of searching pictures, scanning, then trying to create with an on-line program. But Jeff was very pleased and we will both cherish the memories the book holds and are praying that God will allow us to make many more precious memories in the days, months and years ahead and if Jesus delays His return, we will celebrate #50!!
