The Motorhome

Another new blessing in my life!  Bill has a very, very nice motor home which he has traveled with and I am starting to get the hang of it and loving it.  My past experience has been tent camping or cabins.  I actually love all that too.  However, with age I have to say that this is the life!!  Haha.  We plan to do some Sojourner trips, which is a Church of Christ RV mission group that travels to different places helping where needed at orphanages, youth camps, churches and sometimes disaster areas.  Looking forward to that work and praying God gives me the ability and stamina to be an asset to this wonderful group.  


Back in August right after we were engaged, Bill planned this fabulous trip to Alaska --- 46 days with a motor home tour group starting at mile marker 0 on the Alkan Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia all through Alaska.  There will be 24 motor homes in all traveling together and campsites, events, tours, sightseeing has all been planned by the tour group.  We just have to get there fall into place and enjoy…so Yea!  We plan to spend a couple weeks going through the Canadian Rockies on our own after the tour and possibly shooting down to Denver, CO to see son, David and revisit our “Lily Lake”.  Maybe even stop in to see Grayden in Nashville on the way home??!!  This is going to be fun.  We will keep you informed on this trip which will be starting on June 18^th…watch the blog for updates and pictures of Alaska & more!

The Honeymoon

Bill planned and surprised me with a 14 day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to San Diego, CA through the Panama Canal.  I had never cruised before and it was amazing, although I did have a little seasickness in the first couple days.  It was a wonderful experience.  He introduced me to new sights and adventures each day.  The weather was perfect, although a little too warm for us a couple of the days in Mexico.  There is so much to do on a cruise and so much food to eat that it’s hard to find time to relax.  LOL.   When we docked in San Diego Bill's friends, Russ & Joanne picked us up, gave us a 2 hour car tour of San Diego, took us to a neat seafood restaurant and dropped us off at the airport. That visit and the chance to meet them was an added bonus to the trip.  Wonderful trip...wonderful honeymoon!!

  

The Wedding

Well, it definitely turned out to be larger than life compared to what we had originally planned.  Sometimes things have a life of their own and we lose control.  However, looking back we are both very happy with the way everything turned out.  We are thankful for all those in our life who love us and made it such a beautiful and memorable event.  We dressed our 3 grandchildren, Grayden (age 20 months, Jennifer’s son), Blair (18 months, Jason’s daughter), Jackson (13 months, Kyle’s son), all dressed up and paraded down the aisle in front of us.  Uncle Brian & Uncle David helped usher them down along with a wagon decorated by Great Aunt Lynne.  Amazing – all 3 looked adorable and did a great job.  Jennifer was my maid of honor,  Mandy sang a beautiful song and Megan read a poem.  They all looked beautiful … everything was done in fall colors – my favorite.  Bill’s best man was his great friend, Dean Oliver.

n

The Engagement

Things were definitely a whirlwind from then on.  I had handed in my three months notice at work, was preparing for the move to Grand Blanc, Michigan from Ohio where I had lived all of my 56 years.  I had never truly moved and lived within a 10 minute radius my whole life.  We were making plans for the wedding and the honeymoon, running back and forth between Ohio & Michigan every week, working on packing and clearing out and trying to move me into the beautiful condo in Grand Blanc, MI.  Along with that we were dealing with everyone thinking we had lost our minds.  Well, that may have been true!  LOL.  God had brought us together and we were not going to waste any more time.  After all we are not getting any younger.  I had been praying for a church home and God gave me the Bristol Road Church of Christ, a wonderful Godly husband and a chance to retire and enjoy his creation and serve Him.  He gives us more than we ever ask for.  God is so good!

Lily Lake, Colorado

Bill had volunteered his time and energy at a Christian Dude Ranch, Wind River Ranch, Estes Park, Colorado.  He had driven his motor home out there by himself and was staying in it while doing whatever they needed done, from huge volumes of dishes, helping to cook, setting tables and clearing them . . . wherever the Lord needed him.  I flew out to Denver for a few days and Bill turned over the motor home to me and moved into the male staff bunkhouse.  I had never been anywhere in that area of the United States so it was a beautiful and wonderful experience.  Bill officially proposed and gave me a beautiful ring at Lily Lake. 

We spent some time exploring the Rocky Mountains --- some of God’s most magnificent work.  We could see His power, love and gift all around us.  We spent a full day driving into the Rockies.  This awesome sight and experience was hard to capture on film but it was an amazingly beautiful day.  

The Meeting

Well most of you have by now heard the story! Our wonderful daughter-in-laws, Megan Martin and Mandy Oberst came up with the idea for Bill & I to meet.  A few days after the girls mentioning it to each of us, I received my first e-mail from Bill.  It made me laugh -- he did a really good job on that first one for sure!  

The e-mails went back and forth rapidly the next few days and we agreed to get together.   I decided the "meeting" not a "date" should take place on neutral ground so we decided to meet 1/2 way in Toledo.  I chose Bob Evans as that is one of my favorite places to eat -- chicken salad plate, oh yeah!   The daughter-in-laws thought we had a lot in common. What they had not expected (and definitely not our kids) was that we would hit it off so well that in 3 weeks we would become engaged and married in less than 4 months. We have now been married over 6 months! God is so good and we are so very thankful for this second chance at happiness and give Him the glory.

Praise God!