37 years ago today

. . . my parents got married.

Actually it was their second wedding. Their first (and official) wedding took place on July 13 when they went in to the city to sign the paperwork.
Their actual wedding ceremony was on the 15th. Getting married in Africa made doing both of these on the same day rather difficult.

They both moved to Africa to be missionaries - Dad as a Bible teacher, Mom as a nurse.

When Mom first felt God calling her to be a missionary nurse in Africa she fought it for a while. To her, that was the same thing as asking her to give up every hope for ever getting married. Finally, she said yes to the Lord and resigned herself to the fact that she would never marry. She packed up all she had and moved to Ethiopia to work as a nurse. . . and then met a dashing young man with dreamy eyes in her language class.

And while Dad enjoyed hanging out with the sassy young Aussie in his language class, he had already decided that he would never marry someone who came from east of the Mississippi - it would make visiting family too difficult. So, of course they could only be friends. Ha! Famous last words.

Love has a way of sneaking up on you. . .and here is the end of their story:
(And yes, that is Dr. Brake standing on my dad's left for those of you who know Dr. Brake.)

And I came along 11 months later.
(And yes, I did have a baby mohawk too.)

Mom and Dad - thank you so much for the amazing example you have given of what it means to have a godly marriage. You have loved Lynn and me with all of your hearts and sacrificed much along the way to take care of us. We would not be who we are today without you!