Way back in February 2001 I was asked to write a little piece for our church newsletter about our family. I thought it would be cool to share this piece here in my blog.
David and I met each other when we were both at that point in life when we were not sure if we were every going to find that someone right. We were in our mid 30's when we first found each other. Our love story was not your typical love story. Back in the spring of 1995 I brought home the Christian Newspaper that was provided at church. Going through the paper I came across an ad which was advertising this type of "hook up" magazine called One to Another. In this people could place ads in hopes of meeting someone. I wrote away requesting the free sample copy they were offering. I had forgotten about it until one day when it arrived in the mail.
I went through the magazine looking at the ads placed by prospective males, not sure what to look for. I did not want to move away to another province so I concentrated on the ones that were in B.C. One that caught my eye was M38. It was a 33 year old male who lived somewhere in BC, he liked kids and was into sports. I looked through the other ads, however I kept coming back to this one so I decided to write. I had no idea what to write him. My Dad, who had over time observed me struggling with this reminded me that I needed to take things like this to God in prayer. Instead I decided to write God a letter. In my letter to God I told him what I was looking for in a man. He had to be blonde hair, blue eyes, over 6 feet tall. He had to be a grounded Christian, it was a bonus if he was from the Christian Reformed Church. He needed to be Dutch and most of all he had to love kids because I still wanted a family.
I wrote my letter to this M38, telling him all about me and I included a recent photo as well. I mailed it and the wait was on. The summer had passed. I was on a trip to Disneyland with my sister Angela, when we called my Dad for his birthday on September 20. It was at this time my Dad informed me that there was mail for me....in a red envelope. I could not wait to get home.
Upon arriving home, I took the letter and went into my room to read it. A small black and white photo fell out as I unfolded the letter. In the letter David introduced himself to me. What he wrote was almost exactly to what my letter to God said. He was a 6'1" blonde hair, blue eyed Dutchy from a CRC home. And the bonus was that he loved kids, in fact he was a grade 5/6 teacher at the Houston Christian School in northern BC. We played telephone tag for a few weeks but finally hooked up mid October. We would talk for hours on end with him often falling asleep after a busy day teaching.
We decided I would fly up to meet him in the beginning of December. His good friends Bert and Anna were kind enough to put me up for the weekend. I flew in on Thursday December 7th. David had warned me that he may be a few minutes late as he had to drive from Houston to Smithers to pick me up. I arrived and he was no where to be seen, but then suddenly there he was, the man I right then and there knew I was going to marry, coming to get me. After getting my luggage, he took me to dinner. I needed to give my parents a quick call to tell them that I had arrived safely and David wanted to talk with my dad. I'll never forget him telling my Dad that he promised to keep me safe.
On our drive back to Houston David informed me that I was the moose watcher. Apparently in the winter time there was an abundance of moose there that would trek over the roads to lick the salt. I could not believe how starry the sky was that night. Never in my life had I ever seen stars like that. It was unreal.
Our weekend went well. I was introduced to David's class on Friday morning. He had shown me the night before how I was to walk from Bert and Anna's house to the school. For me living in the lower mainland I had not ever experienced really cold weather. In the mornings I would get up for work, wash my hair and take off for work. Little did I know that you are not to leave the house with wet hair in such extreme cold weather. After sliding down a hill on my butt because I lost my footing, I arrived at the school and my hair was frozen stiff. The school secretary, Jean, told me not to touch my hair at all until it defrosted otherwise it would just break off.
On the Saturday night David had planned to take me to a neighbouring town, Telkwa where this young adult group he belonged to was having their Christmas dinner. We drove together with a couple of other people because David's car was not really running well. After dinner, on our way back to Houston someone in our car was not moose watching. There in the middle of the highway was this HUGE moose. The driver of our car swerved but instead of staying on the road, we ended up going down an embankment backwards. No one was hurt but now we had to get out of this car that was stuck in this huge pile of snow. Not for the life of me could I get up that embankment. It was one foot up 3 feet down. At one point they made a human chain and pulled me out of this embankment. I had had enough in the way of adventures for the weekend...or so I thought. On Sunday, the day I was suppose to fly home again, it began to snow and it snowed and snowed. My flight was cancelled and gosh darn, I had to spend yet another day in Houston. I think God was giving me a little taste of what it was going to be like if I was going to live there in Houston.
I had invited David to come spend Christmas with my family and he was more than happy to accept my invitation. David left Houston after school on the 22nd, made it to Prince George and finally arrived at my place on the 23rd. He celebrated Christmas with us and it was awesome. On the evening of December 28 we had taken a nice walk along the board walk of the Lonsdale Quay. David held my hand as we walked. There were so many opportunities for him to kiss me but he didn't. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Finally back at home I got that kiss I so badly wanted.
David wanted to be back in Houston for New Years as the young adult group he attended was doing something special together. His plan was to leave Friday the 29th at some point so he could leisurely drive back. I was sad because I really did not want him to leave. We walked hand in hand to his car and all the while I was praying, "Lord please don't let his car start! Really Lord, I'm not ready to have him go yet!" David gets into his car and it's dead....deader than anything. It would not even click over. Lucky for him I had BCAA so we were able to get his car towed over to a garage and gosh darn, they were not going to be able to get to his car until January 2. YES LORD!!!
In February David hypothetically asked me what I would say if he was to ask me to marry him. And in April on his birthday he went ahead and asked. Later that year in the summer, he and I flew to Ontario to meet his family and get their approval. We were married December 28, 1996 (exactly one year to the day of our first kiss) and that afternoon/evening/night the lower mainland experience the snowstorm of the century.
On a side note, Zach was born on September 20 which was just 2 years after I received my first letter from David and it was also my Dad's 62nd birthday! (Yes he was born less than 9 months after we were married however he was 3 weeks early - our honeymoon baby)
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