Our 41st anniversary is this week. 41 years! I feel so very blessed to have Joel as my soulmate. It is one of the reasons why I know how much God loves me! He brought Joel into my life.Speaking of God, the story of how we met and married is a good one. In 1966 Joel and I both attended The Lutheran Bible Institute which later became Golden Valley Lutheran College. On parents weekend my older sister who raised me came to visit with her good friend from our church where they worked together. They visited the dorms and campus on their own and then met me at the commons building. As we talked from the second floor balcony, they said to me, "Oh, Renee, we met the man you are going to marry! He wants to be a missionary in Africa and we can just see the two of you working there together." I was curious and asked who it was.... Just then Joel walked through the downstairs door. They said, "There he is!" My reply? "You have got to be kidding! He is loud and obnoxious, and he wears boots!" They both just smiled and said, "We will pray about it."
Just 3 mo. later we started dating, 9 mo. later we became engaged, and 6 mo. after that we were married. A farm boy who wore cowboy boots married a city girl who wore suede go go boots! It was a match literally made in Heaven and 41 years later we still rejoice in the prayers that brought us together. It was not part of God's plan for us that we go to Africa, but it was part of His plan that we spend our earthly lives together.
Oh, by the way, Joel still wears cowboy boots...but I gave up my suede boots a long time ago!
We lived in the Philippine Islands from 1974-76 while Joel served as a meteorologist in the Air Force. He forecasted weather for the pilots flying to such places as Japan, Viet Nam, or the U.S. Clark Air Force base had a population of about 40,000 at that time. It was a small town with its own college, churches, library, etc. All our food was brought in by plane, or on big ships to Subic Bay and from there came on trucks to Clark. There was only one grocery store for the whole base and going shopping on pay day was more than a challenge! It was a waiting game. First of all it was important to get there early because it took about an hour just to get in the door to shop. With the heat and humidity it was always good to bring along something to drink....and a good book! Shopping was not so bad, but when it came time to check out, the lines were yet another hour long. And yet knowing we needed food to sustain us, it was"worth the wait". Somethings in life are worth the wait.