A look back.

Don't remember why I took but it is us.

It is hysterical seeing Andy drive the bukee (little truck). 

I need to video tape him getting in and out. Almost impossible.

Always there for the kids. 

Andy giving the boys the chance to handle some tools. 

We took Alaska to a nice restaurant after getting the computer for him
and the others who will go to college after him. 

Andy patiently teaching.

Not easy to set it up while driving but the 3G stick makes internet possible on the road.

Andy and I met and fell in love very quickly. We were married 16 months after the day I served him a cold beer in my cocktail waitress mini skirt. Before that time I had dated but never thought of marriage; I was headed to the Peace Corps in the Philippines (until the coup messed that up) and then to Togo, West Africa to work in a rural health unit.

I am sure I was attracted to Andy for his physique and the way he made me feel safe because of his size. I loved his smile. I loved his closeness to his family. He never swore and had that all-American fire guy thing going. I was so hooked … and completely intimidated by the Mr. July thing.

We got married and Andy already owned a home … in Southern California. I know many young people now think that is because it was possible then. Well, Andy lived with his dad until he could put a down payment on his first house, when that wasn’t exactly romantic as a young fireman. He and his brother, Joe, squeezed into that house, I am sure, as partners. After some time, they sold it and each could buy their own houses.

During that time, Andy didn’t have a great car, he didn’t go on expensive trips, he didn’t live out other things he wanted to do. He knew he wanted to own a home and never rent to pay someone else’s bills. I get very tired of hearing that it is impossible now. We know several young people who are buying their first homes early. It takes sacrifice early on. The possibilities either build or diminish, depending on choices and what we value most. Fortunately, Andy valued what pays into the future, rather than the temporary.

After we married, I worked a few different social services type jobs until realizing I should get a teaching credential and masters degree. Andy supported me all the way. He grew close to my family and me to his. We had a dog we loved and loved each other. We knew a few people we called ‘mega Christians.’ They annoyed us and we found it hard to believe that a couple of our sleaziest friends could really change the way they were claiming to change.

We had Cam. Oh Cambos. Huge and beautiful Cam. We made the drive from Fountain Valley to Orange going way slower than Andy had ever driven in his life and stopped by the Catholic Church. Thankfully it was open. I just had to thank God for this not-so-little bundle. I just sat there in gratitude.

Being a mother hit me like a ton of bricks. It felt like my life just screeched to a halt, leaving me so bewildered at how I could love a person so much but not enjoy life as a mother of a little one.

With therapy and time, I recovered and we had Nolan. Noli was so fun for me in the hospital. It seemed like just the two of us. I remember those moments so clearly. The nurse commented on how I must be a first time mother because I couldn’t put him down. I said, “No, I just can’t get enough of him.” Cameron was in the NICU for 3 days after his birth so it was very different this time.

During this time we were “Easter and Christmas Catholics.” We baptized the boys and enjoyed our family and friends so much. I finished school as Cameron was born and began teaching 6^th grade full time when he was 9 months old, after subbing for about a year.

Gram was such an important and lovely part of this time. She and Cam clicked deeply and so enjoyed their time together. Noli came into the picture and Gram kept helping us about 8 days a month. I could tell that is was getting harder on her though.

We decided we either needed to move or get ready to pay for private schools, as the schools in our area weren’t what we wanted for the boys. We found a neighborhood that would shape our lives to the present. There was no mello-roos and very low association. We had a huge yard and a cul de sac full of kids we love like our own.

I can’t remember meeting Susie but what a blessing. We raised our kids together and have supported each other through some pretty heavy stuff. We have so many memories together, including my decorating the Christmas tree in shock that we were pregnant and Noli was only 1 year old. Now I always think, what would we do without Mase?

Mason was born and this time it was a family affair at the hospital. I love the pictures of the whole crew visiting. Then we headed home to find Gram with the two older boys and the entire neighborhood coming to greet the newest addition to Old Oak. I LOVED it! Steve, our neighbor, kept asking me if I was OK with it. I just LOVED it!

It wasn’t too far after that when Cameron and I were watching a sit com on TV (Full House). The grandfather died in the episode. Cameron had also been hearing conversations about a funeral I was helping to plan for a past student who had jumped in front of a train. He looked up at me and asked, “ Am I gonna die?” This is a 3 ½ year old kid. I said, “Yes, but…” I wasn’t able to babble anything out. He went into hysterics. He was scared to death. It took a long time to calm him down.

I called Andy at the firestation and told him we’d better get our act together. Neither one of us was afraid of death. We believed in God and knew that there had to be something after death. Now we had to teach something to our kid and it is something we’d better get right!

Shortly after, a friend invited me to a non-denominational Bible Study that sounded pretty intense but good. It takes 7 years to get through. You can’t bring in authors, pastors, or religions. It is a chance to just study the Bible. After all, it is the most famous book of all time. I thought I knew it from a literature class I took in college. I didn’t.

At the same time, Susie and Steve invited us to their church. Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation, and the concept of grace fascinated me. I loved the concept of “The Priesthood of all Believes” and that scripture is to be taken as a whole, not in bits and pieces. Decisions aren’t made about anything in isolation, but by looking at the nature of God as spelled out in the whole of scripture. Still, I became a Bible-believing Christian.

I was also teaching world religions as part of the California 6^th grade curriculum. I not only read about, but also had to teach responsibly, the major religions, their histories, origins, and major players. I loved it. I love teaching social science and math! It struck me how the historical record is clear that Christ existed and was crucified. I looked closely at the others too. A few people, including my sister, Ter, and Brother, Ralph, were discovering and putting their trust in Christ. I saw a huge difference in a woman I taught with and my principal too.

I was absolutely terrified. I had grown up with a very eclectic group of influences. I never heard anything good about someone who believed in the Bible and knew that Christianity had been a major theme in the painful and drawn out break up of my family when I was about 5. I was well educated at one of the most liberal educational institutions in the world, the University of California system. My favorite philosopher touted (as did I all through college) that man does not need religion to be moral – which I can still debate pretty well. We have several different religions represented in our families. I was terrified to go down the road that might lead to me having to take a controversial or ridiculed stand.

We were studying the book of Acts that first year. I was making sure to share what I was learning with Andy and my partner in crime, Susie. We were all open, thank you God!!!!  The early church fascinated me and, as I studied, the players became very real and human to me. I had read the Bible like I read Greek mythology in college. This was very different. I felt my heart changing and new motivations taking over my life. I remember the moment I realized I believed God’s Word was God’s Word, and how I ached in realizing how disrespectful I had been to that, to the God Most High. I repented, and couldn’t believe I was seeing that word as a positive gift for the first time in my life.

Sunshine invited me to the Harvest Crusades. She had been giving me tapes of sermons and music and testimonials for a long time. I respect her deeply and I can thank her for encouraging me (and the dean at SAC) to give counseling at the community college a shot. (A long shot, but that is another story.) I invited Andy to the religious event, with trepidation…emphasizing the great bands that would be there. )It’s pretty cool that Andy has been using Greg Laurie’s devotions with everyone here every morning. He was the preacher.)

On the way there, my husband who was still thinking the way we always had, asked Sunshine if there would be freaks with their hands in the air and stuff. She smiled and said there might be. We didn’t go down on the field during the “Come as you are” call at the end. I stood in terror that I might be coming to believe something so different than my husband that it would damage our life together. That felt unbearable. I was praying for God to do something, and telling him, “If Andy is to be a leader in our home, You needed to do something!”

Andy was praying too. He was giving himself to the Lord and I left with a completely different man, as evidenced by the last decade and a half, or so.

The next year was the hardest I’ve ever had, spiritually. I felt like I was hanging upside down from a meat hook, unable to do anything about the pain I was in. I was assigned to teach the two year olds Bible study. Really! I was NOT in my comfort zone.

I didn’t really believe I had a father I could trust with my heart. The two earthly fathers didn’t take very good care of it. God let me ‘see’ and feel and know that He was fighting for me. I needed to be hanging there, in pain, while He fought. I don’t really get it all but I know to be true, just as I know that I am in Africa right now. I could feel battles going on all around me. I could feel attacks and was tested. Who would I call on to fight the battle? Would it be myself, alcohol, over work and success, or would I call on the Lord God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Fortunately, the battle was won and my Father won my heart and won me for eternity, with Him. It was the fact that I was in God’s Word that I made it through that. I also had some beautiful godly women praying for me.

Andy. Well, today I glanced over at him as he told Tina he didn’t get a hug from her yesterday, her birthday. I didn’t tell him how she told me last night about how her stepmother doesn’t like her and her mother is dead. She told me her daddy doesn’t want her and her sister, just his new kids. I saw her face light up and hold him so tight and he held her right back. That is the man God has created as Andy seeks God on His terms.

Andy’s building a wall, leading devotions, speaking truth into the lives of the young people here and at home, showing what a loving husband and father can be like. His life has been transformed and he has become the spiritual leader of our home.

Oh Lord, how can I thank you for what you have done with these years?