In an earlier post, I promised that I had many more children and their spouses that I could introduce to you. Today gives me an opportunity to do just that. I am still amazed at how God orchestrates the events in our lives in order to bless us.
Sometimes it just boggles my mind, as it did the Psalmist's when he wrote,
"What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4)
For whatever reason, the Creator of the universe is interested in us.
Isn't that amazing?
I am, by nature, a homebody.
I have no plans for adventure.
I grew up in a very small town and planned to live there my entire life.
God had other plans.
My husband was offered a job in another state and that move began a series of other job offers and other moves around the country.
I eventually got used to moving and was surprised when we ended up in Louisiana and it seemed that God had stopped moving us.
We passed the "mile marker" of two years and we were not moving anywhere else.
In fact, we lived in the same house for twelve years.
A record!
There were several things that I didn't care for in Louisiana.....
the heat, for one.
I can't tolerate it.
The mosquitos seem to be a state crop.......
and pine pollen!
Oh my.......if you have allergies,
you do not want to discover that your 2 1/2 acre wooded lot at the bottom of a dead-end street that has PINE in the name of it will cause you to close up your house and not want to leave it from February til June.
That was a major disappointment.
My body still overreacts to allergens even though I'm 800 miles away.
Back in my home state, my sinuses rebel to simple things like corn pollens that I've experienced my entire life.
But back to Louisiana......
The people in NW Louisiana are some of the nicest I've met in my moves around the US.
We have made many lasting friendships there as well as in Arkansas, Texas, Mexico, and Russia, all because of God moving us there.
Twenty-six years ago, in the Philippines, a baby girl was born.
She played with her cousins and ate fresh mangoes that she picked from the trees.
She came to live in NW Louisiana when she was eight years old,
after her mom married a US citizen.
That was about the same time we moved to TN and began homeschooling.
Four years later,
we found ourselves in NW Louisiana.
After our son graduated high school,
he decided to go to college at NSU in Natchitoches, LA.
He began talking about a girl in chemistry class.....he seemed to borrow her notes a lot.
He joined the Army and went to bootcamp.
After bootcamp, he decided that she should be his wife.
She agreed.
Our family loved her from the start.
She was supportive of his choice to join the military.
She was willing to wait at home while he served two tours in Iraq.
When I think of all the things that had to happen in order for my son to meet her, I am amazed.
Obviously, he would not have gone to that university if we lived in another state.
In fact, he almost went to another school altogether.
Whenever you hear someone tell how they met their spouse,
remember that many, many choices led up to those two people meeting in the first place,
sometimes many generations in the past.
I think it is so cool that God works in our lives in such intimate ways. My husband and I have prayed for the spouses of our children from the time they were little.
It is wonderful to see the answers to those prayers!
Today is this special lady's birthday.
Happy Birthday, L!
I'm so happy to be your mom-in-law, or as some put it, mom-in-love!
We hope you have a wonderful day!
photos: tropical flower from the backyard; son and daughter-in-law birthday (c) debbie richardson
