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I was praying for a husband & went on to describe to the Lord what I wanted.  Then afterwards I said sorry, because I realized that whatever God chose to give me would be better then my own choice.  I’m guessing that I had been praying for about five years for a husband prior to what happens in our testimonial of our getting together.

I soon after had my Aunt Fern & Uncle Ron, praying for me for a husband.  Little did I know at the time, that Shawn had my aunt & uncle praying for him for a wife.  I did not even know Shawn at this time in my life.  However, most of my family did!!

I called them up on the phone & they asked me if I wanted to talk to Shawn.  Well, I said no because I was interested in some trucker from our church.  Who had taken me for a ride on his motorcycle & took me out to lunch & of whom I sat with while watching the fireworks with.  I wanted to call my aunt Fern & tell them, what would it hurt to be in touch with this man named Shawn, however time went by & I had forgotten about it.

Shawn at this time was seeking someone named Lisa, of whom his cousins tried to set him up with.  He wrote her a letter & for some reason, she was not interested in him, but wrote him a dear John letter & stuffed the package full of blank pages.  Shawn called his mom to find out that he had a large package from Lisa, so he had his mom forward the package to where he was at the time while out on the road.

About a year later Glenn was not anywhere to be found at the fireworks display that we had met at, nor did Glenn call me.  I found out that he was not interested in marriage although he liked me very much.  I was disappointed, but I did not want him to know that.  So, I went straight into the bathroom to wash my face with cold water, to calm down & wipe the tears that would of otherwise covered my face.

Shortly thereafter I had received a letter from some man that I did not know in the mail box.  It was interesting for one thing, because I did not now this person who wrote to me.  I opened the letter out of curiosity, to find that he knew three generations of my family.  I found some things written in that letter to be very interesting, who he was, what he wanted & what he did.  He was someone of whom knew my family, He was part German & Indian, and for some reason I like that. 

He hoped that he would get married, providing that our relationship went in that direction.  He was a trucker, it is funny how many times I’ve liked guy’s who had those qualities about them.  But this one had something different then those other guys, he was a Christian & I learned that he was a caring man.

So, we wrote for two months & then he bought me a plane ticket to go & see my cousin get married & to meet me in Fort Wayne, Indiana (In the Middle Of U.S.A.), a few days after the wedding.  My aunt for some reason wanted to leave me behind & not take me to see him at the truck stop.  I told my aunt 3-4 times, that he was expecting me to be there.  Finally, she agreed to take me there to see him & we all went to lunch at the Olive Garden.

Around September 23rd 1996 = was our first time actually meeting.  Then he took me out to eat at various restrants & took me to the park on California & Vermont Street ( the ironic thing about that is I lived in California & he lived In Vermont), where we took some unique poses together & he took me out to the zoo
(that is where my dad used to take me when I was younger) , just before it closed & we almost got lost in there.  I dreaded the thought of staying the night in there. 

We got out of the zoo & drove down the road & while waiting for the train to pass by, we posed for pictures at Paint ball park.  And he took our picture in front of the train, when I headed over that direction.  When we left there, as we were driving along he asked me to be his girlfriend, I thought for a moment & thought about is this what I want?  I thought yes, he is the man of whom I want in my life.  So, while he was hanging in the wind waiting for my responce, I told him that I did not care for the terminology, Girlfriend-Boyfriend, for it has become a cheap expression of love.  So, I told him “ How about friends with a commitment?”  And he agreed that that is what we’d call it!!  Sometime while talking to him he found out that I was willing to leave California (were I grew up most of my life) if I had to.  Then we went to eat pizza & later he had to take me to the airport where I was to catch a plane home to California where I grew up most of my life.

We wrote eachother 1-3 letters per day & October 29th 1996 something very special happened .  He put out a fleece to the Lord & said that if it is your will for me to marry her please get me out to California for a load.  Within 5 minutes or less the Lord got Shawn a load out to California, (Shawn’s least favorite state 'California' to drive into).  However, someone very special was there so he went to California to purpose marriage!!  He got to the Nevada/ California boarder & they were not going to let him through because the weather was bad.  Well, somehow the Lord worked it out & they let him through.

He came & parked in the K-mart parking lot, as I asked my boss if it was okay for him to park his eighteen wheeler truck there.  And this is where we would meet for the second time & all other times after that.  He wrote me a letter & I read what you read about the fleece, however I did not realize what he wanted until he purposed to me. 

Then we went shopping for rings & wrote a newsletter to our friends & family & sent that off.  He came to see me three times after that & each trip to California he packed some of my stuff & brought it home to Vermont where my new home state was going to be as he could not imagine living in California as he did not like how different the highways are there.  It took 3 loads total to get my things there as he had to keep it in the cab, above where he slept.

My friend Judy & I decorated the wedding room section of the church called Bible Believers Baptist Church in the town of Rough-N-Ready, California & as we were leaving we saw Vonnie there, who brought in the cake.  I knew that she was making the cake, but I had no clue why she was there the night before. 

We got married on my birthday 3-28-97 In Rough & Ready California just outside of Grass Valley California.  That day was Rough, because I wanted to ride off into the sunset in his red big eighteen wheeler truck & therefore it meant that he had to work that day & he had a total of 3 loads to do & to get to my house about 6 P.M.  We packed more of my things & brought it to the church & came home, in my truck as his eighteen wheeler was parked at the church.   Then my sister met us at my house to put a decorated  halo with babies breath on my head & to put flowers in his pocket.  That was not a subject matter that Shawn & I discussed, so Shawn wore it anyways to please his wife to be.

The wedding @ Bible Believers Baptist Church was set up beautifully by friends & as I entered into the back, I noticed the reception room where all of my church friends & family, often used to fellowship together. 

Tears came down my eye’s as I could not believe how well done it was all laid out, nor did I know it was planned.  After we got married we had the reception, Shawn & I cut the cake & I had previously planned for Shawn to cut the cake & to serve it to people & told him that everyone there would love it as it would give everyone a chance to get to know him a little better while he cut the cake.  Shawn did not want to have a reception let alone a wedding with people in it, as he would of much rathered to of eloped.

As we left, people through their birdseed & I had requested that Shawn carry me over the thresh hold of the truck door, as that was going to be where I lived for the first three months after our honeymoon.  We went to Salt Lake City & dropped the truck off at the main office of C.R. England.  And we dropped off our belongings off at his cousins Andy & Susan’s house where we stayed the first night & then in a hotel & then we caught an amtrack train to Vermont where we got married on my husbands birthday 4-4-97. 

Then the following morning we took our suitcases to the car & had his parents drive us near the airport.  Friends of ours met us at the hotel & left some money behind, they were very sly in doing it.  We noticed it & followed them out into  the hallway & they said keep it.  They knew Shawn would not of otherwise accepted it, as we were not lacking for money. The next morning we took a van ride to the airport, ride c/o the hotel.  We went to Hawaii, for our honeymoon & many fun times were had.  K4J [/b]

What a lovely happening in your life!

That was so pleasant to read and I thank you very much for sharing it with us all.

Christian love to you both,

Pat

K4J - That was so interesting.  Now...did I read it correctly?...did you have 2 wedding ceremonies?  One in March,and then again in April?

- Judy

Presents are like blessings from the Lord & we concider our relationship that the Lord put together for us to be a blessing. 

So, we got married on both our Birthday's, exactly 7 days apart.  Yes, we got married twice & It was twice as nice.  LOL

I'm glad to see that after all this time of having this on this website that someone read this & responeded.

K4J

Hi K4J, I think that's something that happens on the internet...people don't comment but they look and they read.  I see that there are over 40 views but only just a few comments.  Same thing happens in the Photos area as well.  I just pray that in our rather large devotional area where not many have commented over the months, that many will receive a blessing from the Lord in just reading.

God bless you...

K4J, that's an interesting story! Have you guys settled into a home now, any children, is he still working as a truckdriver? I bet if he is there's some wonderful opportunities for photography in areas he passes through, if there's time! Especially in the Fall!
Gina

We have many wonderful pic's from his truck driving day's.  I just have to get them scanned, besides do many other things. 

I'm in the process of getting together a wonderful In Memory Album of my dad.  And I'm finding kreative way's to fill it up, for I do not have enough pic's to fill it.  My dad died at the age of 36 years old.  You would know that I believe if ya read my other testimonial.

Yes, my husband still drives a truck, but more locally.  But there is many beautiful pic's to be had here.

We live in Vermont & most everyone loves the fall foliage here.

No, we can't have children & we have thought of adopting.  However, we are not sure if it's the Lord's will for our lives & we want to be sure it is his will before we take a head dive into it.  Although, I think it would be great to influence a child's life.  It still amazes me how many people ask that.  However, it is my prayer that the Lord would make it obvious to both our eye's, especially my husband.



K4J