Bless Be The Ties That Bind...Our Hearts in Christian Love

 After meeting 27 years ago, we grow more and more in love every day.

Well, I'm a little behind on my sibling assignments, so I hope to get caught up during this week of spring break.

Let us hearken back to February 14, Valentine's Day, when this assignment was due.

The assignment, which I assigned throughout the month of February, with the theme "Ties", is as follows:

"Write about the ties that bind you to your husband or wife."

PKR and I joke about the first two times we met. I didn't make much of an impression on him, because he didn't remember me until we met the third time...I guess third times a charm.

The one he remembers is me coming over to his parent's house to deliver his sister's high school graduation present. I had just finished my first year at the University of Idaho, and he was home from Western Montana College. His sister and I were friends.

It was first the ties of Christian love that brought us together. There was a group of young people that summer that hung out together, and did different activities all summer. Yes, I thought PKR was very attractive, but I thought he was way out of my league. After all, I remember him from being a freshman at Kellogg Junior High School as the senior who was the quarterback on the football team, one of the start basketball players, and a state track champion. Those kind of guys weren't interested in girls like me.

Summer culminated with a trip to Church Camp during the first week, of August. PKR was attending, as was most of the kids who we hung out with that summer. We arrived at camp, and one of the girls from Kellogg made a comment about PKR and I making a "good couple". I was genuinely surprised by this comment...again, he was way out of my league.

But I guess PKR had other plans. When I went to church camp, it was popular for the boys to ask the girls to the Thursday night Bonfire. Well, by Wednesday night, PKR asked me to go to the bonfire. I was quite pleased, and I guess that was our first date.

While at camp, our hearts were tied, first with Christian love, and then that focus also started changing beyond being "a brother and sister in Christ", so something a bit more romantic. When we returned to Kellogg after camp, we spent the night before I left for college walking around town, and talking alot. Then I returned to Moscow, and, later, he returned to Dillon.

We started dating in August of 1982. Between that time, and July 1986, when we got married, we were only in the same town about 18 months of those four years...so it was letter writing that tied us together at that point. And I think it helped us get to know one another on a different level...especially because we both like to write.

Marriage wasn't something I took lightly at all. I wanted to make sure that PKR was the man I was suppose to marry, and that I had not doubt whatsoever he was the man for me. During the summer of 1984 I moved to San Bernardino, California and worked at the International Headquarters for Campus Crusade for Christ. The question I wanted answered that summer was this..."Is PKR the man I am suppose to marry?"

By the end of the summer, after much prayer, the answer was yes. If PKR asked me to marry him, I knew without any reservations, that he was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

During the spring of 1984, PKR told my best friend CE that he was going to ask me to marry him, and that he wanted her help. But God knew I needed some time over the summer to have peace about the decision.

On December 10, 1984, PKR asked me to marry him in front of a room full of sorority sisters at the TriDelt house at U of I. By then, I could with confidence say, "Of Course!!"

Once that decision was made, and I committed myself to PKR, and he to me, that is what has kept us tied together. Because we knew if was right, because we are committed (as he puts it, divorce is not a word we use), we are forever tied to one another, through the good times and the bad. And, for us, it was that time of deliberate seeking after God to give us the answer and patiently waiting for Him to say, "Yes", this is the one for you.

And since that time, I have never regretted my decision.

Happy Birthday, PKR!!

Happy 49th Birthday, PKR.

Today my sweetie turned 49 years old.

We drove to Coeur d'Alene and picked up The Princess and her boyfriend at NIC and had dinner at Moontime. Check out a great review from Orange TV at Get Out North Idaho.

My mom also joined us for dinner. So PKR and I enjoyed a wonderful meal with mom, The Princess and Boyfriend, Z2 and Kiki Aru.

I enjoyed one of the specials, Chicken Pot Pie, with a Spinach and Pear salad.

Mom enjoyed a steak sandwich.

PKR and Z2 enjoyed the Shrimp and Roasted Tomato Linguine. PKR also enjoyed a cup of gumbo.

Kiki Aru also got a special, the Italian Tortellini.

The Princess had Raviolli, and Boyfriend had the famous Moon Burger.

It was fun being all together, and enjoying a wonderful meal.

One of life's simple pleasures.

Hangin' Out at State Drama Festival

Tonight I am in Coeur d'Alene spending the night, and helping chaperone the KHS drama students who made it to state competition. My husband, PKR, is the Drama Coach, and our daughter The Princess, made it to state drama as part of a Humorous Ensemble.





They are doing a montage from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." It was fun watching their performance this evening, at Lake City High School, where the competition is taking place. The Princess makes a great King Arthur!!

The ensemble did some unique and clever things with their performance, and I am proud of all of them. They have done 2 rounds, and do another one bright and early at 8 am tomorrow morning. Then after the 3 rounds, they find out if they make it to the semi-finals.

I arrived in Coeur d'Alene with the mission of getting some Christmas shopping done. First I went to Best Buy, and being in there drove me nuts!! There was just too much stimulus in that store, assaulting all five of my senses, with loud music, projections TV's, brights lights....it was just a little much. I did find a few things to purchase, though.

Then it was off to Target and Fred Meyer. I made a really great purchase at Fred Meyer, so I was happy about that!! There will be some more shopping done tomorrow.

I did have a rare moment for dinner. I went to Wendy's and got my food, and sat at a table all by myself and read some more of "Eat, Pray, Love". I have finally made it to Indonesia.

I got a call during dinner from The Princess saying PKR needed some pain relievers, so I went to Safeway to get some, and also some snacks. Well, Safeway was having a bit of a crisis when I want to check out. All of there check out stations had frozen up. They apparently attributed it to the Hagadone Corporation and Dave Smith, because they apparently purchased a large amount of gift cards, and they were processing them, and it froze up the system. One lady had no cash or checks, so had to leave her groceries. Fortunately, the rebooted the system, and they were back on track.

In the meantime, I'm standing in line to check out my groceries, and The Princess calls wondering what I was doing. I told her I was stuck in the line at Safeway. Their second round was beginning soon, and I was hoping I wouldn't miss it. I did get there a little late, but I could go into the room after the first performance was done, so I didn't miss it.

So, now I am at the Shilo Inn, watching some interesting show on PBS with lots of violin players dressed in country costumes. It is pretty cool. Apparently I am watching Barrage: Vagabond Tales, which is described like this:

Barrage's fast-paced violin music is set to a story of impossible love between Luna of the Moon People and Sol from the people beneath the sun.

We don't have cable television at home, which means the only things we watch on TV are what my mother has taped for us, or we have on VHS or DVD. But I do miss PBS programming. Right now Barrage is singing "Birdland", and there are about five or six performers playing violin, with one main woman doing a scat solo, with the violins accompanying her. A very interesting performance. To find out more about them, go here.

Well, I'll return tomorrow with the results from the Idaho State Drama Festival, here in Beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.