Our first Christmas together

Like many newlyweds, Christmas presents were usually more on the creative, not extravagant, side.  (And we've tried to keep it that way, even after we could afford to do a bit more.) So along with a new job, I was busy sewing gifts for the girls and we bought little things for their Christmas morning.  It was so much fun!  We taped stockings to the wall and decorated a meager little tree, and I thought it was the best time ever watching the girls open their presents.  I've loved Christmas morning ever since (okay I always enjoyed Christmas, but now in a new way.)

I learned during our first Christmas how much more special it could be as the parent, not the child.  I love Christmas shopping and trying to surprise the kids with something special.  (As a poor college student, most of my shopping fun was arriving home Christmas Eve an hour before the stores closed and my dad handing me cash and saying "go buy something for your mom from me".  Don't misunderstand - he's a wonderful man, just not a shopper!)  While we've always tried to keep Christmas focused on the birth of Christ, I confess to struggling with limiting my shopping for the kids, because it's just so enjoyable to watch them open their gifts.  And being all together - that's the best gift of all to this mom's heart!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Missouri with my extended family, an annual gathering that I dearly loved.  Through the years we made at least three trips a year - each 800+ miles round-trip - to Missouri.  It was not unheard of for us to get up on Friday morning and say "let's go to Missouri for the weekend", driving down after work, and back on Sunday afternoon.  My grandpa wanted to hear all about our trip to California (he had never been more than one state away), and spent a lot of time teasing us about starting out "cross country in a tin can" (my car, a Gremlin.)

Another surprise when we got home - this time it was my call from the Arsenal.  I ended up starting work there in December, and stayed three years and one week (three years were required to reach "career" status, giving certain rehire rights).  With Kent gone frequently, it was a good way to stay busy, and the extra money didn't hurt!

California, here we come.....

For the first couple of years, Kent averaged two weeks out of every two months in California.  For his second trip, we decided to drive out - our first cross-country trip.  Since most of my families' vacations had stayed in the midwest, I was thrilled at the thought of seeing the Rocky Mountains.

I learned a lesson about traveling through the mountains in October.

We left on a Thursday night, planning to stay overnight in Reno on Saturday.  When we arrived, we couldn't find a hotel room anywhere (well, there was one pent-house available, but not "quite" in our budget.) So we drove on, finally finding a room in Truckee, CA.  We had driven over 1700 miles in 2+ days, and I was so tired, and cold, and hungry, and the room was such a dump, I cried.  Kent begged the only restaurant that was still open (and they were closing) to find us anything to eat.  We took the food back to the room, and the room very slowly began to warm, and all was okay with the world again.

It was really a blessing in disguise that we couldn't stay in Reno, because it started snowing.  If we hadn't been as far as Truckee, we would have been stuck. We were one of the last cars to get through Donner's Pass before they closed it.  For a southern Missouri girl, that was a completely new concept - roads could actually have to be closed because of snow?!

But we made it down out of the mountains and on to San Jose, where I met Kent's other two brothers, and we spent Sunday with them.  Then it was on to Costa Mesa and my first visit to the Pacific Ocean.  While Kent had to work on his project each day, I lounged about the pool and discovered the fun of travel.  We went out sight-seeing most evenings, spent a lot of time at the ocean, visited Calico ghost town, and stopped at Meteor Crater in Arizona on the way to Missouri and then back home.

That travel bug bit hard.

 -- Dana

This was a hard trip because we only had 3 days to drive from Illinois to California and we didn't go the shortest route.  We made very few stops along the way and when we did they were limited.  By the time we got to Reno we were exhausted to the point of "crabby" and everywhere we stopped to find a room was full.  When we finally drove on to Truckee we were struggling to keep alert enough to drive.  The room we finally found was decorated in  "rustic/crud" (the kindest way I could find to describe it).  We did, however smile all the way to coast the next day while listening to the radio warn people that Donner Pass was closed indefinitely.

I still remember when the Pacific came into view on that trip.  I have always loved ocean views after coming out of the mountains.

After that it was work, jacuzzi, eat, tour, repeat as necessary.

--Kent

Fire!!

Not us - Kent's folks' house.

Mid-afternoon, I got a phone call from Rob, Kent's baby brother, saying their house was on fire!  Now Rob (a senior in high school) has been known to play a joke or two, so I wasn't sure if he was serious or not, until I heard Lyn in the background saying "it's true!"  I quickly threw a chicken casserole in the oven and took off for the house, just a 10-minute drive away.

By the time I arrived most of the excitement was over and reality was setting in.  Dean and Lyn had been called at work, and Lyn was so scared that Rob was home, she fainted (in relief) to see he was safe.  When things calmed down, we all came back to the apartment for dinner.  Dean and Lyn stayed in the girls' room for a few nights (Rob stayed with a friend) until they found a rental.  Of course, Kent was in California on his first business trip.

The exterior was brick and sustained only minor smoke damage, but the upstairs inside had to be gutted.  It was destroyed, except Rob's room.  His door had been closed and there was just a small amount of smoke damage under the door.  It was surreal to see everything around blackened and charred, and then to open that door (also blackened) and see his room untouched.

Lyn was most upset about the fact that she had been in a hurry and hadn't made her bed that day and the firemen saw that!  It was later determined that the toaster, not the microwave, was the cause of the fire.  To this day, I always unplug the toaster when finished with it!  But then, my grandparents' house burned while grandma was baking, and that has never stopped me from making cookies! :)

The next day we were allowed in the house to start an inventory for insurance.  Lyn and I used a brass lamp that had been tossed out in the yard as a battering ram to knock down the plywood over the door.  She laughed at what a way that was to get to know her new daughter-in-law.

In college I helped clean up a friend's after a fire.  The apartment had been closed off for three weeks before we got into it.  I vividly remember opening and closing the refrigerator in one move, the stench was so overwhelming.  I made sure we emptied that out the first day here!  After taking inventory of what we could (amazing the things you can't, and can, remember) we went shopping since they both needed clothes.  My mother-in-law was not a big fan of shopping, but she did have some fun spending insurance money on a new wardrobe!

It took a few months, but everything was repaired and they settled back in to the "new" house. And for Christmas we all started replacing Lyn's Precious Moments collection.

We need a bigger place!

While we loved our little house, it just wasn't big enough for more than two.  Kent has two girls from a previous marriage, and they stayed with me during the day that first summer, which was fine, but when they stayed over every other weekend - that made things cozy.  They didn't have a real place to sleep, and neither the bathroom or the bedroom had a solid door, just a curtain.

So we found a two-bedroom apartment, recruited some help, and made quick work of moving.  The girls had their own room, and I had a washer and dryer!  :)  We lived there for one year, and that first winter I discovered what a difference there was between northern Illinois and southern Missouri; -26 degrees one Sunday morning!

 - Dana

Small house?  When the girls came for the weekends it was like living in a closet.  Actually, I have seen closets bigger than that house.   We could sit in the kitchen for a meal and get food off the stove and out of the refrigerator without getting up from the table.  That is not an exaggeration.

The apartment was a great improvement.  It was 2 bedrooms, a large living room/dining room, a tidy kitchen with laundry, a nice sliding door leading out to a deck with a peaceful view of the local cemetery, and it was on the third floor which I loved (except when we had to move Dana's piano).  The drive to work was a little longer but it was definitely worth it.

 - Kent

Our first home

After a short honeymoon in the Wisconsin Dells, we were home.

Kent had been living in a small rental house when we married.  And I mean small.  It had originally been a two-car garage, which was the living room and bedroom, and it had a 6 foot wide addition that ran the length of the house that became the kitchen and bathroom.  But it was our first house!   With the couch and chair Kent's folks gave us, my bedroom set and piano, and a kitchen table we were settled.

We had a nice surprise our first week, too.  Kent had been working at a small local company, but had a message waiting to call personnel at the Rock Island Arsenal when we got home.  He was hired on immediately, and spent the next 22 years there.  His job required frequent travel, and we often went along with him through the years.  In fact, his travel schedule was a big factor in our first RV purchase - we were already homeschooling by then, and it was easy to go along, and extra nice to spend a month or two in Florida away from the midwest winters! :)  

- Dana

A short honeymoon in the Wisconsin Dells?  I was such a romantic.  I took my bride to the circus museum.  I think it was to be a premonition of what life was to be like with 7 kids.

When we got home to the "garage", I found a notice to go for an interview at the Rock Island Arsenal for a job.  I had been trying to get hired there for several years.  My job at the time was as a quality control tech at a small electronics company and I loved it.  The only problem was that the pay was not going to support my new bride and I the way I wanted.  After the interview I was hired and got an immediate 30% raise.  God is good all the time!

I have been a traveler all my life so it is no surprise that I enjoyed taking Dana on trips with me.  I regretted that I couldn't take her with me on every trip.  I didn't even suspect at that time that my job would enable the nomadic lifestyle we so enjoy today.

 - Kent

Our beginning........

So this is it... Friday, May 8, the last day of college.  Tonight is graduation.  It's been a busy week with lots of extra activities, projects to finish, rehearsal, family is coming, and there's packing and cleaning to move out of the dorm.  Oh, plus I'm getting married - tomorrow.

Kent and I met in college (Central Christian College in Moberly, MO) and started dating our junior year.  We got to know each other in Greek class, and were soon studying together, along with another friend or two, most nights.  Kent ended up moving back home (Moline, IL) that summer, and our relationship continued via telephone and weekend visits.

I had my "candlelight" - a tradition where all the girls in the dorm were called together after hours and a lit candle was passed around the circle (with the engagement ring tied to a ribbon) and the recepient blows out the candle announcing her big news - in January, and we planned our wedding for May 9 - the day after graduation (since all the family and friends would already be there.)

Kent arrived Thursday night and I broke my last college curfew.  Friday morning, I went to my 7:00 and 8:00 o'clock classes, and then called it a day.  My parents arrived, and my mother was appalled to discover I still needed the zipper put in my wedding dress (it was all done besides that!)  So we finished that up, packed up my car (for my soon-to-be brother-in-law to drive from Missouri to Illinois), and both families went out to dinner to celebrate my graduation.

The graduation ceremony went off without a hitch, and we called it an early night.  Because tomorrow was also my dad's birthday, and I was planning a surprise party for him at lunch - between rehearsal and and a 2:00 o'clock wedding - and still had to decorate the cake.  (I know, crazy! And the craziest part - at lunch we completely forgot about the cake - hidden in the oven - and had to call back to the church after the wedding and tell my dad!)   Kent picked me up about 8:00 Saturday morning, and I said goodbye to dorm life.

Saturday morning was spent decorating and rehearsing (our flower girl made a small fortune, trying to entice her to her "spot"), then lunch, then dressing and pictures.  The wedding started promptly at 2:00, and we were officially pronounced at 2:21, according to the college president - I wasn't paying attention to the clock!  A nice reception, and we were off to start this grand adventure!

And that's my story of us!

 - Dana

It was a hectic weekend indeed.  I had gotten a haircut the weekend before the wedding and of course it was a butcher job.  My hair grows fast but not that fast.  By wedding day it wasn't quite as bad as when it was cut, but it wasn't what I wanted it to be either.

The drive to the college was long -- it seemd like I would never get there.

When I finally arrived I was given a room in the guys dorm.  They had a cute little tradition of kidnapping the groom before the wedding, stripping him down and dumping him behind the girls dorm sometime during the week before the wedding.  They got me that night.  I hid in the little cabinet above the closet and had two pillows in front of me so I couldn't be seen.  I had opened the window so they would think I jumped out of the window but I forgot to remove the screen.  My bad.  They kept looking in the room until they found me and had duly initiated me.

The graduation was great.  I loved watching Dana getting her diploma.  I knew she had worked hard for her degree.  Our study sessions had been pretty intense at times.  All the parents took us out to dinner that night (I have the absolute best in-laws any man could ask for).  By the time we were done I thnk we were all so exhausted we could barely see.

Wedding day arrived!  Some friends from the church I had served while in college showed up early.  The daughter of one family was the rich flower girl mentioned above.  The parents of another family had agreed to be the official photographer.  During the rehearsal the guys were typically goofy.  We came out wearing kids choir white shoulder covers.  Dana's brother was playing the piano and kept us in stitches.  He was an excellent pianist and kept throwing in obvious clunkers at all the most inopportune moments.

Finally the real wedding was underway and my knees were knocking so badly, I was sure people could hear them in the back of the church.  When the ceremony was over I was my usual calm and cool self, but married to the sweetheart I thought I could only dream of.

 - Kent