I will start this blog by sharing with you about our life before and leading up to our relationship with Christ.

In 1988 my boyfriend Mark and I moved in with each other, In July of 1989 we got married; We did everything backwards from Gods way. The pastor that performed our wedding ceremony prayed that God would allow just enough hard times for us to keep our hands clenched tightly in His and just enough good times for us to still cling to Him, well I am so thankful that even though Mark never leaned on God and I let go of His hand, He never let go of us............God was faithful (of course) to do just that, He didn't allow us too much of good or bad that we lost sight of our need for something in our life, I grew up going to church, but never took a relationship with Christ seriously; Mark went to a Catholic church with his best friend, just to go to get away from his unhappy life at home. I knew something was missing in my life, but searched for it everywhere, but in Christ. Mark searched for fulfillment in Drugs and drinking; Scared and not sure what to do I followed him in that journey, for the next 8 years.

In 1994 our first child Stephanie was born, I thought maybe this child was what we were looking for to fill that void in our life, but the stress of life without Christ in the center got to us both, Mark continued in his drinking, I still drank with him, but still we knew something was missing.

When Steph was 3 years old we found ourselves pregnant with our second child, and again I thought maybe THIS child would straighten us out, and give us purpose in life.................God knew better, many people were praying for us; family and friends and later we found out God sent strangers (an angel (?) maybe to minister to us????) He sent someone to us for a brief time to direct our life in a way that would lead to him; Michael came up to us while we were out once and started sharing what Christ has done in his life and that He loves us and has a plan and can do the same for us, I felt something inside me, that I think I knew since my childhood, but never heeded, saying to myself "This is it Kelly! This is what you've been searching for!"  I looked over at my husband; he got irritated and walked away.  Michael invited us to church and prayed for us right there. I went to church with Michael occasionally; I asked Mark on several occasions to join me, he went once or twice, but he believed he was a pretty nice guy that believed there was a God and that was all he needed in life. I remember during this time, while at church saying to Michael, that I couldn't understand why Mark wouldn't go to church, because it was "only an hour once a week".....to which Michael replied (in Love) "Kelly, it is so much more then an hour once a week it is about every minute of your life, a relationship with Jesus!" That seemed too much for me so I backed off and stopped going to church, and lost touch with Michael.

I praise God that He never took his hand out of ours; He continued to guide Mark & me, unknown at the time to us.

When we were about 6 months pregnant with our second child we had friends over for dinner, Mark had been drinking already since 10:00 o'clock that morning, and proceeded to drink throughout the evening with our friends there, making a fool out of himself and making our friends uncomfortable,  and embarrassing me ........ Our friends went home, I went to bed and cried myself to sleep, and Mark was up sick most of the night. The following morning, while Mark was sleeping, I took Stephanie and drove around town thinking about what my life had become.  I went to see my best friend Trish at her job and started crying I told her about what has been going on, and that I was scared, but thought that in order to protect the children from this destructive behavior, I might need to separate from Mark, Trish said she would pray for us.  When I was sharing all that was going on with Trish, 3 year old Stephanie hugged my leg and said "mommy, why are you crying?" I told her "Steph, mommy is okay don't worry about me sweetie." but later decided to tell her what was going on, because our children really do know us better then we think they do, so I said "Steph, mommy is crying because I am sad that daddy drinks too much." And she said “Okay." Somewhat surprised by Steph’s answer, I thought that she’d need to hear more then that, but she seemed satisfied, so we drove home.

At home Mark was in the living room of our small apartment, thinking that he finally blew it, and that I took Steph and left him. When I walked in the door with Steph He later told me that he felt relief that I didn't leave him, but wasn’t sure why I came back; he knew he had hit rock bottom in his life. I sat Steph in front of the T.V. to watch a movie and told her that "Daddy and Mommy need to talk", To which Stephanie replied "Okay, but Mommy.......don't forget to tell daddy how sad it makes you that he drinks too much, okay?" and I looked at Mark, and saw such sadness in his face it looked as if his heart ripped in two, suddenly words that he always heard from me "You need to quit drinking you are destroying yourself and us" were coming from the mouth of his daughter, these words finally became real to him.  I told him he needed to choose............ Steph and his unborn child and me or drinking; I was scared not sure what he would choose, not sure if I would need to make good on my ultimatum. He chose to quit drinking and said he wanted to start going to church, I told him I thought he needed help and that he should go to AA or something, he said he didn't  want to do another 'program' that he has tried them all and they didn't help, all they did was help him get sober for a while, but it didn't take long and he was back to his old behavior of drinking again, (we now know that these programs didn't get to the heart of the problem for him) and so he said he would do it on his own, I told him I didn't believe him, because he has tried to quit on his own before and it too didn't work and that I still thought he needed help, He said  "I don't expect you to believe me, but I’m going to do it, I don't know how, but I’m going to this time" Mark Started going to church, and I thought that finally we had found what we were looking for…..

A couple of months into this different (sober, and going to church) lifestyle, Mark called me from work to say that he remembers me wanting to go to some kind of marriage conference a couple of years before, and that they were going to be giving away tickets to a marriage conference on the local Christian radio station that he'd started listening to, so maybe I could listen and try to win tickets, I said okay and turned on the radio and hung up the phone and started cleaning while having a discussion with God, (lol). I remember saying "God, we don't NEED to go to this marriage conference, it WOULD be fun to go, but we don't NEED to go I mean look God our marriage is fine now because after all Mark quit drinking and was going to church.....heck he was even listening to Christian radio, (my ideas of being a Christian, I didn’t “get” the relationship with Christ part) so let the people that really NEED these tickets win okay?"   After cleaning house and having a talk with God ( that is funny, as if God is going to follow MY plan!.....LOL) I laid down for a nap; about 2 hours later I woke up (or I should say God woke me up) I heard the D.J. say "be the 3rd caller now to win", I felt what I now know was the Holy Spirit telling me to call, so I did call, "just once" I told myself, and we won the tickets to the Family Life Marriage Conference, two weeks later at the conference we discovered what love really was and that God has to be the center of it for true fulfillment!  Mark and I accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior at the conference and began our journey to where we are now.....................finally, truly and totally complete In Jesus!

Two months after the conference Jessica was born, completing our family, we were just in the beginning stages of this new life in Christ. 

We can both tell you that it hasn't always been easy, since accepting Christ as our savior, we know the one that created us in life and for each other is the same one we lean on in all things in life good and bad, and that He is faithful to guide and direct us through it all. We have been sold out Followers of Christ since then (1997). Every day we grow in our relationship with Him. We mess up and fall sometimes, but we know that God will never take His hands off of us, that His love is more then we can imagine. I am humbled and thankful that God wants me; it is sometimes hard to understand the depth of His love.

Our children love the Lord with their whole hearts, it is amazing to watch them learning about a relationship with Christ…..something Mark or I didn’t have growing up. We are so thankful that God is working out in us His plan and we are thankful that our children are the first generation in this family of solid followers of Christ!!!