Yank 'n Kiwi ???

There may those reading these narratives that don’t know that Marie is a native of New Zealand. How, you may ask, did we meet? This is the condensed Reader’s Digest version. In 1968, I was in a US Air Force unit that had small detachments in remote, out of the way places. I was stationed in CA in a support unit and was assigned to go with 3 others to install new equipment in our detachment in Alice Springs, Australia (you can’t get much more out of the way than Alice Springs…have a look at a map).
This was seriously hazardous duty. We had to wear “civilian” clothes and live in a civilian apartment and eat at restaurants. After several weeks, I met a young woman (Marie) at a local swimming pool…and so our journey began. She was a lovely New Zealand nurse working in the local hospital. My stay in Alice Springs lasted for 5 months and when I returned to Sacramento, I did my best to get sent back to Alice Springs for a permanent tour of duty. The Air Force did their best and I sent me to Chang Mai, Thailand…not exactly close. Soon after I left Alice Springs, Marie severely injured her back while lifting a patient and spent the next 7 months in the hospital recuperating from multiple surgeries.
When she was well enough to travel, she came to visit me in Chang Mai. She has often said that she needed to find out if our long-range relationship was “going anywhere”. We spent about 6 weeks together in Chang Mai until Marie’s tourist visa ran out and she received a notice to be out of the country in 24 hours. Her escape from Thailand is truly another story. However, before her sudden departure, we became engaged.
I was discharged in 1970 and returned to college at Humboldt State in Arcata, CA. Marie arrived in the USA (my parents met Marie at LAX on Feb 8, 1971). She was awakened the next morning in Ventura, CA to one of the largest earthquakes in LA history. This brought to mind the warnings of friends in Australia that she should not go to California because, "it was going to fall into the ocean" during the next earthquake. She survived and in about 6 weeks, we were married.
All that is to say, Marie is the most courageous woman I have ever known. Marie had the courage to commit to a Yankee Air Force dude in the middle of Australia. She had the courage to travel to Chang Mai, Thailand, soon after surgery, to find out about a relationship that was important to her. She demonstrated tremendous courage in leaving family, friends and country to travel to America and marry a man she had know for 4 months...with no support and significant opposition from family.
It is now 37 years later and we have been blessed by God with two Godly daughters, two Godly son-in-laws and 5 grandchildren, soon to be 6. To what to I attribute these blessings? Our Lord's grace and Marie's courage.