They always say your first year of marriage is the hardest. I don't know if I agree with that although our first year was not without it's little challenges. We were dealing with a sick baby and I couldn't work and leave him with a sitter or day care. It was just too important that he not get any food other then his formula. Not a cookie, not a cracker, nothing. With other children around, that was an impossibility.
We had Glen's two oldest children living with us and enjoyed them very much. Glen was working for John Deere still and I was gone for the day with the little boys. When Glen got home there was a note from his kids saying their mom had come to get them and take them back to Indiana. No warning, just gone. This was devastating for us. Then a few days later a sheriff's car pulled up and took Glen away to jail for fleeing the state to avoid prosecution. This is a federal offence. Glen had lived in Illinois for years and had paid his child support until his X-wife called and said she wanted him to take his oldest two children. They were in their early teens. We did not pay her support for them during this time. However, she continued to draw aid from the state of Indiana for them. A friend of hers had told her the state was doing surprise home visits so she came and got them. Then she told them she hadn't gotten support for some time and she didn't know where Glen was. Glen lost his job with John Deere because of this plus spent three days in jail till I could come up with bail for a federal charge. His sister and brother-in-law hired and paid for an attorney for him. Naturally he was cleared and we only had to prove the kids were with us and show all expenses for them during their stay. But what an ordeal. This would not be our last issue over child support but God has always intervened in our behalf because we have always tried to do what's right and what God would expect of us concerning his children.
But when a window closes a door opens. Glen would get a job with Caterpillar tractor which he loved and Caterpillar helped put us back on track financially. Clay was finally on some food so I was itching to get back to work. So Glen put down these guidelines: 1) You need to make over $6 an hour (this was 1978) to pay for the gas. 2)You need to work a different shift then me so one of us would be with the kids at all times.
I began to pray the Lord would give me the perfect job and did He ever!!!! More then I could ever have dreamed. I opened the Sunday paper and there was a job for Ozark Airlines Reservations. Starting salary $6.36 an hour, type 30 words a minute, 2nd shift, free travel and free insurance. So I took the test and had the interview and Glen bought me a car on the way home from the airport. He knew the Lord was giving me that job even though no one had said that. But a few days later they called and sure enough, I was hired.
So now we were both working in Peoria so we moved to an apartment in Eureka IL., home of Ronald Reagan University. I worked 2nd shift and he worked 3rd shift. Eddie was back living with us and Annette would soon follow. Glen and I would pass each other on a country road every night about 10 miles outside of town. We would pull over, he would run over to the car and kiss me goodnight and off we went. We often would giggle about what the people on that road were saying about us meeting several nights a week on a back road to have a smooch. Who knows. But we were just a married couple in love with each other. God has been so good to us and he was pulling, pulling, pulling me back to him. He had now seen me through a scary first year with my baby, saw Glen through this terrible arrest and handed us both the perfect job. He was definitely getting my attention and gaining my trust. The wrong side of that fence was getting farther and farther away.
We had Glen's two oldest children living with us and enjoyed them very much. Glen was working for John Deere still and I was gone for the day with the little boys. When Glen got home there was a note from his kids saying their mom had come to get them and take them back to Indiana. No warning, just gone. This was devastating for us. Then a few days later a sheriff's car pulled up and took Glen away to jail for fleeing the state to avoid prosecution. This is a federal offence. Glen had lived in Illinois for years and had paid his child support until his X-wife called and said she wanted him to take his oldest two children. They were in their early teens. We did not pay her support for them during this time. However, she continued to draw aid from the state of Indiana for them. A friend of hers had told her the state was doing surprise home visits so she came and got them. Then she told them she hadn't gotten support for some time and she didn't know where Glen was. Glen lost his job with John Deere because of this plus spent three days in jail till I could come up with bail for a federal charge. His sister and brother-in-law hired and paid for an attorney for him. Naturally he was cleared and we only had to prove the kids were with us and show all expenses for them during their stay. But what an ordeal. This would not be our last issue over child support but God has always intervened in our behalf because we have always tried to do what's right and what God would expect of us concerning his children.
But when a window closes a door opens. Glen would get a job with Caterpillar tractor which he loved and Caterpillar helped put us back on track financially. Clay was finally on some food so I was itching to get back to work. So Glen put down these guidelines: 1) You need to make over $6 an hour (this was 1978) to pay for the gas. 2)You need to work a different shift then me so one of us would be with the kids at all times.
I began to pray the Lord would give me the perfect job and did He ever!!!! More then I could ever have dreamed. I opened the Sunday paper and there was a job for Ozark Airlines Reservations. Starting salary $6.36 an hour, type 30 words a minute, 2nd shift, free travel and free insurance. So I took the test and had the interview and Glen bought me a car on the way home from the airport. He knew the Lord was giving me that job even though no one had said that. But a few days later they called and sure enough, I was hired.
So now we were both working in Peoria so we moved to an apartment in Eureka IL., home of Ronald Reagan University. I worked 2nd shift and he worked 3rd shift. Eddie was back living with us and Annette would soon follow. Glen and I would pass each other on a country road every night about 10 miles outside of town. We would pull over, he would run over to the car and kiss me goodnight and off we went. We often would giggle about what the people on that road were saying about us meeting several nights a week on a back road to have a smooch. Who knows. But we were just a married couple in love with each other. God has been so good to us and he was pulling, pulling, pulling me back to him. He had now seen me through a scary first year with my baby, saw Glen through this terrible arrest and handed us both the perfect job. He was definitely getting my attention and gaining my trust. The wrong side of that fence was getting farther and farther away.
