Letters to My Son in Law 1 (The Beginning of our Family)
Family . Katie's RamblingsWhen my first son in law joined the family, I wrote him some letters to introduce him to our family and things I thought He might want to know about us. I have four sons in law now, and am hoping to have my first, daughter-in-law, very soon. So, I was reviewing the letters I wrote, and decided to add them to my blog.
Dear Son In Law,
I wanted to write you some letters to share with you things you would not know about our family because you did not grow up in our home. I am so excited to have you join our family, and hope these letters bless you.
Jeremy and I met the summer before our senior year in high school. Jeremy grew up in a small town in Indiana, called Decatur. His parents did not attend church weekly, but his mom and sometimes his brothers attended church. Jeremy’s grandparents, his mom’s parents, Norman and Julia Judith Wenger, were very active in the United Methodist Church. His dad’s parents, Carl and Marge Hirn, did not attend church that I am aware of. Jeremy has two younger brothers. Brandon and Tyler. Jeremy is five years older than Brandon and eight years older than Tyler. Jeremy learned from his mom when he was 16 that he was adopted by his dad at the age of two. His mom and dad were married at that time and so his dad adopted him then. Up until age 16, Jeremy did not know he was adopted, but always felt like he did not quite fit into his family. He felt lied to and uncertain of many things when his mom told him he was adopted. He found out that his biological father was a man he knew in the town he lived in, and that he knew many of his biological relatives, because they are a large family in the community. One amazing thing about Jeremy’s life is this: when his mom was 16 and realized she was pregnant, she went to her bedroom and cried out to God. She tells a story that God came to her in that room and told her to have her baby because he was going to be a special child. From that day on she never considered abortion again. The summer that we met, Jeremy, and his brother Brandon, attended youth group activities at the church that my dad became the new pastor of. It was at one of these events that we met.
I grew up in a Christian home and my parents were very radical about their faith. It all began the year I was born. Two weeks after I was born, my mom decided she wanted more for her life and her two daughters. She had grown up in a very, very abusive home. Ever since she was a little girl she desired to have more for her family. She wanted to marry a nice man and raise children in love and safety. But when I was born she realized she just didn’t have what it was she was hoping for. So, one Sunday she got up, and got my sister and I dressed and went to the local Nazarene church down the street. She could not believe the love she felt in this church and the message that the pastor was preaching. She had never heard the gospel before like this. The next week she went again, and the week after that she convinced my dad to go with her. My dad’s parents were very conservative, and his dad had become saved in a Mennonite church just a few years before this, but it had not affected my parents. When my dad went to the church, both he and my mom in a matter of weeks made Jesus Lord of their lives. My dad tells a story of going to vacation Bible school as a young boy and asking Jesus into his heart. He remembers that as a special experience in his life. They immediately got involved in the church Bible studies and ministries. They were on fire for God and became foster parents and desired to help families in crisis. Soon after becoming Christians they felt called to become missionaries. They applied to an organization called World Gospel Missions. They were not discouraged by the fact that my mom did not even have a high school diploma and neither of them had any Bible school training. They knew God wanted them to apply and they would do whatever He led them to do. They walked in faith and trusted Him to provide. They were accepted into the ministry, and we were assigned to go to the Navajo reservation in Arizona. They prayerfully raised support and we went to Arizona. My parents served full time at the Native American Bible school for children. They were dorm parents, my dad was the director of the school for many years, and they filled various roles as they faithfully served. We also spent our summers on the reservation ministering to the Navajo tribe. After a few years, my parents felt led to come back north and serve at the headquarters in Indiana, while my dad attended Bible school. My dad finished his schooling and began to pastor. All the while, my parents continued to foster needy children. Hundreds of children. Then it happened when I was in high school my parents took in a baby that could not return to his birth parents or any relatives, and he was not wanted by adoptive families. My sister’s, Rebecca, Chopper, and I convinced my parents to adopt this baby. This was the first child my parents ever considered adopting, and they adopted him and his biological brother. That is my brothers, Bubba( Michael), and Alex. The next year they would be asked to adopt an extremely brain injured baby, Jeffrey. Then once they adopted him, they would become nationally known as a place for unwanted children to be adopted. They would begin to get calls daily from all over the nation to consider adopting children. Every time God called or asked my parents to do the hard thing they did. They taught my sisters and I to trust Him and walk in faith. Over the years my parents adopted, Michael, Alex, Jeffrey, Emily, Millie, Stephen, Janie, Eddie, Jackie, Annie, Hudson, Lizzie, Tank, and Peanut.
The summer before my senior year, my dad would take a new job as a pastor of a small country church outside of Decatur, IN. The year before that, I had been dating another pastor’s son, and had decided to break it off with this young man because I could see in many ways we were not compatible. It was a very difficult time in my life, and my mom and I had been praying together that I might begin to heal from the pain of that relationship and that I might be able to build new ones when we moved. I honestly, had no desire to meet new people and build new relationships when we moved. I wanted to just finish high school and find the perfect life without any effort. Like that ever happens.
One thing about my mom is that she taught all her daughters to pray for their future spouse ever since we were very young. She told us to pray very specifically. So, as a little girl I have always prayed that the man I would marry would be pure of heart, and that he would be a hard worker, want a large family, and care about others more than himself. I often would pray that he would be protected from the evil that surrounded him. Of course, I had no idea what that meant. As we made plans to move to Decatur, my mom said that we should pray that I would make a very special friend there and not feel lonely. We thought we were praying for a female friend. But, that did not turn out to be the case.
That summer the small church my dad was taking over as pastor paid for the youth to go to a major league baseball game in Chicago. At the time, I loved baseball, so I made plans to go to the ball game. I met Jeremy that morning in the basement of the country church as we gathered to leave for Chicago. Something drew me to him immediately. I still don’t know what exactly, maybe hormones, maybe the Lord. Maybe both. But I was definitely drawn to him. In fact, so much so that I was not myself. I had always been known as the conservative girl, who you didn’t mess with. Most boys didn’t even approach me, I was so standoffish. But for some reason that day going to Chicago and back home, I could not help but throw myself at Jeremy. It is even crazy to think about it now. I remember going home and thinking, “what is wrong with you, you made a complete fool of yourself. You don’t even know that boy, or if he is a Christian.” Well, apparently, I made an impression on him. Because he called and asked me out for ice cream. My first thought was NO. But my mom encouraged me to get to know him and be nice. So, I said, yes. I had a plan. I would go for ice cream and I would talk about God the whole time. This would turn him off, and I would never have to worry about him ever again. Little did I know, that he loved hearing me talk on and on about what God was doing in my life and in the lives of others. Our senior year of high school began, and we ended up being in the same home room class. He continued to come to youth group events and I continued to argue with myself about being interested in someone who was not a Christian. Shortly into the school year we attended an event that changed Jeremy’s life and he accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior. It was shortly after that we were at a youth event and another girl was flirting with Jeremy. It was that day, I realized I wanted to marry Jeremy and I was not going to let this other girl get in the way. So, we began in September 1992 dating seriously. By the end of Spring, we knew we wanted to get married, and on our high school graduation day Jeremy proposed. So, God answered my prayer for a special friend, and a pure husband all in the same person. God had protected Jeremy from many dangers over they years, and placed in him a desire for right living. The power of prayer is amazing.
We spent that next summer going on long walks and discussing our hopes and dreams. We realized that God was calling us both to raise Kingdom builders, and to help families in crisis. We were young and excited about life and where God was going to take us from there. We had no idea what was going to come next. We got married on December 26th, 1993. So, that is the beginning.
Hope it wasn’t too long and boring. We are so blessed to have you as part of our family and we look forward to many, many more years of celebrating this life in Christ together.
Love, Momma Kate
Related Posts:
Written by Katie
Things to know as you visit our site
We are Bible believing, scripture only people. We love to learn about the Hebrew roots of our faith. We believe it is important to not add or subtract from the Divine Word of God. The compiled scriptures that agree with one another and have no contradiction is the 66 books of what is commonly referred to as the Christian Bible, or the Holy Bible.
These writings were originally written by men inspired by God. They were written in the language of the writers and readers of the original documents. Many of the original documents have been lost, but God’s Word is eternal and remains. Therefore, it is important to us to study, learn, and consider the culture, history, and language of the original writers of the scriptures.
In our studies we have learned that the true name of God is Yehovah, and His son, our Messiah, is named Yeshua. Therefore, as you read our posts we will use the Hebrew names of God and our Messiah.
Popular Posts
- Whole Bible Believer, Torah Observant Christian
- Parenting an Adult Child that is Disrespectful and…
- Thinking on Sign on the Hand, Symbol on the Forehead
- Homeschooling Torah (my official review of the best…
- Copying the Bible (FREE Homeschool Copywork guide printable)
- What was Job’s sin? Why did God let Job suffer…
- Demons, devils, spiritual beings, real or not real???
- Christmas, a Biblical Perspective
- Fall Feast dates 2023!!! It’s Coming!!!!
- A Biblical Fast, No food No Water, Did you Know?
Categories
- 40 days of Prayers for my Husband
- Adoption
- All about Animals
- Baking
- Bible Reading Challenge
- Biblical Living
- Biblical Marriage
- Birth Stories
- Carman Family Life
- Carman Farming
- CEF (child evangelism fellowship)
- Color Thru the Bible
- Copy Work
- Danger of Homeschooling Series
- Day in the Life of a Big Family
- Dyslexic perspective
- Fall Feasts
- Family
- Family Rule Book
- For My Children
- God's Calendar and Biblical Feasts
- Gospel of Yeshua Messiah series
- Holidays
- Home Discipleship
- Home Schooling
- Homemaker
- Journey series
- Journey to Redemption
- Katie, the Cleaning Lady
- Katie's Ramblings
- Kid Posts
- Mental Health
- Name Series
- Organization (Hirn Helpers)
- Parenting
- Popular Posts
- Prayer Challenge
- Prayer Challenge for the Children
- Praying the Fruit of the Spirit
- Rachel's Writings
- Sabbath
- Spiritual Warfare
- Spring Feasts
- Ten Days of Prayer Challenge
- Torah Talk
- Torah/Bible
- Tyler's garden
- Tyler's Tidbits
Leave a Reply