Memories of This Day 60 Years Ago.....

 April 26, 1963 was on a Friday and I was in Weatherford, Texas at the Justice of the Peace located in the courthouse on the square at 1:00 in the afternoon.

I was just 14 years old, 5 feet tall, 100 pounds....and 4 months pregnant.

My mother had bought me a white dress from a discount department store and it came with a silver looking brooch which I have to this very day.

My boyfriend and, soon to be my husband,  met us there along with his mother.

A Baptist preacher had agreed to do the ceremony for us.

My mother cried but his mother did not.

He later told me that the only reason mine cried was because she was losing her babysitter for my three younger siblings.

I was scared and so was he but I have no way of truly knowing what our mothers were feeling.

Mine was there because I was underage and she had to sign for me.

He was 19 and could marry legally all by himself but his mother came as a sign of support, or so I suppose.

We married in Weatherford instead of Fort Worth because marriages were posted in the newspapers back then and she did not want her family to know....Weatherford being in a different county.

At that time in my life, I was already gifted with the skills of surviving and coping, but as I look back on that day from this one 60 years later, I realize that I had already made the two most important decisions of my life that would affect all time and eternity for me.

The first and most important one was when I was 5 years old.

God has always been a part of my life, thoughts, and existence.

I was totally innocent and 'under the blood' so to speak until a moment came when I realized I was a sinner and had to choose between good and evil. My sin involved matches and a rose bush and I repented and asked Mother to forgive me - which she barely acknowledged even hearing me - but most importantly -  I asked my Heavenly Father to forgive me - of ALL my sins. I accepted Christ as my personal Savior and received His gift of salvation - from the very first moment that I had realized I was a sinner.

That one decision changed everything for me in my life and for eternity.

The second most important decision was to keep my pregnancy and my baby.

I am still amazed at the strength I found to stand up to my mother.

The Lena Pope Home was a possible solution to my 'problem' - just as it was back in 1957 when Mother had four young children and a young lover who wanted her to 'give us away.'

The compromise then was for us - my siblings and me - to live in a shack in the back yard of 1212 Waggoman in Fort Worth, Texas where our step-father to be still lived with his parents.

Because of Mother not wanting her family to judge her - we were not sent to the Lena Pope Home as he and his family wanted.

Mother and our new sister, Luann,  who was a child of our mother's lover , lived in the house along with her and his parents, and we lived in the shack.

I was grateful then and I'm grateful now that Jesse married me.

That kept me from being an unwed mother at the home and possibly having to give up my child.

Mother had a hard time keeping the four of us siblings much less another baby.

I stayed married for 41 years and had four amazing children and am now blessed with eight grandchildren.

God is a God of redemption and He has redeemed so many things in my life for me.

Were it not for that marriage - I would not have the children and grandchildren I so love today.

Summer was the child I fought to keep and I cannot imagine my life or hers had I not made that decision in 1963.

I often wondered in the following years if I had chosen wisely in keeping her as opposed to giving her up for adoption. She had a terrible childhood and was abused and hurt by those who should have cherished and loved her.

She and I are only 15 years and one month apart in age.

We share a bond that is unique and precious.

I have a good bit of guilt in not protecting her and my son, Jesse, as I should have through the years of their childhood....and then Amber and Benjamin, as well.

I am not the woman today that I was back then and I praise God for his redeeming love and for the kindness and graciousness of my children in their love and forgiveness.

No matter where you are or what is happening in your life at this moment in time - please remember that God has a plan and you are exactly where you need to be right this minute to take you where you are meant to go.

Trust Him! 

"Satan meant it for evil but God meant it for good."

God can redeem any and every thing!

He did it for me and He will do it for you.