A special day. Feb 29th 2012

Today is a very special day for Linda and me, but also especially for Linda.  Today she is 60 years old and also celebrating her 15th birthday as she is a leap year baby being born on February 29th. We also celebrate the day 40 years ago when we got engaged. It was at an old church on the marshy coast of Essex in England called St Peter's on the Wall. It stands in the ruined enclosure of the Roman coastal fort known as Orthona built in the fourth century to defend the failing Roman empire from Saxon pirates. Then in about 650 AD the Saxons built this church. 

In 1972 Linda and I stood in that church and I asked her to marry me. We exchanged engagement rings that we both still wear 40 years later.  Now we have been married for 38 years this year.  We have walked together all these years and faced many challenges like most people.  We have grown together over the years. Linda is the love of my life and my best friend, beyond any doubt. Like many we have struggled to come to terms with our own frailty and Linda has supported me when I have failed and when I have stumbled and fallen. She has been been a support and encouragement to me in every way. I do not know how I would have got through sometimes without her. I am so grateful that God brought her into my life. I am such a better man as a result of knowing her and being loved by her.  I celebrate her today. She is like a ruby, red with passion and warmth.

Today we look back over the last 40 years with thankfulness and joy. We have raised three wonderful children each unique and special in their own ways. We are so proud of them and their partners and the seven beautiful grandchildren they have given us. 

We walk today by faith following in our Father's footsteps, having the time of our lives.  Each day is another adventure, each need supplied by a provision from him, each new friend we meet another to treasure.  

Thank you Father for my wife and for all she is and our life together..

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