Saturday Update:

This isn't really an update as I have had a stay at home day today so haven't seen Roy.  I did ring him at lunchtime and he sounded very tired.  He said he hadn't had a wild night and couldn't remember dreaming, but I think that just means he didn't get out of bed, as he doesn't remember even if he does dream.  He also reported that his foot was still very swollen.

I have had an emotional morning - most of it due to the amazingness of people around me - a huge thank you to a wonderful caring group of ladies who I have gotten to know via a Facebook page for those of us who are addicted to fabric.  I've have never actually meet any of these lovely ladies face to face and yet they have banded together to organise something very special to help our family out.  I am humbled by their thoughtfulness and love.  Here is the link if you want to go and check it out - www.facebook.com/pages/For-Jolanda-Roy-and-their-Family/386392908138546

Today while doing my housework - some normality in an other wise chaotic life - I was reminiscing on Roy and my life together and thought maybe I should share some parts of it.  There are probably parts that even our children don't know.

My family emigrated to New Zealand from Holland when I was two and a half and we settled in Dunedin.  Through mutual friends my parents became friends with Roy's (Chris as he was called then) parents.  My earliest memory is visiting Roy's family down in Kiatangata on a Sunday I think.  I don't specifically remember Roy, but I remember doing rolly pollies down their back bank - which in my mind was pretty steep, but wasn't really when I revisited the place years later.  I also remember getting an ice cream from Roy's mum out of the shop which they owned.  Roy I don't remember at all.

My next memory is from when I was about 12 or 13, we had moved to Palmerston North and Roy's family to Wellington. We went to stay with the Nugteren's in Lower Hutt for a weekend.  Roy being 3.5 years older than me was prob 16, maybe 17.  Again I don't remember much about him specifically except hearing him come home  late on the Sat night and tossing his broken bike into the carport.  We learnt in the morning that he'd gone over his handle bars on his way home from his girlfriends.

A year later Roy and his parents moved to Palmerston North and Roy went to Massey.  We went to the same Church and hung out together with the youth group and I remember thinking he was pretty cute, even with a beard ;0)  During a youth group tramp in the Tararua's we became an item - as it was called in those days.  I think I was 14 nearly15 at the time.  Roy went off to Aussie to do some cycling before he went to the Aussie youth convention, and while he was away I got to babysit his 10 speed bike - wow that was so awesome, I'd never had a bike like that before - lol!!

When he got back he had bought us each a necklace with our initials - he wore the J and I wore the R and it was official we were going out.  I of course was still at high school, but every morning (nearly) I'd wait outside the front of Girls High School for Roy to come past of his way to Massey so we could have a quick chat.  I have often wondered since what the teachers must have thought, but no one ever said anything. Roy got a hard time from his Massey friends and they called him a cradle snatcher ;0)  The other thing we did was spend long hours talking on the phone - my parents can attest to that and we wrote lots of letters to each other as well.  No email in those days.  We sure kept the postie in work.

At one stage it looked like our family would be moving down to Christchurch as my Dad got a job there and boy was I upset about it.  There was no way I was going - not that I had a choice.  Roy even talked about changing his course so he could study down there - we were so in love.  In the end it didn't happen and we stayed in Palmy. Phew!!

When I was almost 17 and had finished high school we decided we wanted to get engaged and after talking to my parents we did but the stipulation was that we had to wait 2 years before we got married.  2 years!!!!!   Finally the day arrived and on the 10th of Dec 1983 we became husband and wife - I was 19 years old.  Boy that seems so young now.

We started our married life in Wellington where Roy had a job as a programmer at a computer company, it was a big adjustment for me as I was a small town girl, but the city soon grew on us and we had 20 very good years in Wellington.  We had a wonderful Church family and a busy Church life, we bought and sold our first house and bought a bigger house.  We were blessed with 4 wonderful children - 3 boys and a girl. By this stage Roy had been diagnosed with bladder cancer but we learnt to live with it and it just became a part of life.

But Roy became restless in the corporate computer world and the call to work with young people - something he'd done for years both as a Scout and Cadet leader grew strong and so we investigated the possibility of doing Christian camping.  After a number of applications Roy finally became Camp Manager for a Christian camp  in Inglewood.  He loved working with the school groups that came to the camp and the country life style was awesome.  Sadly the camp ran out of funds as they hadn't counted on it not being so well used over the winter and we had to look for another job.  Roy started selling Rawleigh products and we knew we could really do that anywhere so we decided to move closer to family and Church and so we settled in Levin.

Life here in Levin has been good too - most of that has been covered in a much earlier blog so I wont write about that again, we have been blessed to see 3 of our 4 children married and we have also been blessed with 2 beautiful grand-children.

Our life together has had it's highs and lows but we have journeyed it together, with the Lord as our guide and the center of our marriage.  We have learnt to trust more and more in God as the years pass and to take a step out in faith when He called us to do so.  We have been blessed in so many ways and I give thanks to my Father in heaven for each and ever day I have been able to spend with Roy.

Our time together is soon coming to an end and I must again trust in the Lord as I take a step out in faith, this time alone.  Although this will be scary I know that He will be there to guide me every step of the way I just need to focus on Him.

Thank you for taking the time to read what I write and thank you too for all the love, prayers and support we continue to receive.

I hope you all sleep well tonight I think I will and have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow.

Much love
Jolanda