Marriage is really good when blessed by God

Dawn and I have been married for forty two years, Yes, 42 years! She says I need a medal, I say I just need more of her! We have been blessed in our love for each other because it has grown stronger through the years.
The joy of good times has unlocked the treasure within each of us. I love Dawn's smile and the light in her eyes as she talks to people, and jokes at times. I love her enthusiasm with people, and her little laugh when she explains what happened with our Grandkids or with friends. I often say when you meet Dawn you'll hear her before you see her, and when you see her you'll never forget her. She is so young at heart she has kept us both young. I think that's why most of our close friends are much younger than we are.
The stress of traumatic events brought us closer. I remember the time I carried her out of the door in the middle of the night, feint from loss of blood from a blighted pregnancy. I remember going to the blood bank before it opened, waiting to get five pints of blood to save her life. I remember our joy at the birth of each one of our precious sons. It far surpassed the eight years of struggle with five miscarriages, praying for Our Lord to give us children, and holding on until He did.
I remember when we lost everything after moving to Cape Town, how we walked the dog through Lourensford Park, collecting pine cones to use as fire-starters. How one night we found a building site where they had cut up the branches of trees and laid them aside for us to take for firewood when we had no money to buy any. I remember how I couldn't get a cell-phone contract because of our financial record then, and I couldn't get finance for a car when an accident wrote off our only car. So I walked and borrowed vehicles for six weeks, trying to keep the business going, until we bought another car for R26000 cash, and borrowed R12000 from a personal friend to make that payment! I remember how Dawn used to walk from our house down to Checkers at the other end of Fish Hoek Main Road for groceries, and carried the bags all the way back, in the winter time. I remember how, a few years later, Dawn suffered such severe depression that one day she couldn't make up her mind whether to have coffee or decaff!
And through all of this, we were able to say, "Well, we still have each other. And we have the Lord in our lives!"

I remember how Our Lord supernaturally helped us to start TCA Engineers in our home, and how He helped us build it up to have 15 people working in it. And when we were able to sell the business into PDNA, we sang that Psalm "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dreamed! Then our heart was filled with laughter, and our mouth with singing!"

And now that Our Lord is restoring our fulfilment in serving His Church in an expanding way again, we are so happy that we have a lasting love that has kept us together in Christ, and that we can be a testimony to His grace. Our love has been rewarded with wonderful relationships with our sons and their amazing wives, everyone, Brett & Jane, Vaughan & Marian, Craig & Edwina, for whom we have deep gratitude to our Lord. We have awesome Grandkids, and we delight in each one of them; Daniel, Caleb, Cayla, Jude, Jonathan, Zoe, Senna and Erin.
Thank You Lord, that we are part of Your vision to fill the earth with Godly Families.

And it all started with a special love that He put in our hearts in marriage, so we give Him thanks, as Tony & Dawn, still in love with Him and with each other, after forty two years.