When Zsuzsa got off the plane in Sacramento, I was waiting for her at the end of the jet bridge, standing around the corner and off to the side so I could surprise her. She did not expect to see me until coming out of security, but I popped up out of nowhere and embraced her tightly. This was one of the happiest moments of my life. We had been apart for 19 stressful days, and I had been nervous about her possibly not being let back into the country (they had given her trouble about not having a return flight), but now we were together, and everything was perfect! I had a sufficient job, the apartment would be ready in 4 days, and we were together for good!
After we had hugged and greeted each other, I had another surprise for her. My brother-in-law Bobby and my sister Raani had bought us each white gold rings as a wedding gift. I was already wearing mine, and I presented her with hers. She was thrilled and responded by laughing and saying, "You're mad!" (Remember, she learned how to speak English in Britain, so when she said "mad," she didn't mean "angry.")
We would spend that night (Saturday night) and the next at the Days Inn hotel since our apartment was not quite ready. I wanted to make our "second wedding night" as nice as possible, so I had bought a disposable styrofoam ice chest and put in a bottle of apple juice, a bottle of orange juice, and a bottle of cranberry juice on ice (this was the fundamental baptist equivalent of a bottle of wine). We were just thrilled to be together!
The next morning we went to church at Regency Baptist Church, and my wife was baptized after the morning service. She had already been saved for over a month at this point but had not yet been baptized. The pastor also announced that she and I had just gotten married, so everyone congratulated us after the service. A week or two later, the church gave us a really nice reception since we hadn't had much of a wedding ceremony.
After two nights at the Days Inn and two nights staying in a camper trailer in my sister's driveway, we finally got into our first apartment. We had very little furniture, but we were so happy to be married and in love, we didn't care at all. We slept on a twin size mattress on the floor and did not even have a table and chairs. We had 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 spoons, 2 forks, 2 knives, 2 glasses, etc. Within a few weeks, my parents gave us a table with 2 chairs as a wedding gift. When we had friends over for dinner, we always had to tell them to bring their own chairs! Then a couple months later, a couple in our church got married and since they had each already lived on their own, they had 2 of everything. They gave us a king size bed (that was a major upgrade!), a sofa, and lots of other furniture and kitchen appliances. That was a major blessing.
Now we have been married for over 12 and a half years, and we are even more "madly" in love than we were back then. After all these years, I still sometimes feel like a newliwed! I thank God for giving me such an amazing wife and for allowing this crazy story to have a happy ending!
Come back tomorrow for the start of a new blog series!