Sunday, February 1, 2009

1st Day of Love

by Ryan Jensen, January 1996

Years ago, possibly about 1986, a next door neighbor gave me the idea of "14 Days of Love" during the first 14 days of February ending with Valentine's Day. Each day I would prepare or set out some little surprise or treat or activity for family members. Empty nesting Glen and I are now the only family members and Glen is trying to be oh, so good in avoiding those high glycemic treats so I've decided to write 14 days of posts explaining why I love Glen. Perhaps these posts will give my children a better insight into their parents' relationship
.

DAY ONE
I love Glen for praying for me before officially meeting me. After our marriage he shared with me that he would pray every day for his future spouse, for her safety and spiritual growth. I thanked him and told him that I needed and appreciated those prayers. Being a teenager is a difficult time of trying to figure out who you really are and what you really believe and value. I truly needed those prayers and I'm sure Glen's prayers joined those of my mom in earnestness.

Ryan took two photos of his teenage parents and combined them in the above drawing as a special gift for us when a teenager himself. It has special meaning for me as I think of a young Glen praying for me, his future wife.

Special Note: During our California open house, I heard the following story from more than one person. A very young Primary age girl in Glen's Hawthorne Ward, also named Laurel, always told everyone that she would some day marry Glen. It was one of those inside ward family jokes, so they were all commenting on how Glen really had married Laurel.

2 comments:

Nichelle Jensen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nichelle Jensen said...

The future prayers must have come from Glen then. That was the greatest thing Nate ever told me in passing:that he prayed for his future wife's spiritual well being. I was amazed he didn't realize how wonderful that was. Nate also didn't know that Glen prayed for you; pretty touching experience to read about Laurel:)