Because Ken and I see you as a dear friend, we wanted to share an amazing bouquet of roses we received with each of you. For our 40th Anniversary, our oldest and dearest friend DeDe Kendall (as well as sister-in-love) gave us an extraordinary bouquet of roses. With the bouquet came the following tribute to our marriage. We humbly share it with you our dear friends.
Each rose represents your love story…
The Red rose represents the enduring love and respect that has enabled you to preserve a lasting love for forty years. Jesus has been your first love, your highest priority and that has made all the difference in your marriage! Ephesians 5:25, 33
The White rose represents the spiritual purity that you have guarded during your forty years of committed love. Proverbs 4:23
The Pink rose represents the immeasurable grace that God has deposited into your hearts for forty years; His amazing grace has sustained your marriage thorough the storms of life. 1 Peter 5:10
The Yellow rose represents the joy of your friendship. You have maintained an enduring friendship for over forty years. You not only love each other, but you actually like one another too! Proverbs 27:9
The Peach rose represents the enthusiasm and desire you share in knowing Christ. Your highest value in life has been to passionately know and serve God. Deut. 6:5
The Lavender rose represents enchantment. It has been said that the lavender rose is the rarest and most visually stunning of all the roses. Congratulations on your 40th Wedding Anniversary; it is both rare and stunning to build a marriage that goes the distance!!! Your love for each other has grown stronger and deeper with time. Thank you for your visually stunning and rare example of a lasting love! Song of Solomon 6:3
DeDe’s loving tribute was so stunning for us and so fitting from her. WHY? Ken led DeDe to Jesus when she was 14 and baptized her and then I mentored her for years and we became the best of friends. Then 26 years after leading DeDe to Jesus, Ken performs her wedding ceremony as she marries Ken’s older brother Gary. Talk about a love story!
The love story continues…while buying cool shoes for Ken for Christmas, one of the salesman asked me an interesting question, “How long have you been married?” I replied, “WHY?” He said, “you are so happy about getting your husband such cool shoes I assumed you are a newlywed!” When I told the young man that we are getting ready to celebrate our 40th anniversary, he was stunned. I told him that because of Jesus my husband and I have stayed together even when life was so hard that we could have easily “tapped out” of the struggle! Shining for the King, even when buying shoes! (Mario’s comment at shoe store)