49 Years…and Counting

On Friday, Becky shared that she and her husband are celebrating their 30th anniversary this summer. (Happy anniversary!) That post happened to land on the day of Ken and my 49th wedding anniversary. I enjoyed reading Becky’s marriage journey so much that I thought I’d share ours too.

Ken and I met when his brother and my best friend from high school were dating, and they set us up on a blind date. I don’t really believe in love at first sight, but it was definitely intense like at first sight. Ken had finished two years of junior college and was headed to Kansas State University. I was about to start my freshman year at Emporia State College (then called Kansas State Teachers College).

Riding horses on my farm the summer we met.
Our college photos the year we met (me, a freshman, Ken, a junior).

We had a long-distance courtship that school year, writing daily letters to each other between our campuses that were eighty miles apart. We got married on August 11 the following summer.

Ken and Deb Raney

After our wedding, we lived in campus married housing at K-State one semester but after the Christmas break, on Ken’s 21st birthday, we dropped out of school, loaded all our earthly belongings into a 24-foot rental truck, drove our Ford Pinto into the truck, and headed for New York City where Ken had always dreamed of working in the publishing industry as an illustrator.

That move is probably one of the best things we ever did for our marriage. We had each other and the Lord to depend upon. No running home to mama when things got tough (and they did get tough!) but we grew closer to each other and to God during the next two years than probably at any other time in our marriage. We lived on love and oatmeal. (You can read a bit more of that story here.)

Even as a young teenager, I had been told by several doctors that I probably would not be able to conceive children. But two years after moving to New York, God surprised us with a miracle pregnancy. We knew we wanted to raise our son near our parents, so in the summer of 1976, with me eight months-plus pregnant, we loaded everything into another rental truck and with the help of dear friends from our church in New York, we moved back to Kansas.

Our son, Tarl, was born in October and doctors said he was a miracle and we shouldn’t expect to have any more. But three years later, the Lord blessed us with our daughter, Tobi, and we rejoiced to have one of each. Two years minus one week later God gave us another son, Trey, and we were ecstatic. Then eight years later, to all our great surprise, Tavia made her entrance into the world. I gave birth to a baby in the ’70s, two in the ’80s, and one in 1990, meaning we had kids in our home for thirty-two years! You can believe we are enjoying our empty nest! Haha! But these four are the greatest blessings of our life!

Life was crazy and chaotic, including two years where we had four kids in four different schools! But before we knew what hit us, the kids grew up and started leaving home.

We’d been blessed to rent a four-bedroom duplex very cheap, which allowed me to stay home with the kids all through their school years. I started writing to to pay for college and once the oldest three had their degrees, we bought our first house. Soon our kids were bringing home special gals and guys, and then Tobi got married and made us Papa and Mimi, our most cherished titles!

The weddings and grandbabies came in quick succession after that and now all four of the kids are married-with-kids. And just look at us! We grew by four last year and barely fit in one house now.

Oh, but these are our hearts! How we love them! We can’t wait to see what God will do in each of these precious ones’ lives. We feel so very blessed. Thanks for letting me share our story. Ken’s grandparents each lived to be 101 and they celebrated their eighty-second anniversary! I don’t expect that Ken and I will do the same, but we do hope we have many more years together to enjoy the life God has given us and to serve Him with all our hearts.