Thursday's Thanksgivings

Imagining this really was written on Thursday, April 22nd;

I was giving thanks for the following ALL DAY!

This day, seven years ago, was a most significant day in my life, indeed...a day that I reflect on with tremendous thanksgiving!  April 22, 2003, was the day that I received my first email from my (what I had no clue of at the time and would have passed out with joy if you would have told me!) future husband.  I remember the day so vividly.  

My older brother, K.J., being a friend of David's - who at that time was serving as a journeyman in Zambia - requested that David add his sister to his prayer/update email list.  (I think my brother had some matchmaking motives here...not knowing how things would actually turn out!)  David and I had met on a mission trip 4 year prior, and I definitely new he was a great, godly man from our brief encounter.  (And I couldn't help but notice his good looks! :)  So I didn't attempt in the least to deter my brother from making sure that I was getting updates from this David Kizziah guy.  (I will tell you that "mmm...Katie Kizziah...that sounds nice" crossed my mind very early on :)  

Anyway, after receiving a few of David's updates, I really desired to respond.  I did not want to seem forward by initiating a personal email.  However, I did want him to know I was praying for him.  I mean, being so far from home, an email from someone in "sweet home Alabama" - even if it was someone that you may not remember - would be a good thing . . . right?  Well, I finally worked up enough nerve to write David, letting him know who I was (our initial meeting was so brief that even I - an unforgetful female when it comes to such events - don't remember the details!), how encouraged I had been from his updates and that I was indeed praying for him.  I remember wondering if he would actually write me back.  And I wondered if he did, could there ever be something "there"?...  

Little did I know, that email from David would lead to personal hand-written letters and cross-continent phone calls, and eventually an engagement ring on my finger and wedding bells not long thereafter.   

So I give thanks to the Lord for this day 7 years ago.  Thank you, Sovereign God, that You are the Origin, the Author, and the Orchestrator of all love stories and romance.  You ARE Love itself!  Thank You for my husband, David Kizziah.  Thank You for an internet connection in the remote area of Zambia where he lived at the time.  Thank You that he wrote back!  (Oh, and thank you, K.J., for instigating the initial email contact to begin with.  I am forever indebted to you! :)

   David in Zambia, 2004

I thought is so neat that today, of all days, David headed back to Zambia on a mission trip.  He and 3 other guys will be serving as volunteers with the Bowman family, current missionaries to Zambia.  The Bowmans arrived on the field when David did, back in 2002, and he served closely alongside them during his 2 year term.  Please be praying for David and the team as they are in Zambia for the next two weeks.  May they be used to assist and encourage the Bowman family, and my great work be done in their hearts and in the hearts of those to whom they are ministering. 


Check out the Bowman's blog for updates on David and the team.  And while you are there, get to know this precious family who is so faithfully serving the Lord in Luwingu, Zambia.

Another cause for thanksgiving . . . 

I am so grateful for the Circlewood Baptist G.A.'s who are praying for my husband while he is away.  These precious girls left such thoughtful, encouraging messages in the church parking lot in front of our home before David and the team left the country.  This was SO SPECIAL.  Thank you, Laurie and your G.A. girls!