The day was the 22nd February 1997

I was wandering about the Internet when I stumbled across a Christian pen-pal site. Out of curiosity I decided to choose someone to write to. I randomly chose a woman called Jenny Likins who lived in Denver, Colorado. I wrote to her, not really expecting a reply. To my astonishment, she wrote back in next to no time and so began our walk down the road to where we are today.
Virtually from letter one, there seemed to be a bonding between us and I even felt myself falling in love. I frequently asked the questions "Is this true love or infatuation?", and "How can I be falling in love with someone I have never met?
I come from a family that has had plenty of 'love at first sight' experiences and also a 'love at first look' in the case of my mother who had seen my father in a World War II photograph, had written to him and had flown out from England to South Africa to marry him without having met him. But this was the first case of 'love at first letter'.
Our bonding together was a mutual one and within four months be began talking about getting together.
The problem was that she came from Denver, Colorado and myself from Cape Town, South Africa. Some 10,000 miles apart. How could this relationship ever work?

Almost a year after that first letter, Jenny came on a vacation to South Africa in February 1998. Although this was a vacation, it was also a fact finding mission. We both needed to know whether we loved each other in person as we did in our letter correspondence. We did and I found that I was even more in love after meeting her than before.

The main problem was the distance between us. Who would move where ? Both of us have very happy and loving families, and so this became our major stumbling block. We prayed about this a lot and both of us blocked the answer from God for some time. We didn't allow His will for us to be revealed.

One day in December of 1999, I took a trip out to the places that I had very fond memories of. The village, the ocean and general surroundings. At all the familiar spots, I stopped, took a good look at them and prayed. Suddenly, like a floodgates of a large dam bursting open, the answers that I needed to know flooding out. God's word was finally been revealed to me. What I was looking at was my past, a part of my history to which I had been clinging onto. God was telling me to let go and think of the present and also to look towards  the future. I rushed home, wrote Jenny a letter almost instantly saying that I was willing to move to Denver, Colorado.
The other problem area was moving away from my loving family. When I spoke to my mother about this, she had no hesitation in saying "Go, and reach out for your happiness. Don't think twice, grab happiness while you have it because life can have many regrets".  What she said suddenly lifted the heavy burden that I was carrying. I was allowing God to reveal his wonderful plan He had laid out for Jenny and myself.

Although Jenny and I had basically taken it for granted that we were engaged, I made it official on new years eve. As we have a 9 hour time difference, I wrote her a letter as close to the 1st January 2000 as possible, asking for her hand in marriage, and although it wasn't quite new years day in Denver, she answered with a big "YES". So officially we were engaged on the stroke of the new millennium.

Lot's has been done in the past month since, and much more with still need to be done in the near future, but all the paperwork for visa's, passports and general stuff has been taken care of. We are now in the waiting stage. No actual date has been set aside for the wedding, but it looks like anytime between May and July.

Jenny will be coming here on a short vacation in early February which I can't wait for.

I would like to urge all who reads this message to keep Jenny and myself in your prayers. We have found love and lots of changes and adjusting is going to have to take place. We would appreciate all the prayers, thoughts and well wishes that we can get.

On behalf of Jenny and myself, I wish to thank you all. And remember one thing, if you have a similar story or situation as Jenny and I have had, where we blocked God out and didn't allow His message to be revealed to us, allow yourselves to open up and allow Him to take full control of every aspect of your life. Don't keep back any treasured belonging or thought. That belonging or thought may just be what God is needing you to hand over to Him. It has taken us a number of years to get where we both are now, and that is due mainly to us not allowing God's plan for us to be revealed.

We pray for your support and wish to thank you. I have enjoyed sharing our wonderful news to you and will continue to keep this site updated with news and events that take place in the near future.

Guest Book by TheGuestBook.com

The whispers in the morning
Of lovers sleeping tight
Are rolling by like thunder now
As I look in your eyes

I hold on to your body
And feel each move you make
Your voice is warm and tender
A love that I could not forsake

 (Chorus)
Cause you are my lady
And I am your man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can

Lost is how I'm feeling
Lying in your arms
When the world outside's too much for me to take
That all ends when I'm with you
Even thought there may be times
It seems I'm far away
Never wonder where I am
Cause I am always by your side

(Chorus)

We're heading for something
Somewhere I've never been
Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love

The sound of your heart beating
Made it clear Suddenly
The feeling that I can't go on
Is light years away

(Repeat Chorus)

As preformed by Celine Dion