On January 7, 1979 Rick Shaffer and Beverly Bono were united in Marriage in Mifflinburg, PA, but before time began God knew this marriage would take place.  He also knew that Rick and Bev would have Christ at the center of their marriage and they would raise seven wonderful blessings from God to learn to love and serve him.  God also knew that this marriage would expand to 26 members that includes four spouses 

with thirteen grandchildren that will learn of Jesus and continue to grow and bring honor, praise and glory to Him!

This day was amazing!  It was raining, snowing and sleeting, and the roads were slick and dangerous, and yet many people braved the conditions to come.  We were so blessed and thankful to God, and the ceremony was beautiful!  We included an offer to those attending 

to turn to Christ for their salvation, and the pastor who did the ceremony presented the offer.  While nobody came forward during the wedding, 

only the Lord knows whether anyone ever came to him from that wedding.  We'll leave that in his hands.     

We came to the wedding in a borrowed car and had no idea where we would spend our wedding night because the car was all we had.  During the reception, as we were cutting the cake a lady came by and asked us where we would be spending our honeymoon, and we told her we didn't know but we were trusting the Lord to provide a place for us.  She started to walk away from us but turned and asked, "Are you serious!"  

We assured her that we were and she said, "I will be right back."  She returned with a map and keys to an A-frame cottage her and her husband 

owned in Northern PA and told us we could use it as long as we like, and if there was anything we needed at all - no matter what - we were to let them know and they would take care of it.  The borrowed car broke down while we were up there and these Christian friends had their personal mechanic fix it for us at no cost to us.  The only thing that didn't go right was our camera.  We were unable to get pictures of our honeymoon. Don't feel sorry for us on that issue because we now have more family pictures than we know what to do with.  What a start to a wonderful journey that we have taken together through so many adventures and friends over the past 41+ years of our marriage!  42th Anniversary coming up January 7, 2021!  All praise and honor to the Lord!

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