Hi, I’m Rebecca, and welcome to A Record of Graces. When you first meet people, one of the first questions asked is, “Where are you from?” Good question. I have no ‘home base’ or house I grew up in to go back to with family still there. I grew up in the ministry, my parents being missionaries since before I was born. We started in Lima, Peru. We were also missionaries in Mexico when I was little, and during my third-grade year, we moved to work with Hispanics in Connecticut in a bilingual setting. After high school, I attended college in Pennsylvania and graduated in 1994. That summer, I worked at a Christian camp in New Mexico where I met my husband. He was in the Navy then, and his family worked at the camp. He was visiting on leave the week I arrived to be a counselor and the piano player for services during the summer. We kept in touch after his leave ended, and by the next March, we were married and on our way to Washington State, where he was stationed and where we set up a home together. Our firstborn son arrived in 1996, and in 1998, John got out of the Navy. We then served the Lord in ministry in different churches for eight years, working in music, youth, Sunday School, junior church, and bus ministries. Our second-born son was stillborn in 2003. We served as missionaries in Mexico for 12.5 years until my husband’s health began to decline. The church we worked in now has a National pastor and is growing in ways we had always prayed for.
My husband never went into combat, but he still has disabilities due to his time in the Navy. He served on a supply ship that carried ammunition, oil, and explosives. Many men and women who served on the same ship have the same health issues he has due to exposure to chemicals on the ship and from time spent overseas.
I am a stay-at-home keeper and enjoy being a homebody. I love making greeting cards to send to friends and family and to donate to care-related charities. I write here as a journal of sorts, recording the graces. With all the surgeries, physical therapy, and treatments my husband goes through, this is a way that helps me focus on gratitude, Scripture, personal growth, and stray gifts that are placed in my path. I also blog about our life and faith journey as a disability/veteran family and about caring for my dad at times, who is a Vietnam veteran with his own health struggles.
I was saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and baptized at a young age. Ministry has been a part of me for most of my life. While it looks different now due to our circumstances, I believe God is still using us in quieter ways these days.
The origin of my writing (and a more detailed biography) can be found in my first blog post, Grace Comes Along. I hope to build something meaningful here. It’s a record worth keeping.
