Chapter Two
Our Beginning
In November 1987 I walked into Southwood Movie Theater in Austin, Texas selling advertising for my Just For Kids Magazine. My baby Jennifer was now six months old and I decided to publish a Christian Magazine for Kids in Austin.
When I was introduced to the Manager, Craig Gandy. I took an immediate liking to him. I quickly found out that we loved kids and God, so my magazine was of great interest to him. He was very energetic and had a lot of promotions going on. He had to get approval for the Advertisement from the district office, so I called several times asking about the progress of the approval for the ad.
One evening I called Craig at his house, and we talked for a long time. I remember just sitting on my kitchen floor really enjoying our conversation. During this talk he mentioned that his secretary was getting married and quit. It was only a part time job but I told him I was interested and I was hired on the phone.
I enjoyed working with Craig. He was funny, energetic, smart, excited about life and he had a genuine love for children. Especially his own, which he talked about all the time. Whenever he was not working he was with his three kids. There were always people and promotions going on around him that winter. He told me that during the end of September 1997 two young men that worked for him called him at home late one night. One had taken mushrooms and the other was worried he was going to OD, so Craig went over and sat with them until he was sure that everything was OK. When he arrived home late that night he sat at his desk and wrote a 13 division business chart. He said He was suddenly filled with instant knowledge, and it took less than 15 minutes to fill out. He has always sonfessed that he was God inspired, because he cannot think that fast much less write that fast. It was at that point that he started noticing that everything around him was happening real fast, with little effort from himself.
During that winter we worked together. Craig was a key promoter in the biggest Charity Giving during Christmas in the History of Austin. Craig was on TV talk shows, various charity events and several charity promotions. He always gave God credit for what was happening. We were very busy. I helped him get his first dba for his own marketing company. He was already landing jobs before he was even ready. He was so excited about the Holy Spirit moving in his life, he was witnessing to everyone that came near him. This was unusual for him, as he had not been close to God since he was a young boy. And he had always been a lukewarm Christian.
Soon after Christmas I started hearing about his problems at home. We had become close friends sharing work and talking about Jesus and our kids. His wife's parents had been visiting since November from Germany, and they would team up with his wife discouraging him about his new business. Even though he was not planning on quitting his Management job until his business was secure. His wife told him that he was crazy and pretty soon he would be witnessing about Jesus in the streets. When Craig was a young man he felt the call of God to become a Minister, but she strongly discouraged it.
In January we made a trip to Oklahoma to visit twin brothers that had developed a new 3 dimensional technology. They were interested in having Craig promote it. They were a strong Christian family, and we enjoyed talking with them about the Lord. They were convinced that Craig was the person that God wanted for them to have as their promoter/marketer. This was a tremendous account, and everything seemed to be going great. During our drive to Oklahoma we encountered the worse winter snow storm in years. Cars and large trucks were off in ditches on both sides of the highway. We continued down the road without a worry about the storm in that little car. I told him I could feel the Angels surrounding the car. We talked about God and Jesus from the moment I got into his car, all the way there and all the way back until he took me back home. Our friendship became stronger during that trip. We both loved God with our whole hearts, and loved talking about Him.
In February his in-laws finally left to go back to Germany, and Craig felt his home would be in order again. But when he went home that evening he found that his wife had emptied both their bank and savings accounts, and sent the money with her family. After she put them on the airplane she went straight to her Attorneys and filed for divorce. When he came home that night she demanded that he get out immediately, and she became so angry that she threw a coffee mug at him. Divorce was not what Craig wanted, he loved his children more than breath itself, and he could never imagine not living with them and seeing their smiling faces everyday.
He found an apartment close to his home and moved out. The day he moved she stood in the room as he packed holding their two year old son. Their son was so upset that he kept throwing up, and crying. He told me later that she seemed to enjoy ripping apart his heart, and his sons heart too. As soon as he moved out he was served with papers that said he could not enter into any contracts until his divorce was final. So that put his Marketing company on hold for two months. He had quit his Management job, and started going into depression from the loss of family. We had become close friends, and I really admired and respected him. It broke my heart to see this wonderful man so broken. I could not understand how any woman could treat him like this. Millions of women would be excited to have a man that was just half the man he was. Of course I did not want any other female to know that he would soon be available, so I tried to keep other single females at a SAFE distance. But who could blame me for that! Much later after we were married he told me there had been another female that he dated, but when she saw me at his apartment, she never came back. I guess she thought we were dating, instead of working together!
One day as I was driving my car I was talking to God about my love for Craig. What I loved most about him was his love for God, and I told God that the most important thing for me was to find a Godly husband that loved God more than anything else. And at that moment my car was filled with the Holy Spirit. It was then that I realized this was the right man for me and my children, I just needed to be patient. And patience was never a strong attribute for me!
Soon the divorce was over, and he decided to get on with life and back to his new company. Then a few days after Mothers Day he received a letter in the mail. I was there when he opened the letter. He read it and then put it down. With terror in his eyes he told me and his male roommate that she was going to try to take the kids back to Germany. But she was under court orders that said she had to reside in Texas with the children. He was to take the kids out for dinner that night so he would try to talk them out of this.
That evening when he went to pick up his kids, no one was home. Then it dawned on him that the key that was in the envelope might have meant she already left. So he drove home to get the key so he could see inside the house. This time his roommate came with him. Once inside the house he knew for sure they were gone. Bibles were in each of the children's trash cans, just her way to let him know that they would never be exposed to Christ anymore. Trophies were left on the bed from days that he coached the kids. As the heart broken man drove home he said that the most beautiful rainbow was overhead. His roommate agreed that he had never seen such a magnificent rainbow before. Surely it was a sign from God that everything would be alright
I told him to go to an Attorney, and when he did he received hope of getting his children back. Since she was under court orders to not leave Texas much less the country, and she left within 30 days of the divorce she was classified as kidnaping the children, and Craig received temporary custody. The court gave him legal papers to bring them back. The clerks were all FOR him to bring his children back that they decided to place a special ribbon on the documents to make them look even more important to the German Courts. Once the children were back in the United States a new hearing would be made as to who should receive permanent custody. With dockets in hand he flew off to Germany to find his children and bring them home.
TO Be continued
