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We met in 1990 in 9th grade at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville, Arkansas. On Corbett’s first day of school in January, after moving from Michigan in the middle of the year, one of her classes was Science with Mr. Remmers. His class was unique because she remembers being stood up in front and introduced to the entire class. Corbett remembers spotting Andy, and making a mental note to “check him out”.
Soon, Corbett was taken to Sequoyah United Methodist Church with her good friend Stephanie. Low and behold, Andy went there too! Over the next few years, our friendship grew - but ONLY friendship. We vowed in 10th grade to never date because we didn’t want to ruin our friendship! We have lots of great memories from youth group.
Our first mission trip together was Summer of 1992. We traveled to Norfork, Arkansas. We helped with a Food Bank, painting, sorting stinky clothes, mowing lawns, and many other fun things.
After High School, we lost touch for a year or so. One day in 1995, Corbett returned from a Mission Trip to Juarez, Mexico, and was making a presentation in church. Andy, showed up that day. We shared about what was going on in our lives, and also about the trip she had just returned from. Andy seemed quite interested in it. The next year, there were a few spots available that had to be filled for the Juarez team to go. When the leader called Corbett, she of course got in touch with Andy. Through many challenges, he went. This trip rekindled the friendship that we had so many years before. Many people said we needed to get married! :)
So, in October of 1996, we began dating. We were married in May 2000.
Our first introduction to Honduras was through Henry and Cindy Lowman (Mercy International) coming to visit Grace Church of Northwest Arkansas (gracechurchnwa.org). They showed a video, and both of us were VERY interested in it when it was over, and actually said “I want to go” to each other. That was in Late 2003, and then our first trip to Yamaranguila, Honduras was July of 2004. We both loved it, and felt we were not supposed to leave.
The following year, Corbett was pregnant with Makenzie, so her plans to return were brought to a halt. Andy did go, and had a great trip. He came back with much greater anticipation of what God was doing towards our future life as missionaries. We traveled together again in 2006 with even more affirmations.
In the summer of 2007, we were both given leave-of-absence’s from our jobs to go to Honduras for approximately 3 months. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our employers and our teams for allowing us to do this (Wal-Mart and Whitlock Orthodontics). We were re-affirmed that this is what God wanted for us. And, in May of 2008 we arrived in Honduras Full-Time!
After a very good visit in the states over the fall of 2008, we returned to Honduras again. We were in the US for approximately 3 months. In 2009, we had a wonderful year in Yamaranguila. We were granted a 5-year residency in May 2009. In June, we as a family, took a small group of interns to San Pedro, and were taking an extra day to enjoy being together as a family. On June 28th, we were supposed to be headed back to Yamaranguila, however, the President of Honduras was ousted. So, on July 1, Makenzie and Corbett headed back to the US. A few days later, Andy joined us. It was a very difficult time for the country of Honduras. We spent a great amount of time in prayer for our home. We, again returned to Honduras in December 2009.
We look forward to the many things that God has in store for us in 2010.
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