Dedicated to Jeff Christoferson
Submitted by Kelli
My husband Jeff and I met in high school in 1992. Jeff was captain of the football team and Senior class president, I was the new girl in town. I had just moved from Eastern Washington to move in with my mom. I was getting into a lot of trouble and needed a fresh start. When I saw Jeff for the first time I knew that he would be a guy that would take care of me and not take advantage of me. I asked a friend to introduce us, she did and I asked for his number. I wasn’t shy, obviously! We started hanging out with each other a lot, one thing to led to another and we ended up getting pregnant. I was 15, Jeff was 17. His dreams of going to college to play football were quickly disappearing. He quickly started working 2 sometimes 3 jobs to save up for the baby. He never asked me once to work a job. He wanted me to finish high school and so I did. I finished my Junior and Senior year all in one year, while Jeff graduated himself and worked several jobs. We had both c
me from single parent homes and did not want that for our child, so we decided to get married and do things the right way. We were determined to make things right.
It has now been 15 1/2 years since we met in high school! I believe that our dedication to do things the right way have paid off. Even though it hasn’t been easy, we now have 5 beautiful children,and we run our own non-profit to reach out to youth and orphans around the world. We had dedicated time speaking at high schools about honoring one another to wait until your married before you have sex. Speaking to young girls about respecting themselves enough to wait and young men to be respectful to women and not push them into to sex. We have had several young people come up after the class crying and asking how to get out to their sexual relationships!
Jeff has never stop loving me, but always encourages me to pursue the things that inspire me. He has worked extra jobs so that I could stay home with our children. His love for our children and passion to see them succeed is so amazing! He has spent many hours at our daughters drama classes, sporting events for our other children and many hours helping me pursue my photography business. Jeff never did go to college to play football, but he coaches at a local high school and does an amazing job! We have not been able to have a honeymoon since we were married 14 years ago, we would love to go to Hawaii!