Christian Education: One Family’s Story
Rich and Marian Brittingham are almost “part of the furniture” here at UBCS and it is safe to say that many families’ lives have been changed by the impact of this couple’s faithfulness over the years. It was with this in mind that Marian was asked to share with us how they were led to Bethel Baptist and were able to put their five boys through UBCS.
Rich and I met when we were teenagers, he was 16 and I was 14. In 1967, I flew to Sandhofen, Germany, where Rich was stationed, and we were married. Over the years we had five sons; Rich, Jon, Jim, Mike and Bob, all of whom attended UBCS. It was not until I was expecting our second child that I got saved. Having been raised in a Catholic family, going to Mass every Sunday was normal for me. Rich was raised in a Christian home but once we were married he would not go to church by himself. So, I would take Richy, our oldest, to Mass early and then go to church at Cedar Grove with Rich. My mother- in- law was so great. She never mentioned anything to me about being Catholic, but every chance she could, she invited me to special meetings or mother/daughter banquets. She was a great influence in my life and I thank the Lord for her. One Sunday, an evangelist came to Cedar Gove and I received the Lord as my Savior.
Time passed and Richy was old enough to start school. At that time, the public schools in Philadelphia were not a good place to send your children. We decided to put him in Cedar Grove Christian Academy at the cost of $3600 a year. Because the school would not bill you and wanted the money up-front, we had to acquire a bank loan which we paid back each month. When it was time for our second son, Jon to start school, the tuition would double. With two other little ones at home, it was financially out of the question for us. At that point, we let Richy and Jon live with my sister so they could attend a good public school in the country until we could find a new home outside of Philadelphia. We made the move to Quakertown and thought that was great. The Lord had plans for us! Even though it was far, we traveled to Cedar Grove Church every Sunday and Wednesday night, but it became increasingly difficult. A friend of ours from Cedar Grove told us about Bethel Baptist Church and Pastor Richard Harris and what a wonderful church it was. We decided to try it out and there was no looking back. One evening, Pastor Harris was preaching about education and how children should be in a Christian School. I don’t remember his exact words but from that time on, we had a burden to send our boys to UBCS. We prayed about it and wondered where we would get the money, and the Lord started to provide for us. One day a mother was standing at the bus stop with me and my four boys. She asked if I was babysitting them and I said, “No, they are all mine.” She asked if I would be interested in caring for her two children……and the money was provided! I babysat for twelve years in our home and cleaned offices at night while Rich watched the boys. We also made cakes and homemade candy together to help, as we now had four sons in school. There were many struggles and sacrifices, but the blessings were also abundant.
Christmas was always a special time for our family: with baking, decorating, singing in the Cantata, and seeing friends and family. One of my favorite memories was one year, like usual, we had bought the boys new underwear and socks, which were always a necessity. I’m sure the boys were not happy with such a gift, but they never complained about it. On this particular Christmas, that was all we had for them…because tuition always came first. However, a few days before Christmas, we received an envelope at church with $100 inside. To this day, we do not know who that special person was. We ended up buying the boys a game system for the T.V. and that Christmas morning, you would have thought we gave them the world! We shared with them that it was a gift from someone at Bethel. Over the years, many things like that happened and if we had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.After babysitting at home for 12 years I began to feel burned out. I had watched approximately 30-35 children through the years (no, not all at one time). Every day, the first child would arrive at 6:30 a.m. and the last child would leave at 6:00 p.m. It was around this time that I was approached about working in the UBCS Daycare. We considered it; but, soon after that, I found out I was expecting my fifth child and decided to stay home. When Bobby, our youngest, was almost three, I came to work at the UBCS Bible Story Nursery School and after only one week, I knew it was what God had for me. If I begin to talk about the Daycare, I’ll never stop. However, I will say that the children, their parents and my co-workers have brought so much joy to my life.
We have 5 sons, 4 wonderful daughters-in-law and 10 grandchildren whom we adore. Seven of those grandchildren are here at UBCS, six in the school and one, whom I had the opportunity to have in my class last year, in pre-school. What a thrill it is to see our children putting our grandchildren here at UBCS. We have the privilege of seeing them participate in chapel and special programs. I get to take my 3 year old class into the balcony to watch my grandchildren with pride. An added bonus this year is having my husband join the maintenance staff and being able to see him each day. I am so thankful for the teachers here and in my mind, they are the real heroes. They sacrificed so much to teach our boys and now our grandchildren.
The Lord does not promise to supply all our wants, but our needs, and He has done that over the years for our family. I would like to share one final thought of how God has just recently met one of our “wants”. We have always dreamed of having a home in the country. We have lived in a town home all these years and with putting all our boys through school that dream was not possible. Soon our dream will be a reality. We are in the process of remodeling a single home in the country and we will be moving into it sometime this year. The Lord is truly good…tell it wherever you go.