Our Love Story~

Valentine's Day is coming up soon so my mind is on love : ).  The hubby and I did our Valentine's and first date anniversary date the other night and I feel like I've already started celebrating.  For me, Valentine's Day is not about what kind of treats I can get from my hubby, even though I love flowers and all that kind of stuff.  This year especially, I am thinking a lot more about how my love for him has grown...so much deeper than it was even when we were first married.  I give God the credit for that.  He's taken these two independent, selfish people and taught us what true love is really about.  It's pretty great. 

I saw these fun questions on a friend's blog and I thought I'd answer them too...just to give you some history of us.  I changed some of the questions a little, so it's not exactly like the original.

1.  How long have you and your husband been together?  Our first date was January 13, 2004.  It was a blind date and we were together from there on out : ).

2.  How did you meet?  (What is your love story?)  As I said, we met on a blind date.  We were set up by my mom and Joe's cousin, who taught with Mom.  I was about to return from the mission field and Mom was trying to help me meet "a nice guy".  Joe and I eventually agreed on a phone call, just to connect on a ministry basis, and by the end of our two hour conversation we agreed to meet.  We both admit to having kind of low expectations...but were open to whatever God wanted to do.  We took it slow at first, just going out once every couple of weeks.  We kept spending some good quality time together and talked on the phone, and by May we had to make a decision whether to take a big step or keep our relationship long distance for another year.

3. How long have you been married?  We have been married for over 7 years now!  October 16, 2004 was our wedding day...and it was an amazing day!

4. Where did you get married at?  Big or small wedding?  We married in my home church.  Everything went so smoothly.  I felt like it was a good sized wedding...I would say about 200.  Maybe a little less.

5. Do you have any nicknames that you call each other?  Do share!  We usually call each other babe or baby.

6. Name three things you love most about your honey.  First and foremost...I love that he loves the Lord.  It affects every aspect of our marriage and makes our relationship stronger.  I also love that he is incredibly patient.  I need that because I struggle with patience.  Another thing I love about him is that he loves to travel and is adventurous.  We've got so many great memories already of traveling and going places together.  I doesn't hurt that he has a great sense of direction : ).

7.  Tell us how he proposed.  Well, I knew that he was going to propose some time, but I thought it was going to be later than it actually was.  So he surprised me.  I love surprises! : )  It's kind of funny, though.  He proposed on the same day as our town's Relay for Life, so I was already down for the weekend.  He had gotten me a t-shirt for the Relay and when I walked in to his house, he said, "I got you something."  I looked over and didn't even see the ring box...I just saw the t-shirt sitting on the couch!  I said, "Oh, thanks!"  He said, "No, I got you something else." (or something like that)  I looked around and STILL didn't see the ring box!  lol  Finally he got up and got it and of course I got very excited.  He opened it and I was all giddy!  Then I said, "Are you going to ask me?"  Needless to say, he asked and said a big YES! : )

8. Tell us one thing you would like to do with your hubby one day... if you could do anything or go anywhere.  Well, most of the things I'd like to do with my hubby involve travel.  We both love it.  It's hard to narrow it down to one place, but one thing we've talked about for years is one day getting Eurail passes and traveling up the rail line, stopping at amazing places along the way.  Joe did a version of this when he was single and had fun.  I'd like to do it, but I'd like to stop at a few places along the way and stay at some kind of hotel every so often!  Joe just slept on the train : ). 

9.  Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day.  On the actual day, we plan on having a normal day and then going to get a Sonic blast or blizzard at Dairy Queen.  There's a story behind this.  On several of our Valentine's Day dates, this is what we've done...mainly since having kids. With our first two, at this point in the year we had brand new babies and couldn't really go out.  So we would go to Sonic, get the special Valentine's Day blast, and sit in the car and eat it together.  This year, we had a date last Thursday night and we went to eat at our first date spot and went to a movie at the $2 theater.  It was fun.  I kind of feel like I get two dates this year ; ).

 10.  Are you asking for anything this Valentine's Day?  Not really.  Just my ice cream : ).  We've done different things on Valentine's Day as far as gifts go, and I've loved each surprise.  But even if I don't get anything, just time together is enough for me!

11.  Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.  It's hard to say one thing, but the most important part of a successful marriage is keeping Christ at the center of it.  Without Christ, we would be living for ourselves, our needs and our wants...and all without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  That's the root of the advice...so many other things branch off of that.

I can't express how much I love my husband and my children...how thankful I am for them.  The Bible talks about when two people get married, the two become one.  Not just physically, but in every way.  It took some time, but I can now say that I truly feel my husband is the other part of myself.  He's my closest friend and confidante, the one who sees my weaknesses and loves me still, he's patient through my emotions, and keeps me guessing all the time.  Like I said...I love surprises : ).

Happy Valentine's Day, my love!  May we have many more to come!