Nine Years In The Making

Yesterday was our Nine Year Anniversary!

Nine Years!

It seems like a lifetime ago that we were married.  More than that, a lifetime ago that we met.

We've actually got a pretty phenomenal story of how we met.  I was junior at Simpson College and Dave was a freshman.  It was the spring of 2000 and I was leading a mission trip to Ukraine.  Dave was going to Ukraine too, on my best friend's team.  Sarah kept telling me about this guy Dave who I should meet.  I was all blah, blah, blah,... in one ear and out the other.

Meanwhile Dave had mentioned in passing to his friend Sean that he thought I was cute.  A passing comment, but Sean hung on to it.  So in and out of travel, Sean kept dropping hints, talking Dave up, and generally prodding things along.  At the end of the trip, I did give Dave my email and we left it at that.

Over the summer, I was working late hours and one evening, received an email from Dave.  It was short and sweet, but I suddenly realized he really was interested.  I panicked.  I wasn't the type of girl to go around handing out my phone number to anyone.  This was the first time I'd done anything like this and it shocked even me.

We emailed over the summer, but for some reason, neither of us thought to make plans for connecting in the fall.  I returned to school and wrote him off, thinking there was no way I'd ever see him again.  I walked into the Registrar's Office a few days before school to pay off my bill, and there he sat.  No way, I thought.  What are the odds?

We started to talk only to realize that he was rooming with a good friend of mine.  The more we talked, the more we realized just how many connections we had in common.  Our paths should have crossed long ago.  In fact, they had crossed in the past, but neither of us realized at the time.  Apparently, the night before Spring Break, we had both gone out with some friends, both sat by someone we didn't know, and both came to recognize that it was each other.  We had met before!

As the fall wore on, we started dating.  Lots of manipulating circumstances by friends, lots of hints and prodding by others, and we were engaged in February and married the following August.  Nine years.... how quickly it's flown by!  But what a ride!

When we look back, it's been a crazy road... living in two cities, multiple apartments, living with friends, youth pastoring and then not, missions trips, two kids, fights, making up, lots of prayer, and unwavering commitment to each other.  The last two have been what has kept us together.  Every marriage is rough.  But our commitment to God and each other has been what's made it work.

Can't wait to see what the road ahead brings!