First Date

10 years ago, Justin picked me up for our first date.  We walked around downtown on New Year's Day.  It wasn't too cold, which is good because I probably would have ruined the date with my complaining.  But I do remember thinking a couple of times when our hands brushed each other, "It wish he would hold my hand." :)  But he didn't.  We just walked around the city together (not holding hands) and talked.  It was really fun and simple.  Then we were hungry and I was pretty excited when he took me to Taco Bell for dinner :)  For real. I loved Taco Bell, and I was glad he didn't take me to some fancy restaurant.  You have to remember I was poor and in college and survived on ramen noodles and the free soup and cornbread from the restaurant I worked at.  So really, anything better than ramen, was a step up for me.  And I mean, who doesn't love a good taco :)

I think at the time, the Taco Bell we went to didn't even accept credit cards (Hello early 2000's), so he may have even swung by the bank to take out some cash.  Even though it wasn't expensive, I was wondering if he was going to pay.  He passed the test and bought our dinner.  I even got a Mt. Dew!

Our first "nice date" was about a month later with some friends of ours.  It was a double date to Carabbas and probably one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.  I was so nervous, because like I mentioned in the last post, being around him made me a hot mess.  So I'm reading the menu out-loud (seriously, why did he like me), and I get to the Filet Mignon.  But I totally mess up pronunciation ("Fil-eet mig-non"). It's one of those slow motion ones, where you can't fix what you said, but you can't stop from totally botching it up either.  I turned bright red and wanted to die.  Thankfully, Justin wanted to continue seeing me :) I'm glad he did.

Today we celebrate our 10 year anniversary of our first date.  Justin is working hard for our family and I'm blessed to be home with our kiddos.  We had an in home date last night. I love that man so much.  I'm thankful some Taco Bell and the hope of hand holding marked the beginning of our lives together.  We still love Taco Bell, and still love it when our fingers are intertwined in each others.  Here's to 10 more years babe!

10 years ago

10 years ago today sat nervously and sweaty through a sermon at church and I couldn't recall one single word from the service.  Right before I left for church with a big group a friends, this guy pulled me aside and told me he wanted me to talk to me after church.  So naturally I freaked out the entire time I was at church. Did he hear that I liked him?  Did he like me too?  Or was he going to let me down gently? I need to know what is going to happen?!

After church was over, this guy made me wait the entire drive home, to bring it up.  I mean didn't he know I was dying inside.  So we get to my house and he tells me he likes me and wants to pursue a relationship with me.  I don't remember if we talked about anything else, or even if he left right away. I just remember being so excited, and nervous, and sweaty.

I had never been boy crazy or like this with any other guy.  Sweaty when he came around, stumbling on my words, so nervous.  But then again, this boy was different.  I had heard he liked me, but I wasn't interested. I did like hanging around him. He was fun.  But I didn't want to lead him on.  So I prayed a few times that God change my heart to like him so we can hang still, or God to change his heart and not like me anymore so we could hang out still.  God answered my prayers and I become a nervous, giggling wreck when he entered the room.  It wasn't cute...it was embarrassing!

December 28th, 2003 I started dating Justin Duke, or "Duke" as everyone called him.  Our first date wasn't until a few days later, and it was really perfect :)  I'm so thankful God changed my heart and not Justin's.  We've had so many great memories together and have grown-up in the Lord together too.  I can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings.

And what is a walk down memory lane with out a few pics?

We were so weird right from the start.
We asked a stranger to take this picture of us at the park on our way to a wedding.

Yes, I am wearing a choker :)

A love story...Part 8

Ok folks, I think this might be the last installment of our story...for now :) I am excited to continue to grow closer to Justin as we both grow closer to the Lord. As that happens I'm sure our story will change but this is where we are now.

Once we started going and really committing ourselves to the body at Grace we grew SO much.  We hosted a small group at our home, and it was awesome. We tried to find ways to get involved in missions and God led us to join a missionary support team (Barnabas Team) for a couple in Japan.

Waking up in Japan on a trip with our church

God has shown us so much grace and mercy through our small group and Barnabas team over the past 4 years. And yes our church IS apart of our love story. Because without being the recipient of sound doctrine and discipleship our marriage would be very different.

When Inara was born VERY early and suddenly, it was a friend from our Barnabas team who hunted us down in the hospital to pray for us and bring Justin some food and change for a snack (when even my parents didn't know where we were), it was our small group who offered rides and food, it was couples from our barnabas team and small group sending checks in the mail to cover medical bills. They have prayed with us and rejoiced with us too.

We are very excited for what God is doing in our life right now and our marriage. As I have mentioned in other posts, I am reading The Excellent Wife through a bible study at our church and it is rocking my world! (yes I just said that because it is true).  We are so thankful for all the ways God is using Grace Fellowship Church to change us to be more like Him and have a marriage that brings us joy and more importantly glorifies Him.

Excited for the next chapter in our story.

A love story...Part 7

After we got married we had the most wonderful honeymoon in Disney! It seriously was the best vacation ever. I think we took a nap every single day...amazing!

Our first year of marriage we were doing Young Life together at a school we moved super close to. We started going to Grace Fellowship Church and really wanted to get in a small group. We tried, but with me working part-time nights, going to school full-time, Justin working full-time, and doing Young Life we didn't really have time to add anything else to our lives. Every one says the first year of marriage is hard, but it wasn't for us. We really enjoyed spending time together and it just seemed easy to be married.

After about a year of being married we talked about buying a house. We didn't really want to pay more than our current rent and we had a LOT of requests for wanting a low mortgage. But God provided a house that was perfect for what we wanted (to use for Young Life).  Funny story. 2 weeks after we closed on our house (and hadn't even moved in yet), we decided to stop doing Young Life. So for some reason (we still don't know why) we own a house in Independence :)

And yes...that IS a pop up tent BOLTED to our patio. What you can't see is the cable they had run outside to watch TV under that tent...classy right?

We stopped doing Young Life for really a lot of little different reasons. While being married was pretty easy for us, we did feel more like roommates and less like husband and wife. And while there are people who can work real jobs, be married, and do Young Life (and do them all well), it was apparent to us that we could not. We also had become more interested in missions and heard about how GFC had a missions program.  And for about a year we had been discussing about really being a part of a church and working as different parts of the body work together.

So we decided to stop just being consumers at a church, and really be a part of the church. We spent the summer of 2007 with really just the 2 of us. It was great! The more we spent with each other, the more we realized...yeah we really like being married. We went on a lot of dates, little road trips, and just spent lots of time with each other. It was really refreshing!

So what are we doing now? Find out next!

A Love Story...Part 6

The last segment of our story was Justin proposing and me of course saying "yes". The whole engagement for us was a crazy but fun whirlwind. I really enjoyed being engaged. It was fun to plan the wedding yes, but I couldn't wait to be Justin's wife.  We WANTED pre-marital counseling, but really couldn't find it anywhere, which was a bummer.  We had a very short and nearly useless class at the church that married us, but we wanted something a little more.

Looking back it is amazing to see all the things that God provided for us. I was working about 8 hrs/week and in nursing school. Justin was finishing up college and working part-time. Some how we pulled a wedding together an paid for a lot of it by ourselves. My parents were awesome helped a TON and his parents blew us away and gave us a honeymoon of our dreams!  But looking back we have often wondered how the heck we paid for a photographer, wedding dress, invitations, decorations, gifts, AND 2 months rent for our apartment on virtually no income. That's another reason why I love my engagement ring. Seeing it on my finger is a constant reminder of how his timing is perfect and he will always provide a way for his plans. Well some how it happened and we began our life together on May 20th, 2006.

A Love Story...Part 5

I left the last part of our story with quite a cliff hanger (except not really because you know we end up together). So we both agreed we should get married. But how? and when? I drove my self nuts-o with these questions and tried very hard to not start planning our wedding until I was ACTUALLY engaged.  I love this part of our story!

One day I was at my parents house and was looking through my moms old jewelry. I found this very old ring. I asked my mom why she never wore it and she said because it was broken, but more importantly she didn't wear it because it was an engagement ring. I just threw out there that I would wear it, and my mom was SO EXCITED! She said it has been sitting broken in her jewelry box since her mother died for more than 20 years. So was so happy it would be used and be passed down to me!

So I told Justin I had a ring. I tried (although not very successfully) not to pry about what was going down. My mother said she was NOT going to give me a broken ring and insisted on paying to get it fixed and dipped in white gold.  That was the end of the summer. So I waited patiently for the proposal.

In mid October of 2005 I went to a Young Life club at a students house. We had recently been doing MTV skits like "pimp my ride". To my surprise, me and another leader Sally were called up front and told to go inside. We were gonna play a game of guessing who is in the crowd. I seriously had NO idea what was going on. I was just super nervous about not knowing who some of the newer freshman girls were. Sally was called out and I heard silence, then laughter a couple times. Now my turn...

I walked out was blind folded. I was then told some students were going to give me personal hints about who they were. I was seriously SO nervous.  So the first one went. It was a boy, his hint was his number on the football team. "That is an easy one" I thought, so I answered "Joey Ball". I was right! Next up, a girl. She told me she was a cheerleader. Another easy one. "Whitney Jolly" and right again! The next up was another boy. His hint was that he was Mexican. "Go me" I thought and answered "Esteban Baer" correctly

They said I had one more person. Then I hear "Will you marry me?". I proceeded to ask "what" multiple times and then finally took off my blind fold to see Justin on one knee with  my ring. I'm not sure if I ever said "yes", but he stood up we hugged and I put on my ring! It was so sweet, but also awkward. I wanted to plant a big ole kiss on him, but not in front of a bunch of high schoolers. So we just hugged in the back of club for a few songs.

Asking...

seeing...

Hugging...

Ring!

A Love Story...Part 4

We left off after Justin and I had been dating nearly a year. I went on vacation with his family and knew I was in love.  I had previously given Justin some "rules" on saying "I love you" and on kissing. Well after our vacation together I had a change of heart :) I told him I would be ok with hearing "I love you".  So we exchanged "I love yous". It was so nice to say it out loud instead of "I really REALLY like you" or "being around you is the best".  Those don't quite do the trick when you want to scream from the roof top your love for someone else.

It only took a few months longer and I changed my mind again. I decided we could kiss. So I told him, and he gave me the most sweetest, purest kiss I had ever had. There was a major snow storm in the city. So Justin loaded me up that night and we went walking around downtown in the snow. We went to Garfield park and just walked around. Then he told me to close my eyes. When I opened he had written in the snow "May I kiss you?" SO SWEET. Of course I said yes (more like "heck yes" in my head) and we kissed. So sweet and innocent and perfect as the snow was falling all around us :)

The night of our first kiss!

We continued to grow closer together and then in May of 2005 I decided to go on Summer Staff at a YoungLife Camp in Virginia. It was really spur of the moment and I felt like the Lord was asking me to leave everything and serve Him with my whole heart for the month I was there. So I decided I would not talk to anyone (family, leader team, or Justin) while I was away. (I know right, I set up awesome rules for myself!)  That month was super crazy. I seriously didn't stop from the time I woke up until I passed out in my bed. I mastered the 3 minute shower and prayed lots for my ministry and Justin.  I also met this awesome girl Libby. (You NEED to read her blog from the beginning. It will impact you...for real.)  At the end of the month I was SO excited to finally see Justin. He drove all the way to pick me up and I we were able to reconnect. I REALLY missed him.

 That Summer his parents took us to Disney (AMAZING) and  we spent some time talking about the future of our relationship. We knew we wanted it to end in marriage...

Because who can resist a Tiara and fairy wings at Disney?

A love story...Part 3

So we left off after our first date. We spent the first months of our relationship with lots of awkward silences and getting to know one another.  Well if you didn't know it people...I like to talk and well Justin not so much. So while I am use to just jabbering away, he would just sit there. Not uninterested, but not spewing every thought like me.  I sat in silence more those first few months than I probably did my whole life prior to meeting him.  Also multiple times I tried to break up with him but another roommate Rachel stopped me. I really had no reason to, just scared I think.

Road trip to Pittsburgh to see my Reds beat down on his Pirates :)

That summer we went to multiple weddings together.  After one particular wedding Justin (ps not sure when I stopped calling him Duke and started calling him Justin) took me home. Before I got out of the car Justin told me I wasn't like other girls he has dated. I was sure he was breaking up with me because who says that right? Until he said "the point is, I like you a lot". That is the night he said he knew he loved me, only about 5 months after we started dating. It took me a little longer :)  He really was a trooper. I had rules for him to follow.  I told him I didn't want to hear any man say "I love you" until it was followed by "Will you marry me?" and I didn't want another kiss from a guy until it was a kiss on the altar on our wedding day. And wouldn't you believe this awesome man of God stuck around for all my crazy shenanigans and never complained, argued, or even brought it up again :)

We did a photo shoot at a park before one of the weddings

 In the fall we took a road trip to Florida to see his parents. He drove the whole way there and back by himself. If that isn't love, I don't know what is right?  We spent the week with his parents and all day long with each other. When our time was over I found my self being very sad that I wouldn't be spending everyday from now on with him. That trip was when I realized I loved him and wanted to spend the rest of my days with him...

At the beach in Florida

A love story...Part 2

Ok we left off with my praying a prayer that literally changed my life.  Well at the time I was actually dating another guy. And this guy turned out to be kind of my "idea" guy. He was a firefighter, loved baseball (because did I mention I was a crazed Reds fan?), and loved being out doors. So one night I was hanging out at the firehouse just watching a movie. I was kind of getting bored and thought "I would rather be hanging out with Duke right now". WHAT THE WHAT?! That's what I thought. I mean where did this thought come from?

Well that was the last time I spoke to "dream boy". The next time I saw Duke the most ridiculous thing happened to me. I was at leadership and he walked into the room. Commence reddest face you have ever seen and me profusely sweating. I mean what was happening to me?! I have NEVER been like that with any boy ever and then all of a sudden I was getting all "oooo Duke". It was ridiculous and embarrassing. Luckily I was the only one who noticed, but not so luckily another roommate Christina told her boyfriend who was living with Duke.

Multiple more embarrassing moments passed and on December 28th 2003 he asked if he could talk to me after church. UGH?! Suspense much? I couldn't focus at church at all. Was he going to say he liked me? he didn't like me? it.was.awful. So after church was the first of many long nights at my house. He said he liked me and wanted to pursue me. Greatest words my ears had heard :) I of course said yes and we spent the rest of the night just talking and hanging out.
That New Years Eve we had a huge all area party. He came up put his hand on my shoulder and asked if I wanted to hang out the next day. So our first date was January 1st 2004. We walked around downtown for a while. The whole time I kept thinking "oh gosh, is he going to hold my hand?" I know right?! But he was a gentleman and he didn't try to.  :) We ended our first date with a very classy dinner at Taco Bell. It was awesome because I loved Taco Bell :) And we were poor and in college I didn't expect a super fancy dinner.

And wow, once again a long post. Ok I think this is gonna take awhile folks, so stay tuned for more parts to come :)

One of our first "nice" dates. I love how we are standing awkwardly far apart!

A love story...Part 1

So a few posts ago I mentioned how a roommate kept trying to get me and Justin together. And after stumbling onto another blog where Angie documents her and her hubs story, I thought it might be fun to have our story written down and since I know you all have been dying to know how we got together :) So your wish is my command. Without further adieu...our story

When I graduated high school and decided to lead YoungLife a friend of mine and I both went to a leader weekend at Rockbridge (aka closest thing to heaven on earth :). We decided we weren't going to talk to ANY boys because we didn't want to be distracted from what we were doing. So we are waiting to go inside for a meeting and 2 guys walk up and start talking to me and Trella (who by the way is married now, but I am completely unable to call her by her first name). So anyway we start talking to them about baseball because at the time I was a DIE HARD reds fan. I mean, there may have been some light stalking involved. We continue to talk to them because they seemed harmless enough little did I know that one of those boys would be my man! :)

That summer I also moved into a house 4 bedroom house with 6 other girls...that's right. It was one of the most glorious time of my life. One of my roommates Jessica was ALWAYS asking me when I was going to go on a date with "Duke". Ughh NEVER. Why wouldn't she just leave me alone?! I didn't not like him. I mean he was super fun to hang out with, but not date. We had hung out a few times during the summer with other people, but I just never really wanted to hang out alone with him. 

Ok somehow, we NEVER got a house pic done. This was from my baby shower, but I really hate posts without pics :)

Meanwhile another friend of mine, Kate was crushing on some boy (later to be her hubs). We had both been praying for God to guide us with these guys. She wanted to guard her heart from and I wanted to hangout with Duke. I knew I probably shouldn't hang out with him so I wouldn't lead him on. So I prayed God would either change his heart to make him not like me, or change my heart to make me like him! Obviously you know the result..but wow this has turned to be a long post so looks like I'll do multiple posts about this. More to come soon!