My Love Story...

I'm sharing my love story in Kelly's Korner's "Show Us Your Life" series...see the end of the post for an update!

I am taking part in Heavenly Homemakers' Share Your Love Story.

I thought it would be lots of fun to let you all know how Hubby and I got together. Here goes:

I met my husband in (we think) 8th grade on the bus. Some kids started picking on him and I didn't like it. He was a VERY quiet, shy, super-skinny guy and he'd never done anything to them! :o) My friends backed me up and he and I just started talking. He was a really nice guy and we became fast friends. Once I was old enough to drive we didn't see much of each other, but every now and again at school we could chat.

We had known each other for three years before I knew he had a crush on me. (Okay, so I was pretty sure, but when Ashley threatened to tell me if HE didn't it was certain. He gathered up his nerve and told me that he liked me...with Ashley in the back seat of my car on the way from my place of work back to school during our lunch break. I had to pick up my check and was not really looking for a huge revelation! :o) We had been such good friends I couldn't bear to think of what would happen if we broke up, so I avoided him as much as I could until I could tell him that I just wanted to stay "friends." Yep. I did. I told him that.

Shortly before our junior prom, I was at a friend's wedding. (He was older than me, as was his wife, don't worry! :o) I met this good-looking guy - in a tux, mind you! - and we hit it off. He asked me out on a date and we were together for two-and-a-half years. (Neglecting MY feelings and many other issues led to me going into a pretty severe depression.) Shortly before the end of that relationship, my parents needed someone to work on their computer. I remembered this friend in school that had taken classes at the vo-tech and everything. Yep, my "friend". Remember, we were JUST friends. He knew I was in a relationship and never made a pass at me or anything. However, he realized that I was in a deep depression with my current boyfriend and he would drop by for a few minutes here and there to check on me. He was really concerned and probably (looking back) had good reason to be.

One night I was supposed to go with my boyfriend to visit some friends of mine from high school. (Boyfriend never made friends with MY friends and we NEVER had a good time.) He was supposed to pick me up at 7pm and at 7:30 I called and his mom (yeah, he lived at home at 20) said that he was working on his truck (he was a drag-racer and this was NOT a regular "gotta get the truck workin'" kind of thing) and she would have him call me when he got to a "stopping point". I said, "Oh, don't worry about it." I was SO mad! Just then, I heard my friend's truck. I was calling Mike and Karla to let them know we wouldn't be coming, but when I told them that I had to let them go 'cause "friend" just got there, they said, "Bring HIM - we haven't seen him since our wedding! We all had a great time in school!" I did. And we laughed so hard we were literally ROLLING on the floor grasping our ribs! And crying...can't forget the tears of laughter.

The next day I broke up with boyfriend and Hubby and I have been together ever since. We started dating at the end of October 1996, got engaged April 9th 1997 (the day before my birthday so I could show my friends my birthday present...isn't he thoughtful? :o) , and got married on August 8th, 1997. It hasn't been a perfect marriage, but it is strong and filled with love and laughter and lots of learning. Learning about each other, children, life, friends and loss. I am honored to be able to share this life and learn alongside my husband. He is a good man and I am greatly blessed. (And look at how handsome he is! :o) One of the sweetest things that Hubby ever did for me (regularly) was when I was working in day care. I worked really long hours. He got to see the sunset on his way home from work and he would describe it to me...all the colors, the clouds. I loved to hear him describe such beautiful things.

I used to think that we were such good friends that I didn't want to "ruin" our friendship by becoming more...what I realize now is that God designed marriage to be between the best of friends. How else could you describe it? When something amazingly good happens, the first one I want to share it with is my husband. When something really bad happens, I know that my husband will be my shoulder to cry on and my support. For everything in between...well, it has its ups and downs but in my marriage I have learned that God ordained our friendship before our marriage for a reason. Isn't it a good thing that God is sovereign?

I hope you liked this story...and I would love to know YOURS as well. (If you want to participate, follow the link at the top of this post for more information.)

Be well and be blessed!

Update: April 23rd, 2010...

It has been a wonderful life with my husband and we are so greatly blessed! In 2000, after battling infertility for 1 and a half years, we were blessed with a son. He's now 10 and strong - he's smart and healthy and has such a servant's heart! (I call him Kiddo here on the blog.) Once Kiddo was about a year old, we decided to start trying for baby number 2. Other than the fact that I am overweight, I have no health conditions and there was no real reason that we had previously struggled with the infertility - it was considered "unexplained infertility". Once we had our son, however, we thought surely it could happen again - I could get pregnant.

Fast forward to January, 2010: We had struggled off and on with our inability to conceive and I had tried so many times to just "let it go" and "give it to God". I really, truly, thought I had. However, in November I had a breakthrough and shortly thereafter began struggling with a bad gallbladder. January 4th I was admitted into the hospital to have my gallbladder removed and I could not have been more excited. The pain had become excruciating and I was ready for relief. Imagine my surprise when I was told that surgery would have to be cancelled...I was pregnant!

I am now well into my second trimester and recently had surgery (Yes, in pregnancy! Medicine is amazing! :) to have that nasty gallbladder out. We were concerned that I might have an emergency later in pregnancy that might really risk the baby. Baby is doing well and we could not be more thrilled...we even learned last week that it's a girl!

Regardless of what this life has to offer, to know that I am sharing it with my best friend is a treasure to me. I am so thankful for him!