My love

Ten years ago today, the sweetest guy I know asked me to be his gal!  So glad I said yes!!  I've been working on this post on and off for a month now and decided today would be a good day to finish it up.  Here's our love story:

At a TEC reunion in January 2001

Andy and I met at a Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) weekend in 2000.  He was a Senior and I was a Junior in High School.  It was truly a God thing that we met.  He volunteered at CYO to go to TEC on a whim (holy spirit.)  Retreats aren't really his type of thing, but for some reason, he signed up.  When everyone was gathering in the room at the start of the retreat, I saw him from across the room and thought he was so handsome.  My heart skipped a beat when we were placed in the same group.  (Truly mind you, I was there for a spiritual retreat and I wasn't a boy-crazy teenage girl - I was just drawn to something about him.)  He says he thought I was the prettiest girl (ha!)  We both thought to ourselves, "I would never have a chance with a guy/girl like that."  We even had to introduce each other to the group.  I mistakenly told everyone that he played golf instead of tennis.  We had a truly Christ-centered retreat, and at the same time were inseparable.  We both left the retreat thinking, "I could marry someone like that."  He had a girlfriend at the time, and although I was BUMMED - I decided that I would just be a friend.  We exchanged e-mail addresses and e-mailed back and forth for several months.He would ask for insight/advice about his relationship with his girlfriend, and I (although I hadn't ever been in a relationship) tried my best to give him good, honest help.

Before his cousin's wedding, March 17, 2001

In late February, I got an e-mail from him (I'll never forget - it was a Sunday morning) saying that he had broken up with his girlfriend and that maybe sometime we could go out and sulk about how we were both single together.  We went to a high school basketball game in Hutch for our first "date."  It was a 45 minute drive, but there was never any awkward silence.  Heck, I think we talked the whole way there.  I met some of his friends and his parents at the game.  We talked the whole game through (I couldn't tell you who won/lost) and the whole way home too.  Conversation just came naturally, easily.


On March 7th, 2001, a Wednesday (probably after Confirmation class?) he "asked me out" over Instant Messenger.  We went to his cousin's wedding together on March 17th and he held my hand.  The sweet beginnings of a wonderful relationship.

Andy's Senior Prom - 2001

It wasn't but a few months, and we were already talking about getting married (yes, still in High School.)  What can I say?   When you know, you know. 

Moving Andy up to college - 2001

My Senior Prom - 2002

 He decided to go to Pittsburg State to get a degree in Construction Engineering Technology after High School.  It was a 3-4 hour drive, but we talked on the phone every night (I had a stack of phone cards 6 inches tall by the time he graduated) and he came back every weekend.  Yes, every weekend.  I think in the 3.5 years he was in college, he missed coming home 3 weekends (2 of which were weekends that his parents and I went down there for football games.)

Before a Singing Quaker concert - 2002

While I would have loved to be close (geographically) to Andy during college, I really wanted to go to Friends.  So we continued our "long-distance" relationship.  It worked just fine for us.  And really, it was good for us too.  We spent a LOT of hours on the phone/instant messenger just talking.  About what being married would be like, about having a big family, about me staying home with our kids, and of course all the day-to-day stuff too.  And when he was back on the weekends, we spent as much time together as possible (sometimes to the chagrin of my family - see, I was the first to date in my family - so I had the distinct "pleasure" of being the first to date/marry/have kids - it's a tricky role.)

The night we got engaged - 2003

After talking about marrying for nearly 2 years (which seemed like an eternity then), Andy asked my dad for my hand in marriage sometime in August 2003.  He proposed on August 22nd at my house, in our basement, where we were getting ready to watch a movie.  It was private and sweet and just what I'd wanted it to be.  Andy still had 3 semesters left of college and I had 4 semesters left, so we made plans to marry the summer after I graduated college - June 2005.

The time leading up to our wedding was busy with both of us being full-time college students working part-time.  But Andy always found time and money to take me out on dates each weekend.  Looking back now and knowing how tight money was for him, I'm not sure how he did it - but he's just that kind of guy - he makes things work. I never knew that he would spend his last dollars to get home on the weekends and take me out.  It doesn't surprise me though.  He's that kind of guy.



I was so proud to see him work hard enough to graduate a semester early so that he could work for 6 months and get settled into an apartment before we got married.  While he endured the stress of his Senior Project that last semester, he also got to endure the stress of me student teaching.  I can't tell you how many times he had to reassure me over the phone that I could indeed make it through the next day and that I would live to see my graduation.  But he was calm and patient every time.  He never seems to get frustrated with my craziness (of which there is a lot.)

We didn't want our wedding to be a "fussy" event - just a big fun day.  And what a day June 4th was!  The church was packed with family and friends for our wedding.  The wedding itself was one of the most beautiful Masses I'd ever attended.  And with around 450 invited guests, we started our marriage with the biggest party we've ever thrown.  We had a live band at our wedding dance that played 50s, 60s, &; 70s music.  Everybody danced long into the night - long after we left at 10:00.

At Emeril's Restaurant on our honeymoon

We left for our honeymoon the next day.  At the airport in line at the ticket counter, I had a meltdown because I couldn't find the lock for my luggage.  I wasn't being very nice, but still Andy was patient and calm.  He really is the most level-headed person I know.  Despite a slightly bumpy start, we had a wonderful honeymoon in Orlando, FL and can't wait to go on a second honeymoon someday!

Family of 3!

Our first year as husband and wife included lots of life changing events (and if you go back to January '05) the list includes: Andy starting his first "real" job as a construction superintendent, me turning 21 & graduating from college (on the same day), getting married, starting my first "real" job as a 4th grade teacher, getting pregnant, losing my grandfather, buying a house, giving birth to our first-born, and quitting my job as a teacher to stay at home.  However, with God's grace and the solid relationship we had built over the last 4 years, it wasn't until the year was over and my mom mentioned something about what a year it had been that we really realized just how big of a year it was.

Family of 4!

 The rest, as they say is history.  Since that year, we've been pregnant 4 times and sent 3 babies to Heaven.  We moved again and we now have 2 wonderful kiddos.  Life hasn't always been easy, and everything that we dreamed about in those long ago days of dating hasn't come to pass.  But the life that we have been given has been even more beautiful than anything we ever dreamed of.  The trials God has blessed us with have been so good for us.  And the blessings he's given us have been pretty amazing too!

NFP Night of Romance February 2011

And all of those amazing qualities that I was so in love with in Andy as my boyfriend are the same qualities that now make Andy such a wonderful hubby and daddy.  I couldn't ask for a more perfect partner to travel down the road of life with.  And although I don't think that I could possibly be more in love with him, I know that I will love him more tomorrow than I did today.  Love you babe!