Saturday, November 7, 2009

A Crazy Love Story

After I graduated I moved to Wisconsin and nannied for a family I knew. I loved it there and imagined I'd meet my future husband, get married and live there forever. Well, circumstances brought me back home, and I lost hope of ever getting out of our small town or of finding a husband. The summer of 2004 I prayed and prayed and prayed that I would find a christian guy and get married and start a family, just as I had planned since I was a little kid. While I was taking a shower I heard God say 'You haven't met your husband, because he's in the Army fighting overseas'!! My first thought was 'oh, ok, that explains it' and I felt immediate peace and knew God was in control. I told my mom and she was a little skeptical.

On March 25, 2005 my littlest sister, Rachel, was born in Billings, MT. My Aunt and Uncle lived there and we spent some time with them and then went back home a couple days later. After being home for a couple weeks, my parents decided it was time for me to get out of our small town and move forward with my life. My Aunt and Uncle agreed and offered to have me stay with them.

I started going to church with them and they encouraged me to go to the College and Career, so I could meet people my own age. The first time I went, I don't think I said one word!! At the end of class, Jeff, the Sunday School leader, told me they were getting together later that day to play Ultimate Frisbee and if I wanted to come to call Mat and he would pick me up!! Mat said 'what, why my number?' and Jeff said 'because I don't want to give her mine'. Well, I was not comfortable calling a guy I didn't know, so I didn't! Soon after that I stopped going to Sunday School and just went to the church services. A couple months later my Aunt felt I needed to get out and make some friends. She found out about the College and Career bible study being held at a young couples home, which I found out later was Mat's twin sister and hubby's home!! I told her I didn't want to go, but she said 'yes you are' and that was that! She dropped me off and said I would have to find someone to get a ride home with. So since I had no choice, I went and was like a fly on the wall, quiet and observing. The only thing I really remember from that night was after the study was done a guy, named Mat, got his laptop out and started showing his friends the pics he had taken in Iraq. He had been in Iraq in 2003 and had just gotten back in February!!! He had been in Iraq when God spoke to me that day in the shower!! I couldn't believe it and I knew that day that Mat was the guy God had chosen for me to marry!! :)

After that, Mat started calling me and picking me up for Bible Study and activities and to go to the skate park at 10pm at night. He did it, because he said I was cute and was mysterious, because I was so quiet and I was there one day, gone a month and then magically reappeared. Lol. On August 28, 2005, I went to church with Mat and afterwards, we went to Taco Bell. I took a pic of Mat on my cell phone, then we went to the park and played folf and Ultimate Frisbee. Then we went to Bible study and afterwards, we went up to the Rims and sat looking at the lights and saw a shooting star. My aunt called to check up on me and asked if we were 'officially' dating, I looked at Mat and he said, sure!!

Three days later, we had our 1st date, which was to a Def Leopard concert, which he got into for free, since he was in the military. I said sure, didn't know who the band was and he was shocked, lol. It was also our First Kiss and the only guy I ever kissed. My parents flipped out after hearing about the concert and told me to dump him!! Well, I didn't!! :)


A month into dating, I told Mat about how God spoke to me and that I knew he was the one I was going to marry. Well, it freaked him out a lil bit and I thought for sure he was going to dump me. He said he needed more time to know for sure if I was the one for him.
Three months after our 1st date, I read through "Created to be His Help meet'. It helped me know what to look for in Mat and to know what I needed to do in order to be Mat's help meet.

February 2006, 5 months into our relationship, I could tell something was bothering Mat and I asked him about it. He wanted to separate for a while and I was heart broken. He wanted to make sure this was God's will for us to be together. We were separated for 1 week and 1/2 day = 180 hours. May 12, Mat gave me a sapphire promise ring. Three days after that, Mat wanted to separate again, he kept getting cold feet, because of previous relationships and being dumped. He wanted to take the summer off, from our relationship, but this time it lasted 11 days!! He couldn't stand to be away from me. I had a difficult time after that, always wondering if he was going to want to separate again.

I joined the Army on June 1st, I didn't think Mat was going to want to get married for at least a year and I didn't have a job and the army seemed to fulfill everything. I was In July, Mat asked when I was going to move the ring, he had given to me 2 months earlier, to my left hand. My promise ring was now my engagement ring and that was our engagement, nothing special, and I've never let him forget it. ;)

August 7th, I was medically discharged from the army. So since I wasn't leaving for basic, we talked and had to decide what to do next. I had no place to stay and no job, so I would have to go back home and i didn't want to do that. So we talked for awhile and decided that we were ready to get married, so we started making plans.
August 8th, a friend and I went to Goodwill and found me a wedding dress for $50!! Mat and I decided to talk to his parents about having the wedding out at their house and when the best time would be for her. She said we should have it that weekend, since Mat's siblings would be there and it wouldn't happen for quite awhile. They had me call my parents and tell them and my parents were shocked and said it was only a couple days away.
August 10th, we picked out and bought our wedding rings.
August 12, 2006 is the day we got married!!! 345 days after we started dating :)


A lot of people thought we were getting married too fast, which we did, we had 4 days to plan and prepare our wedding!! Mat's brother married us, which meant a lot to all of us. :) During the ceremony I had a bee try to sting me, that wasn't the only thing to happen. Mat was so nervous that he was pale and I thought he was going to pass out or throw up, he didn't, but was that way throught the whole ceremony!! When we got to, 'if anybody doesn't think these two should be together, say so now', a horse neighed twice!!!! :o Then right when they were giving our toast's a huge storm blew in and forced into the house!!! It's amazing we made it through the whole wedding without something horrible happening!!

Four months later, we found out that we were pregnant. Three months later we found out we were expecting twins and moved into a new house, since the 2 bedroom apartment wasn't going to be big enough. Two months later we found out we were having identical twin girls!!! The girls were born on August 9, 2007, 3 days before our 1st Anniversary, which we spent in the hospital!!



So this is our Love Story, it's really long, but we have been through a lot and it has helped us get through the rough times in our marriage. Now we are looking forward to the future.

3 comments:

  1. I've never heard your story - thanks soooo much for sharing Karen! I will never forget that the one thing you told me that you wanted when we were growing up was to get married and have twin girls. God has blessed you guys!

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  2. I don't remember wanting twins, but a lot of people say I did!!! :)

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  3. Thanks for writing, Karen. I like real life love stories!

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