Well, so we're finally taking the plunge, after all this time. Thank you for every one who has supported us and prayed for us.
Special thanks go out to Hisgirl, 9-iron, The Lord is my banner, SharonL, Christina M, flyingsum0, Andry, lovesblessing, furrysmommy, probinson, Hadron, BenAdam, GQTexan, Kebisoni, msbojingles, Dave01, charityagape, JTM3, jrlinz, foadle, Oscarr, DaisyMaewHolly, wizeone, TheMatman, AudioArtist, and jeolmstead, all of whom frequent "that other forum" and who have given congratulations and support from the beginning.
Gosh, hope I didn't leave anyone out!!! If so, this line is for you, just special, all for you!!!
We have tenatively set the date for Saturday, July 19, 2008 [both my parents have their birthday on July 20], and it will be held in Orange County, California, then later that week we'll be doing a second wedding celebration in MY hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Yes, we DID meet here on CF, and yes, it HAS succeeded and prospered!!!
__________________________________
A brief of our story:
We began to get to know each other here on Christian Forums all throughout 2006 just the same way we were debating and discussing with anyone else on CF. For that entire year, nothing developed between us except Christian friendship and charity.
With the turn of the year, our friendship also began to take a slightly different turn.
It was February, and I happened to be looking at some of her online photos. "Wow", I thought to myself. I was very excited at what I saw - very excited. I really liked her a lot from what I saw. Heretofore, I had not seen her pictures, and was very impressed with them - with her.
I took a chance. I told her she was very beautiful and that I wanted to talk to her and get to know her better. She responded by giving me her phone number, to which I responded by calling her. It was really awesome talking to her. We began spending two or three hours every single night talking to each other.
There was nothing serious said during these conversations. It was a lot of fun, really, more than anything else.
The relationship was, however, not without its challenges.
She was in California.
I was in Carolina.
She had a phone curfew of 11:00.
I was in the Eastern time zone [which would mean 8:00].
She was 21.
I was 34.
It seemed unlikely - impossible, even.
Well, nonetheless, I decided to send her pictures of me, since I'd seen pictures of her. She was wowed as well with my pictures. She said she thought I looked really good in that tuxedo [a picture from when I was a groomsman for a friend of mine a few years ago]. I was sure to send her a variety of pictures, so that she could get quite a few different views of me.
So we talked on and on like that through the end of February, all through March, and on into April.
And it was then that we would meet.
She was coming through North Carolina on a layover en route to a wedding in Laurel, Mississippi. I lived in North Carolina. How perfect.
How absurdly inconvenient, rather.
And I took my chance.
And she didn't like me when she saw me.
When I had sent her the pictures of myself, I didn't send her any of me with long hair, which I currently was sporting. She only had this imagination of me with short hair - and she did NOT like what she saw in that airport.
Maybe it was the day - maybe it was the hair - maybe it was just the downer of meeting someone in person when you've built them up in your mind, and then see who the actual person is.
But there wasn't any chemistry there for her.
For about six weeks, I put everything on hold with Grace, not sure of what would happen between us. Finally at the beginning of June, we began to talk again, once she was sure of what she wanted. We talked all through the summer, then met in the end of August, when I took a train trip to see her in Chicago. She was training for United Airlines to be a flight attendant.
I began to fly back and forth from Wilmington to Chicago several times, then a few times to Denver to see Grace once she had begun her job post-training.
I applied for, and received, a job as meter repairperson in the Denver area, which I started on January 14. From this time, we've begun planning our future together, and this is the first step.
_______________________________
Not everything has been easy. Sometimes, it's been downright difficult. But we have each other, and a belief that this is it for both of us. This has kept us through everything we have faced.
God has been good to us as we have persevered.
I would encourage anyone looking for love to hold on. I was convinced I'd never find someone who would love me. I thought I would continue dating for the rest of my life.
I was wrong.
God was always there for me, and he held me up, and kept me for this moment. Grace is what I want, and what I need, and what I love. She is so wonderful to me, and I love her so much.
You can find this fulfillment of love.
Don't ever give up. Your love may be right under your nose, or it may be far, far away, but with God, either distance is the same distance - for he is the Bridge. Love may seem hard, or it may seem easy, but to God, it is all the same. What we call "small miracles" are just as easy to God as "big miracles". All of them require His power.
Don't fail to take chances just because they may seem impossible.
Take that airplane flight.
Drive those four hours.
Wait for someone who is worth waiting for.
Never assume that any situation is beyond God's ability to materialize it.
Don't gauge a person's fit for you by their age, skin color, "level", geographical distance, personality, income level, or by any other external judgment. Some externals change - but God remains the same. God can put any person with any other person.
So don't ever give up hope. Hold on to Him.
He is your life, your help, your hope, your salvation, and the strength of your heart. He knows what you prayed for.
He answers your desire - because he put those desires in there in the first place. He did not put those desires in your heart only to frustrate himself by not fulfilling them. They are HIS desires, and the word he sends forth will not return void.
Do not give up, and do not settle on the first person who comes along to you. This took me a long time to find this happiness, and God made me wait, because [being 35 with Grace being 22] this couldn't happen even three or four years ago.
Remember that when God purposes something to happen in your life, that it happened at just the perfect moment. If God had done it one second sooner, it would be incomplete and imperfect. It would be like the puzzle you see on the coffee table that's missing the last piece - the picture is there, but the missing piece makes it just look totally wrong. He will put all the pieces in place; He will make the puzzle complete.
Then, you won't just have a perfect picture; it will be total and complete - with not a piece missing.
_________________________
Call us to wish us well, or just to say hi.
Special thanks go out to Hisgirl, 9-iron, The Lord is my banner, SharonL, Christina M, flyingsum0, Andry, lovesblessing, furrysmommy, probinson, Hadron, BenAdam, GQTexan, Kebisoni, msbojingles, Dave01, charityagape, JTM3, jrlinz, foadle, Oscarr, DaisyMaewHolly, wizeone, TheMatman, AudioArtist, and jeolmstead, all of whom frequent "that other forum" and who have given congratulations and support from the beginning.
Gosh, hope I didn't leave anyone out!!! If so, this line is for you, just special, all for you!!!
We have tenatively set the date for Saturday, July 19, 2008 [both my parents have their birthday on July 20], and it will be held in Orange County, California, then later that week we'll be doing a second wedding celebration in MY hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Yes, we DID meet here on CF, and yes, it HAS succeeded and prospered!!!
__________________________________
A brief of our story:
We began to get to know each other here on Christian Forums all throughout 2006 just the same way we were debating and discussing with anyone else on CF. For that entire year, nothing developed between us except Christian friendship and charity.
With the turn of the year, our friendship also began to take a slightly different turn.
It was February, and I happened to be looking at some of her online photos. "Wow", I thought to myself. I was very excited at what I saw - very excited. I really liked her a lot from what I saw. Heretofore, I had not seen her pictures, and was very impressed with them - with her.
I took a chance. I told her she was very beautiful and that I wanted to talk to her and get to know her better. She responded by giving me her phone number, to which I responded by calling her. It was really awesome talking to her. We began spending two or three hours every single night talking to each other.
There was nothing serious said during these conversations. It was a lot of fun, really, more than anything else.
The relationship was, however, not without its challenges.
She was in California.
I was in Carolina.
She had a phone curfew of 11:00.
I was in the Eastern time zone [which would mean 8:00].
She was 21.
I was 34.
It seemed unlikely - impossible, even.
Well, nonetheless, I decided to send her pictures of me, since I'd seen pictures of her. She was wowed as well with my pictures. She said she thought I looked really good in that tuxedo [a picture from when I was a groomsman for a friend of mine a few years ago]. I was sure to send her a variety of pictures, so that she could get quite a few different views of me.
So we talked on and on like that through the end of February, all through March, and on into April.
And it was then that we would meet.
She was coming through North Carolina on a layover en route to a wedding in Laurel, Mississippi. I lived in North Carolina. How perfect.
How absurdly inconvenient, rather.
- The city she was flying through on her layover - Charlotte - was four hours' driving distance from Wilmington, where I lived.
- She only had a one-hour layover. The chances we'd get more than five minutes at the gate [due to post-9/11 security measures of non-passengers meeting passengers at gates] would seem nominal at best. My aunt, who used to be a travel agent, advised me not to go, that I would be entirely wasting my time.
- There was also the chance that nothing would come of this "chance meeting", and that my time, energy, and effort of the last two months, and in the making of this entire day would prove altogether pointless and disappointing.
And I took my chance.
And she didn't like me when she saw me.
When I had sent her the pictures of myself, I didn't send her any of me with long hair, which I currently was sporting. She only had this imagination of me with short hair - and she did NOT like what she saw in that airport.
Maybe it was the day - maybe it was the hair - maybe it was just the downer of meeting someone in person when you've built them up in your mind, and then see who the actual person is.
But there wasn't any chemistry there for her.
For about six weeks, I put everything on hold with Grace, not sure of what would happen between us. Finally at the beginning of June, we began to talk again, once she was sure of what she wanted. We talked all through the summer, then met in the end of August, when I took a train trip to see her in Chicago. She was training for United Airlines to be a flight attendant.
I began to fly back and forth from Wilmington to Chicago several times, then a few times to Denver to see Grace once she had begun her job post-training.
I applied for, and received, a job as meter repairperson in the Denver area, which I started on January 14. From this time, we've begun planning our future together, and this is the first step.
_______________________________
Not everything has been easy. Sometimes, it's been downright difficult. But we have each other, and a belief that this is it for both of us. This has kept us through everything we have faced.
God has been good to us as we have persevered.
I would encourage anyone looking for love to hold on. I was convinced I'd never find someone who would love me. I thought I would continue dating for the rest of my life.
I was wrong.
God was always there for me, and he held me up, and kept me for this moment. Grace is what I want, and what I need, and what I love. She is so wonderful to me, and I love her so much.
You can find this fulfillment of love.
Don't ever give up. Your love may be right under your nose, or it may be far, far away, but with God, either distance is the same distance - for he is the Bridge. Love may seem hard, or it may seem easy, but to God, it is all the same. What we call "small miracles" are just as easy to God as "big miracles". All of them require His power.
Don't fail to take chances just because they may seem impossible.
Take that airplane flight.
Drive those four hours.
Wait for someone who is worth waiting for.
Never assume that any situation is beyond God's ability to materialize it.
Don't gauge a person's fit for you by their age, skin color, "level", geographical distance, personality, income level, or by any other external judgment. Some externals change - but God remains the same. God can put any person with any other person.
So don't ever give up hope. Hold on to Him.
He is your life, your help, your hope, your salvation, and the strength of your heart. He knows what you prayed for.
He answers your desire - because he put those desires in there in the first place. He did not put those desires in your heart only to frustrate himself by not fulfilling them. They are HIS desires, and the word he sends forth will not return void.
Do not give up, and do not settle on the first person who comes along to you. This took me a long time to find this happiness, and God made me wait, because [being 35 with Grace being 22] this couldn't happen even three or four years ago.
Remember that when God purposes something to happen in your life, that it happened at just the perfect moment. If God had done it one second sooner, it would be incomplete and imperfect. It would be like the puzzle you see on the coffee table that's missing the last piece - the picture is there, but the missing piece makes it just look totally wrong. He will put all the pieces in place; He will make the puzzle complete.
Then, you won't just have a perfect picture; it will be total and complete - with not a piece missing.
_________________________
Call us to wish us well, or just to say hi.