My Prince Charming

Who is Aaron? Well, I've been meaning to tell you about him, but as you've maybe noticed...we've been very busy this summer! So here's some of the story for those of you that are interested :)

Aaron is originally from TN - he's 30 years old - he's the pastor of Westside Baptist Chapel near Warroad - he's also a chaplain and Captain in the Air Force Reserves - and he's the most wonderful man in the world :) As of June 15, we were betrothed - in other words, we're planning on getting married someday!

The weekend of Amos and Rebekah's wedding, Aaron moved to Warroad to begin pastoring. About a month later there was a short article/picture in the newspaper about him coming which was how our family first heard of him. When Mom saw it, she was like, "He'd be perfect for you!" and I was like, "OK, whatever."

We met for the first time at a funeral (is that a good sign or a bad sign?) in January of '08. My first impression was that he was "nice" and I didn't think much more about it. Although I didn't connect it at the time, the same week we met, I'd written in my journal that I just really felt like God was trying to tell my something and I didn't know what.

A year went by - Dad visited him a couple times and took him ice fishing, and we saw each other a few times around.

Then this February, Aaron started praying about starting a relationship with me and looking for ways to get to know me better. He dropped in a few times - once he brought over a cake - and came to some afternoon services at our church. There were some special meetings at his church (which we wouldn't have even heard about, except the week it was advertised in the newspaper "just happened" to be the week that they sent a free copy to everyone in the area...) and we went to a couple of those. We got together once to talk about some ideas for children's church.

However, if you know Aaron, you know that he's friendly to everyone and so when our family discussed him, we could never figure out if he just really liked that farm and family, or was just sort of random, or if he was interested in me. Sometimes I had a feeling it had to do with me, but I had a real peace about it either way.

Then there was our trip to Steinbach. We were planning on going there with the J. family and someone had the idea that we could invite "Pastor Satchwill". Someone else was like, "Why would we do that?!" The conclusion was that if he called or came over before then, we'd invite him. That Saturday, Mom, Miriam, and I were on our way to the homeschool graduation and we were wondering if he would be there. Mom said, "If he is, does that count as an excuse to invite him?" and I said, "It'll be a miracle if he is, so yeah, it counts." I guess miracles sometimes happen...Aaron wasn't even thinking that we would be there. So he ended up coming with us to Stienbach. It's a 3 hour round trip and so I felt like I really got to know him better that day.

While I was gone at CYIA, Aaron came over and talked to Dad about me. They had a few late-night meetings to talk about, well, everything, including my long list of "Husband requirements - November 2008 edition". I was home on the weekend and no one let on. I never thought my familiy could keep a secret like that from me! Us kids got home late the next Friday night, and the next morning, as we were discussing our plans for the day over breakfast, Dad broke the news!

I was very surprised, but in some ways I was prepared for it as well. I knew right away what my answer would be, but I wanted to go about making a decision somewhat systematically, and so I took a couple days to think and pray about it all before I told Dad. After I told him, he went over to talk to Aaron that afternoon, but didn't really tell him anything. Then in the evening, without telling me first, Dad went and told him it was a "yes." Quite a few of our relatives were over and we were all talking about the whole thing, when Dad and Aaron showed up here! Anyway, we got a chance to talk and throughout this summer, we've been wholeheartedly enjoying getting to know each other.

God is so good! Who would have ever thought that He would bring us together here in the-middle-of-nowhere-Minnesota!? It's so exciting to see His hand leading and working in our lives and to testifyy that God can do anything!

Oh, and these cute pictures were taken and edited by my cousin, Hannah Hanson (Whispering Pines Photography) - On 4th of July we prevailed upon her to take some pictures of us and she willingly obliged :) I just happen to think they're the most wonderful pictures ever taken anywhere!