What we have been up to for the Past 4 Years

David and I met at Word of Life Florida’s summer camp in June of 2005. This was my 4^th summer working at the camp and I was going to be counseling again. David had just finished his first year of college at the Word of Life Bible Institute. When we first met, I kept telling him how familiar he looked to me and that I could not place where I knew him from. He told me later that I met him when I was a student at Word of Life and the traveling Drama team that I was on came to his high school. I remember going to his school but I honestly don’t remember him. I am almost 2 years older than David ;) Anyway, we had the same groups of friends and the same day off each week during camp, so we had the chance to get to know each other a little bit. One sunny Florida day, a group of our friends decided to float down the Weeki Wachee Springs. The Weeki Wachee is a wonderful Florida attraction; we would take inner tubes and float down the Weeki Wachee’s lazy river. This gave us another opportunity to talk and we talked about what we wanted to do with our lives. He wanted to be a missionary; I wanted to be a missionary. He was registered to go to Liberty University in the fall of 2005 and I was planning on going to Liberty University in January 2006. We became good friends and when the summer ended, I met his family quickly before leaving to go on a mission’s trip to Mexico with my church in Jacksonville. We exchanged phone numbers, spoke on the phone ALOT during the fall semester and when I came to Liberty University (LU) in January of 2006 we were officially a couple :)

To prepare for missions work David began his undergraduate studies in Cross Cultural Studies and I began my studies in Teaching English as a Second language and a minor in Cross Cultural Studies, which meant that we had a few classes together. We attended classes and had a blast during our dating time at LU.  In July of 2007, after I returned from a 2 month mission trip in Guatemala, we went to VA Beach, VA for a day trip and it was that afternoon that he asked me to MARRY HIM!!! I was totally surprised and asked him if he was serious. I totally wanted to marry him, but was just shocked and could not believe that it was actually happening. He on the other hand was a little nervous about my answer and said yes I am serious and he waited for my reply. I said YES!!!

Here are a couple of our engagement photos:

We were married on January 5, 2008 in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. It was the most amazing day!!! I can still remember waking up and getting ready, looking out the window at him until it was time to go down, and our ceremony and reception. I loved taking pictures and felt beautiful all day.

Here are some photos of our wedding day:

After we were married, we were blessed to rent a beautiful townhome and David was working in Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) at LU. I did not find work until April of 2008. During the first 6 months of marriage we continued our undergraduate classes and looked for a home that we could fix up and sell/rent with the possibility of making some money to help support our ministry overseas. I graduated with my undergrad in May of 2008.

In August of 2008, I began work on my Masters of Education at LU and David began taking night classes to get his Journeymen’s in HVAC.  At auction in February of 2009 we purchased our first home. It was a true foreclosure and needed lots of TLC and hard work. It looks completely different inside and out, but here are 2 photos of the front of the house.

When we first bought the house:

 After a bit of work:

David graduated with his undergrad in May 2009. For the next few years we worked a lot and fixed up our house.

During our time at Liberty University we were looking for possible opportunities to go overseas once our schooling was completed. Fast forward to May of 2011, and David was offered a new HVAC job with a local hospital here in Lynchburg. I began working as a Full-Time ESL teacher in June of 2011 and I completed the final requirements for my Masters in December of 2011. In October of 2011, we committed with Tony and Marcia Haug to work with them for 2 ½ years in Shimonoseki. We are currently fulfilling our job requirements until this June 2012 and then we are planning on moving to NC where David’s parents are and staying there until we leave for Japan in August.