Love Story

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is an exciting day because Forbes only has to work until noon!  Then we have a call with Christian Associates!  I couldn't think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day than planning our future together!  Cheesy much?  Why that's all the cheese you will get out of these vegans, so eat it up!

Brittany answered these on her blog yesterday, and I felt inspired...so thanks to Mrs. To Mama for hosting and thanks to Brittany for introducing me to a new fun blog!  Here ya go!
 
1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
We have been together almost 6 years.  We meet in the summer of 2006.

2. How did you meet? {What’s your “love” story?}
I was working as a summer intern at a YMCA residential camp in Wisconsin.  This was the camp that Forbes pretty much grew up going to each summer.  As a teacher, he had the summers off work and decided he would work at the camp one last year.  We met and became fast friends.  It was an amazing summer and we grew to know each other so well in just a few short weeks.  We were pretty much inseparable but didn't start dating until nearly the end of the summer right before he went back to Milwaukee to teach.  Then it was a bit of long distance for a while.

3. If married, how long have you been married?
We have been married just over 3 years.

4. Where did you get married? Big or small wedding?
Medium sized wedding...Charlotte, NC.  We were married in a beautiful small chapel in downtown Charlotte and had your typical hotel reception to accommodate all of our out-of-town friends and family.  It was a perfect day and I couldn't have asked for more!

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
It's usually just babe and honey around our house.  Every once in a while something like Googlybear or Baby-ba-buh-doo will pop out.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
Wow, just 3?  1.  He loves Jesus.  I never imagined I could be so completely blessed with a Christ-centered marriage.  It really is the heart of who we both are!  2.  He is the most generous person I know, always willing to give and do for others, especially me.  3.  Adventurous!  He is up for anything and excited to move Internationally, but he also gets excited to go hiking, traveling and lots of other fun adventures.  

7. Tell us how he proposed?
It was our first year in NC together and we were getting ready for the "Great mid-American Roadtrip" to visit all of our families for Christmas.  We decided to have our own Christmas the weekend before and cooked up a feast together.  Right before dinner he gave me my first present, a mixed CD with all of our favorite love songs.  As we ate, we listened to the CD and then sat on the floor to open gifts.  He hurried me through all of my presents and finally it was the last one.  In a small package were puzzle pieces and I had to put together the puzzle.  I could clearly see where this was going so I started to shake and cry, but he rushed me through it so he could propose on the exact right song as the CD played in the background.  To the song "By My Side" by Ben Harper he asked me if I would be by his side always!  He pulled the ring box out from under the couch cushion as I just shook my head yes!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
Definitely not a teddy bear...but we live in a world of flowers and champagne.  My two favorite things. 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
I suppose it depends on the occasion and location.  On vacation I am all about a sunset dinner on the beach, any given night we are two peas in a pod on the couch taking in a TV show, typically not a movie for my sake!

10. Tell us one thing you’d like to do with your significant other one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
Well you all know this already...we want to be missionaries, anywhere in the world!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine’s Day.
Today Forbes will come home early from work and we will talk with Christian Associates, then hopefully rush over to the Food Pantry so I don't miss my entire Tuesday shift.  After we have plans to crack open a bottle of champagne and cook a delicious dinner together and then yes, probably stay and watch a movie (or Downton Abbey!)

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine’s day?
This year was low key, but I did find a Groupon for a pair of earrings I wanted and passed it on to Forbes.  That was subtle, right?  So I already know those are on their way!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. 
Put Christ in the center of your marriage.  I could give advice like forgiveness, respect, etc. but if your marriage is Christ-centered all these things will belong in your marriage.  I couldn't do marriage without the love of God in our lives!

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

 Ha, ha, I just love how we can be ourselves entirely with one another!