So, as you can probably guess by the title this is going to be one of my "bride to be" blog posts. I have had several people as where/how we met, how Evan proposed, etc... So here we go! Here is the story.
It's actually kind of amazing how I even got to where I could know who Evan was. Our paths don't cross at all- different majors, we started at different churches, different sets of friends...if it hadn't been for a random chance we might not have met. Going into my freshman year of college, I didn't know my roommate or my three suitemates. One of my suitemates, Victoria, asked me if I wanted to go to sonic with her and some of her friends one night in October. I still didn't know that many people, so I said sure. Evan was one of the three guys that we met there.
Now we didn't really talk much to each other. Actually, I didn't
talk much at all to anyone because as it turns out, I had 103 degree
fever that night. The only thing I really remember from that night
was him offering me his sweater because apparently, I was shivering
and looked awful. It was a fun night of talking though.
Fast forward to Spring semester.
I had been going to church a lot by myself my first semester at
Harding, and Victoria asked if I wanted to start going to Highway
Church of Christ with her and some of her friends. Well, Evan was
included in that. I remember calling my mom to catch up that Sunday
after church, and said "They were all really nice! And one of
Victoria's friends complimented every girl and said that she looked
beautiful". Well, that was Evan. I noticed him talking to each
girl individually and telling them each that they looked nice that
day. It was refreshing because you could tell he genuinely
meant the things he was saying.
About a week later, my youth minister from back home
asked if I knew of any guys who would be interested in applying for
the youth internship at our church. Other than the occasional word or
two, I hadn't really talked to Evan, but I knew that he was a good
guy, extremely spiritual, and...well, that's basically all I knew
about him. So I gave his contact info to my youth minister. We
started talking more after that, just randomly when we saw each other
at church or in the cafeteria. One day out of the blue, he texted me
and asked me if I had ever heard of this song before, because he knew I liked music and so he thought I would appreciate this song. I met him for coffee and we ended up talking for about 2 hours. Over the next few weeks we would occasionally meet for coffee and talk. He found out I didn't know how to play chess so he taught me how to play chess. We talked about everything under the sun, and he had mentioned a couple times that he was going to Africa in the fall so he wasn't looking to date. It wasn't in a rude way, just a fact. We asked get to know you questions. His were deep "Where do you see yourself spiritually? What's a metaphor to describe your life?, etc" Mine were a lot of "What's your favorite color?" I'm not that creative.
(We're in the home stretch now!) Well, after a few weeks of this, he suggested we play chess again. We had been playing many times since he taught me, and I had actually been winning quite a bit. He decided to add stakes to this game, though. He said that the person who won got to ask one question, anything they wanted, and the other person had to answer. I was pretty confident that I would win because I had been winning so much. Well, he beat me in about three moves. Turns out he had just been letting me win. Lame, I know. Anyway, his one question was....would I go on a date with him.
So, that's the story. There's a lot more but this was already pretty long, so I cut it "short". I know people say that they didn't work out because the timing was wrong. I don't agree with us. The timing was not right for me and Evan, at all. He was going to Africa in the fall and that distance is tough on anyone, even if they've been dating a long time. But when he asked me on our first date, I knew that it was going to be something special. He makes me a better person. He makes me laugh even when I'm mad. He is goofy enough to bring me out of my shell. I am completely myself around him, and miraculously enough he still loves me. He pushes me more spiritually than anyone ever has in my life, and I have grown so much more in my faith because of him. And I am so grateful for that.
Well, I'll probably do the proposal story in the next couple of weeks...and I promise it's a good one. So, this is part of the story of my own little fairy tale. I have several devotional thoughts for the next couple of weeks, and more bride-to-be posts. So, check back in!
Have a wonderful week, be salt and light!
~Hannah~
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