I was about 7. I had known Stephen since I was 5 but my first real memory of him was on the above mentioned "perfect day". And, it really wasn't perfect. (I just said that for cheesy goodness effect. :) It was a Sunday in May, and after church we were all prepared to have a picnic by Town Lake. But fortunately for the starved Texas Vegetation, Mr. Douglas had prayed for rain the week before, and God answered his prayer with enough rain to completely fill the parking lot at the lake, and subsequently make the planned picnic impossible. So, we had a potluck at the church instead, and all the children were outside. Hopscotch, 4 Square, jumping rope, playing in mud and riding bikes around the porte cochere. Now, I loved my bike like some girls loved horses, so of course I was one of the girls wildly racing around the pavement. I would ride around the parking lot, thru the porte cochere and back again - over and over.
It would have been a lovely and uneventful faux-picnic, but Stephen decided to step into my life. His entrance was neither gallant or charming. "In fact it was quite the opposite," to quote Elizabeth Bennett. Malicious and naughty, indeed! There I was, minding my own business, when in the midst of one of my circuits, I was suddenly flipping and flying thru the air. Stephen had jammed a stick in my bike wheel and all the beauty of the day shattered as soon as I crashed against the unforgiving concrete. It was a bit painful, but the greatest damage was to my innocent sense of security. Ohh, how I cried at home; how could this boy be soooo mean! I remember my oldest sister Kim was overseeing my bath, and when I had finished the tale of my almost-can't believe it-so terrible-nearly brutal-attempted murder, she replied with a cheeky, "I bet you grow up and marry him."
I will NOT! I would never marry Stephen!!!!
[Now, so that the reader may not judge Stephen TOO harshly, boys will be boys, I guess. Stephen doesn't even remember trying to kill me, and he can't believe he EVER did such a thing ... Eh, who am I kidding... Judge him harshly! :) I could have been mortally wounded! :) ]
From that day forward, Stephen was a big part of life. An intense competition between us had suddenly come to life. We would compete in AWANA with who could memorize the most verses. We would do the same thing all thru the Youth Group years, as well. We both made sure to know all the answers, verses and lessons. We kept each other on our toes, and by God's grace, He used our silly competing to give us a greater love for Him.
And as we got older, I began to think that Stephen must be at least 3% omnipresent. I mean, seriously...that guy showed up everywhere. He was with me packing our bathroom during the move when I was 16 (Awkward!!). He was always right by me in the food line at church. I saw him at college all the time. He was there in the kitchen talking to me before choir practice... He teased me a bunch and would inevitably try to "get my goat" by arguing with me about something. Why did I choose a paper plate? Didn't I know it was bad for the environment? How come I was wearing flip flops in the winter? Didn't I know about frostbite? But as time passed, he started just talking with me more and more, and teasing less. I barely noticed, however, because I was so used to his teasing. And then! Stephen became kinda-sorta part of the family when our older siblings got married. And they were such matchmakers! By the time we were 18-19, we were at Michael and Kim's pretty frequently. I would go to see the babies and chat with my sister, and Stephen would invariably be there to lift weights with Michael or work on something in the garage. The evenings would always end with a delicious bowl of ice cream in the living room... Sneaky, sneaky.
All these years, I had no idea that Stephen liked me. Dumb, blind, clueless. Probably a healthy combination of all three, I simply didn't see it. Stephen wanted to wait to enter a relationship till he had a big boy job and was finished or almost finished with college. He was just constantly teasing me to let me know he existed. Bummer for him, I don't like to be teased, so his attention went largely unappreciated until he decided to change his approach. Yet, even with all the teasing, I admired Stephen so much. Our personalities didn't seem to mesh too well, but I didn't know a more godly or kind young man. (Old folks, adults, children - I thought he was nice to everyone but me! ... A clue? *Envision hand slapping forehead* Duh!) He seemed to have such a love for God's word and a servant's heart that I really looked up to. Kinda handsome, kinda nice, and reeeally smart - he was a great human being ... But he was also such a BOY. Oh, how he liked me. I was the first girl he ever noticed. And as a young boy to the time when he was a young man, when he thought of getting married someday, I was the girl he imagined in his head.
2008 was the year I began to notice Stephen more. I was 19 and he was almost 21; He had his big boy job and had 1 year left of college. In May, we went on a mission trip to Mexico together. During our trip, I was so struck by our like-mindedness. We agreed on all the issues that were important to us, and we seemed to have the same life ethic. On our trip, I worked really hard shoveling and smoothing concrete on a road we were building up a mountain. And somehow, Stephen was always working right by me. Just when I was starting to think that Stephen might be pretty amazing, he openly began to FLIRT with me at the breakfast table one morning. After that ... I was SURE that Stephen WAS pretty amazing. :) It was that day I finally began to realize that Stephen might actually LIKE ME.
He first asked my Dad if he could get to know me better late in July and I was shocked! Could we really get along? Do our personalities go together? Wouldn't we just argue all the time? I admired him more than I could admire anyone else in the world - I knew that. But could we love each other? Could I adore the man that teased me so much when we were growing up? After a few months of craziness and uncertainty on my side - and heartbreak and prayer on his ... He approached my Dad again at the beginning of February. I had taken a little bit to come around to the idea, but by the new year I KNEW. I hadn't "fallen in love" with Stephen yet, but I knew I wanted to marry him. There was no one else on earth for me but him.
We started courting on February 8th, 2009. And loving him was so much easier than I ever thought it could be. It wasn't long and I would come home from our dates and do non-stop happy dances in the living room - which would totally crack up my parents. :) I was so impressed by Stephen and I couldn't believe I had envisioned him as a little boy in my head for so long. He NEVER teased me - he still doesn't. And we didn't argue all the time ... at all. And we STILL don't!
We got engaged August 8th, 2009 and were married just shy of three months later - on November 7th, 2009. It has now been over 4 years of wonderful marriage to my favorite person. We still celebrate our Monthiversary (We are over 50 months now!), laugh as much as we did on our honeymoon, and love each other fiercely. The last years have been filled with growing and we thank God every day for ordaining our marriage. We pray that our Lord will use us mightily to encourage and strengthen His church and to grow His everlasting kingdom.
Below is the song that we sang together at our reception on our wedding day. Stephen and I still sing together every day...
Give Praise to God! ~ By Hymns of the Modern Reformation
Give praise to God who reigns aboveFor perfect knowledge, wisdom, love;
His judgments are divine, devout,
His paths beyond all tracing out.
Come lift your voice to heaven's high throne,
And glory give to God alone!
No one can counsel God all wise
Or truths unveil to His sharp eyes;
He marks our paths behind, before;
He is our steadfast Counselor.
Come lift you voice to heaven's high throne,
And glory give to God alone!
Nothing exists that God might need
For all things good from Him proceed.
We praise Him as our Lord, and yet
We never place God in our debt.
Come lift your voice to heaven's high throne,
And glory give to God alone!
Creation, life, salvation too,
And all things else both good and true,
Come from and through our God always,
And fill our hearts with grateful praise.
Come lift your voice to heaven's high throne,
And glory give to God alone!
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