In honor of Valentine’s Day I thought I would share the
story of how Chad and I met. Ours is an
unusual story, just like everything else in our lives. J And while this post is a little long, I really think you'll enjoy hearing our story.
Before I can start the story I need to tell you a little of
my background before we met. I married
at 16 (yes, you read that right, 16) to my high school boyfriend, Jeremy. On May 27th, 2001, just 7 months
before Chad and I met, Jeremy died of a medical condition while fishing by
himself one day. I was left a widow at
the age of 24 with 3 little girls and a little boy on the way. I was 8 months pregnant at the time of his
death. The next 7 months following were full of tears, trials, and growth as I
had never been on my own before. I would
not have survived if it had not been for my church family who loved on me,
helped me, and prayed for me through that time. As you can imagine, the last
thing on my mind when January rolled around was looking for a boyfriend. Not to mention I had no great hope of any man
coming into my life and not only loving me, but also my 4 children. But I was ok with this. I had plans to move forward with my life,
possibly going to college and then on to a career, but also to move to a
neighboring community. This was not
something I had envisioned for myself, I had always wanted to be more focused
at home, but I knew I needed something for my future.
My good friends, Renee and Melissa, had thought they would
use their match-making skills to find me a man, or at least another single
person who I could spend my time with. Renee
knew Chad from the bank he was working at and had enough conversations with him
to find out he was a great guy, single, and involved in a church and singles
group at a nearby community church. They
knew I had plans to possibly move to this community and even though they
assured me that their only idea was to find me some new friends, looking back I
can see what their motive was. J
So Renee talked Chad into calling me, telling him of my plans to possibly move
and of my background losing my husband.
Thinking of me as a ministry opportunity, Chad called me on January 16th,
2002. Our conversation ended up being
100 minutes long as we talked about our background, families, hobbies, and
spiritual beliefs. At the end of the
conversation he asked if I would be willing to go out to dinner the following
week, to which I agreed. While I really
was not interested in a “boyfriend” at the time, I was still excited for the
day of our “blind date” to arrive. My
friends had refused to give me much details on him other than he was a nice man.
To say I was blown away when we met would be an
understatement. Not only was he
extremely good looking, but he was an all
around genuine person. He too, was
attracted to me, although, at the time neither one of us showed it in any way
to one another. We had a great time on
our dinner talking more about our lives, backgrounds, and future plans;
although I kept saying to myself he was only doing this to get Renee off his
back and I most likely would not hear from him again. Interestingly enough, 3 days later he called
me and asked me to go to a hockey game with him. Another great time was had by both of us at
the game and the dinner we went to afterwards.
For an introvert like me this was nerve racking, but as the evening wore
on I found that I was able to be more myself as I got to know him better. The following 2 weeks we talked on the phone
a few times and he came to my house to watch a movie with the kids and I. It was then he asked me to go to a town 75
miles away for dinner at a very, very nice restaurant. There was something in this request that made
me very nervous. This was not a hockey
game, or a movie, or a conversation on the phone. This was something more serious. I already had felt myself wondering where this
was going and thoughts about how I didn’t want a “boyfriend” were almost a
thing of the past. While we still had
not really shown each other how attracted we were to each other, this request
made me think that there was the possibility of our relationship becoming more
serious. Chad had met the kids and had
immediately clicked with them on our movie night. My children were, for the most part well
behaved, but you would think the thought of 4 of them, ages 7, 5, 5, and 6
months would send any man fleeing the opposite direction. After all our conversations he knew how
important the kids were to me and how I wasn’t interested in having random
boyfriends around to confuse them. This
whole invitation out to dinner made me think he wanted to be more than some
random boyfriend.
So the day came, I dressed in a little black dress, which
was appropriate for the venue where we had dinner. That afternoon the snow had started to fall,
just lightly, not enough to worry us about going out; this was Nebraska after
all. The evening was fantastic! A lovely old Victorian house turned into a
restaurant with delicious food and a cozy atmosphere. Chad was the ever attentive date, taking my
arm to guide me over the icy sidewalk on the way back to his car. Over the course of the evening the snow had
really picked up; but despite the fact, we went over to my friend’s house and
then out to coffee with her and her husband. At the end of the evening my
friend whispered and asked if we were actually “dating”. I didn’t know. It certainly seemed like it after the
wonderful evening, but I was not sure, nothing had been said about the status
of our relationship. I was hoping he
would bring it up, but also scared that he would. I was feeling too attracted to him to just
continue casually going on as friends. I
needed to know if I was feeling too much, that maybe he was this attentive to
all the girls he was friends with and I was reading too much into it.
The roads had really turned worse as we turned towards the
75 mile drive home. The trip that
normally took one and a half hours now took three and a half. Even with the bad roads we continued to talk
about everything, everything except what was on my mind. Ten miles from home I could not stand it
anymore, I had to know. I told him how I
was getting questions from all my friends about our relationship. He, too, had been getting these questions. I told him I would really like to know what
to tell these people, but I wasn’t really sure what we had going on. He agreed. He then told me how he really
wanted our relationship to be taken to the next level, but wasn’t sure how to
approach it since I was fairly recently widowed. He was not interested in it being casual; but
when he dated, he wanted it to be with a person he could see himself possibly
marrying, if it that's the direction we felt it should go. He had also been in a serious relationship in
the past and had no desire to jump into the typical “dating world”. I told
him I was not interested in casual dating either, for the kids’ sake as well as
my own. We agreed that this was something we both wanted, but rather than
decide right then, we decided to think about it and talk more the next day.
After safely arriving back to my home, he walked me to the door and we parted.
The next day we both knew.
We wanted to date with the serious intention of marrying at some point
in time if we both continued to feel led in that direction. There were no “I love yous” at that time,
although we both knew we cared for each other.
Over the course of the next several weeks we saw each other
more often and our attraction continued to grow; not only physically but
mentally and spiritually as well. Chad
would often come over and have supper with the kids and me and we would put the
kids to bed and spend hours talking before Chad would drive home. We spent many, many long hours in
conversation about our thoughts on life, beliefs, and children. We found that we shared many of the same core
values. Chad admired the fact that I
would rather be a stay-at-home mom than having a career and that I enjoyed
serving my family. I loved the fact that
if we married, Chad would want to adopt and raise the kids as his own. As the weeks progressed I found myself falling
in love with this man who seemed to be exactly what I needed, the kind of man
my mother had prayed for since I was a little girl. On March 2nd Chad told me he loved me, which of course I
returned, and on March 18th he presented me with an engagement ring
and told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and raise the kids
as his own. Through tears of joy I
accepted.
We married just 9 days later on March 27th, just
two and a half months after our first phone conversation. There was no wedding, just a justice of the
peace. We were so in love we did not
want to wait to begin our life together, and although I wish I would have put a
bit more thought into the plans of that day, (we married when the kids were in
school!) I do not regret at all the decisions we made. Over the course of the last 16 years we have had many ups and downs. There were times of not seeing eye to eye, stresses of raising kids, and sadness of losing loved ones. However, there have also been times of great joy and
contentment knowing I am with my soul mate who completes me.
Chad and I at our reception in 2002.
I love your story, even though I've heard it before. Not ever like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steph! It was fun to write. I know many of my friends have heard the story, but never is full detail like this. I'm glad I can share it!!
DeleteWow Becca what an amazing story. I am so Happy you found such a beautiful man. Your mom is so proud of you. What a wonderful family you have.
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentines Day to you both.
Love, Virginia
Thank you, Virginia! I know Mom would love Chad. I hope she knows how her prayers were answered!
DeleteDear Rebecca, Aunt Nancy and I really enjoyed reading your Valentine's Day story. We rejoice in the Lord together for you, Chad, and your children. God is so good! I, too, am very thankful for your mother's prayers for me. I believe they are the main reason I came to know Jesus Christ as Lord. She prayed 10 years for me and I remember once how she pulled her prayer list off the back of her bedroom door and pointed to my name. I wouldn't be surprised if along with praying for my salvation she also prayed for me to have a wonderful wife, like my Nancy. May God continue to bless you and Chad and the children. We love you very much. Love, Uncle Howard.
ReplyDeleteMom was certainly a prayer warrior! There are so many people who have told me stories of how she prayed for them through a certain tough time in their life. After reading her journals I can assure you she not only prayed for you and Aunt Nancy but each one of your children daily! Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Love you, too!
DeleteWhat an amazing and inspirational love story! Isn't it amazing how God had everything planned out? This gives me chills. Love every bit of it!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much , Alison! I am honored that you took time to read my story. God certainly has blessed me and my family. Thank you for your kind words!
DeleteThank you for sharing your story of God's sovereignty in your life. My mom died when I was 22. She meet Jonathan who became my husband 7 months later, but she died before we got engaged. I can't imagine losing my mom and husband so close together. God has done mighty things in your life. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sonja for taking time to stop by my blog and read our story. :-) The Lord has definitely been there for me through all my tough times. I am so grateful for the blessings he has given me!
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