Saturday, October 15, 2016

Wow! An important announcement!

Well, my long lost Blogger friends...   It has been a very busy year-and-three-quarters since I posted last on this blog, and although many of my readers are also "Friends" on FaceBook, and keep up with most of the important tidbits about my life, I suspect some of you may not have that privilege, so I am writing a quick post here to update you on something God has been doing in my life lately. :-)


  In case you were wondering, I am now 25, and still single... Ha!   But not for long! My birthday is coming up in November, and my wedding in December!  

 Yes, you read that right:

My wedding is coming up in December!


In February of this year, I began conversing with a young lady I met online, and we seemed to hit it off quite well.  She had a similar upbringing to myself; was homeschooled, lived in the country and raised numerous animals, and her family had very similar beliefs to my own.  Through other circumstances, I was only looking for friendship at the time, and so we talked freely, getting to know each other as friends, and sharing some things that God was doing in our lives. 

 By the time April rolled around, we were emailing or messaging nearly every day, and we seemed to be growing a pretty strong friendship.   I decided I'd really like to meet her, and so ended up making the trek down to Missouri where she was then staying with some friends, in order to get to know her in person.


 We very much enjoyed each other's company, and God spoke to each of us specifically during this visit...  We both knew He was doing something, but unsure what at this point...  I knew I definitely liked this girl, and wanted to get to know her better!  (Below is our very first picture together!)



About a month later, I again trekked down south, this time to KY, where "She" was now staying with some other friends. :-) Again, we had a great time, and some good fellowship with her friends and church family.  We had some good opportunities to talk, and again I was impressed with this girl's love for God, and her openness and honesty with me. By the time I had to leave, it was getting hard to say goodbye... :'( 


As I made the long drive back home, and prayed about what God was doing, and where He was leading with this friendship, I knew I had to make an effort to get to know her family, and to gain the friendship and permission of her parents to continue our relationship...    After much prayer, quite a few emails, and a few phone calls, I ended up driving out to Michigan to meet her family in June. :-D  That visit went quite well, and so armed with their permission to continue our friendship, I asked "her" if she would like to come up and meet my family...   

 She flew up to visit our family for ~10 days in July, and during this time I asked her if she would like to enter into a "courtship" relationship with me... To which she very gladly answered that she would! 


Our family took a trip to Medora, ND, and had a great time enjoying the musical, and driving around Theodore Roosevelt National Park!

 

   ... It was very hard to say goodbye, but she had to leave us again...   It didn't take long though to plan another trip to visit her, and we started counting down the days.   

 The beginning of September found us both at her parent's in MI, enjoying our time together and with her family. After a couple days there, and some long talks all around, I "popped the question", and she said yes! 


We went ring shopping a few days latter, and stopped by the shore of Lake Michigan...







Yes, "Her" name is Marie!  She is the love of my life, a gift from God to me! And she is the most wonderful, kind, generous, caring, loving, giving, beautiful person I know!   I love you Marie! <3 nbsp="" p="">
 Oh... And she's also a talented artist... :-) She designed our wedding invitations!



We are busy now with getting ready for the wedding, which is coming up December 11th!  I am soo thankful for all God has done for us already, and looking forward to seeing what He will do for us as we begin our lives together!

  Your prayers for both of us would be greatly appreciated, as we seek God's will for us together, and as we begin the rest of our lives together!

  "Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life."   (Prov. 31:10-13)

 "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him"  (Gen. 2:18)

2 comments:

Paula McGrew said...

Congratulations, Andrew and Marie!

Nancy said...

So thrilled for you two. Very exciting times and the wedding will be amazing!!

P.S. Marie is wearing purple in every photo you posted. :-D