A Love Story

For a mere $50, eHarmony matched me with my future husband. We chatted online for a month before talking on the phone. Our first date on December 14, 2004, was probably the coldest day of the year. We agreed to meet at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary outside of the bookstore.  There he was, sitting on the couch reading a book. Man, he looked good! I walked over and introduced myself. (He looked even better close up.) I burst out laughing when I saw his car. I'm sure he thought I was crazy, but it turns out that we both had black Hyundai Santa Fe's.

Dinner was lovely at Cannon's on St. Charles. He had the romantic idea to take the streetcar down to Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro for dessert. This would have been awesome had a streetcar actually stopped to pick us up. We ended up walking the mile or so to the restaurant and then most of the way back. Did I mention that it was bitterly cold that night?!

Stephen called me on the way home from our date to tell me how much fun he had. Then he called his mother and told her he had met the girl he was going to marry. After telling my own mother about our date, she said, "I think you're going to marry that boy."

Two weeks later we were engaged. It wasn't the romantic proposal I dreamed of, that came later. But just us sitting on the couch talking about it. I told him he could marry me this summer or the next, but I didn't want to get married during the school year. So seven months later, we were married.

What a roller coaster it has been! Katrina hit after we had been married for a month and my family needed to live with us for a while. I was just thankful we had a place for them to stay. We have lived in four cities in three states. God blessed us with a beautiful daughter and our faith has been tested more times than I'd prefer. But through it all, He has drawn us closer to Himself and to each other.

I'm looking forward to the next seven years and beyond. Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband, who knows my every fault and loves me anyway.