Love Story Catch Up

When I first set out to write my love story I had no idea I’d remember so many details, nor have has much fun recalling all of those details in story form as I have over these past several months. You can read about the beginning of Our Love Story here.

I realize that not everyone has been able (or chosen) to read every single post. I also know that nearly 10 weeks into this saga, some of you may need a love story review. After all, I started the story when Rob and I started the journey toward dating, but the last several weeks have been a flashback chronicling the early days— like the day we met (I thought he was married).

Shortly after that night I heard Rob preach for the first time and realized I wanted to marry a man like him someday. With this in mind I broke up with my boyfriend from back home a few days later.

When I returned to campus I saw Rob and realized he was a student—and likely not married. I went back to my dorm room and scoured the student directory trying to determine his last name. Then I tried our names out together. You know, just in case he ever noticed that I was even alive?

Then we went on a retreat at Camp Tadmor. Rob preached about love. I liked hearing him talk about love! During the retreat he and I stayed up late talking one night. I couldn’t get enough of this guy.

That next weekend (which was Valentines weekend) Rob invited me and a few other friends out to his place. We drove out there and I realized he lived in a barn. No joke!

Rob sent me a Valentine on Valentine’s Day and that made me smile, but I still had no idea he was remotely interested in me.

Because of my growing admiration of Rob I found myself contemplating whether or not I could end up being a pastor’s wife. It seemed like an unlikely fit to say the least, but I wanted to marry a man who wanted to serve God with his whole life. 

I found myself looking back at God’s provision in my life, and how he provided for me to attend Corban. Then I got word from the business office that I owed $100 which might has well have been $10,000. I was broke, but I used $100 of the last $103 I had to my name to pay the bill and prayed that God would see me through the next several weeks on a mere $3.

I went straight from paying that bill to check my on campus mailbox where I found $100 in a really uniquely patterned envelope. It was the exact amount of money that I had just begrudgingly paid to the business office. It was such a huge blessing from an anonymous source—and a huge testament of God’s provision in my life.

Thanks to my anonymous benefactor I went home for the weekend of my birthday where I talked to my youth pastor’s wife who told me in no uncertain terms that I was going to marry Rob. I brushed her off and pointed out that I couldn’t marry Rob because he’s going to be a pastor and I don’t play the piano. Seriously, I truly thought it was a prerequisite to being a pastor’s wife!

Over that next month I stalked often found myself in the same place as Rob. He was like a magnet that drew me in his direction. I was powerless to escape that powerful magnetic force that seemed to surround this amazing man. We went skating one night, along with a group of friends. I was unrealistically hopeful that he would couple skate with me, but I found myself couple skating with another guy, J, instead.

At that point I had no idea that J and Rob would both become such a huge part of my life in the weeks to come. Just before Spring Break ended the three of us found ourselves spending the entire day together. I began to speculate that one of them might like me. The next day I spent the whole day on cloud nine trying to figure out which guy was interested.

The following day J asked me out on a date. It was nice to finally figure out which guy liked me! I enjoyed my time with J but I put the brakes on a little while I tried to get my heart right where Rob was concerned. J knew I had a crush on Rob, so I felt like I needed to be honest with him about where I stood.

Then J told Rob about my hesitation to date him because of my interest Rob. So Rob asked if we could talk. I thought about how much I learned about the kind of guy I wanted to marry by spending time with Rob over the past couple of months and I dreaded the inevitable, “You’re a great girl, but nothing is ever going to happen between you and I so you should date my friend J,” kind of talk.  

I tried not to cry as I anxiously waited for Rob to break my heart. But, much to my surprise, he didn’t want to talk to convince me to date J. In fact, the reason he wanted to talk was to convince me not to date J—he wanted to get to know me better first!

I was torn by the fact that both of these great guys liked me and I found myself wishing they had duked it out amongst each other before both of them started pursuing me at the same time.

I reflected on my past relationships and regrets and marveled at the fact that despite a checkered past I was being pursued by not one, but two really great guys. J made it clear that he wanted to date me, but Rob was leaving me utterly confused. He told me he wanted to get to know me better, but wasn’t very quick to make plans for us to spend time together.

I prayed diligently that God would make it clear which of these two great guys I should be spending time with and eventually chose to get to know Rob better based on some really good advice from a friend.

Then I broke the news to J and waited patiently anxiously for my first date with Rob. Which, was a splendid day in my opinion—but I had no idea what he thought of our time together.

While waiting to hear whether or not he would ask me out on a second date I found an entry in my prayer journal from a few weeks prior where I had written a very specific prayer about my future husband. I wondered in awe if God was answering my prayer far more quickly than I ever could have imagined.

Then I found a note from Rob—my first communication with him since our date—with three little words on it, leaving me just as confused as ever. But that night he asked me out on a second date and our conversation together flowed freely, like we’d known each other our whole lives.

The following night was Ekklessia, our college group get together at our church. I loved hearing him preach at Ekklessia. His words constantly challenged me to become a better woman.

By the third date I was super confused by this mysterious guy and told him that I was finding him rather hard to read. He clarified his intentions with me, telling me that he wanted to find out whether or not it was God’s desire to bring us together in marriage. I was giddy beyond all measure! We both look back on this date fondly as the day we started to fall in love.

And because we didn’t want the date to end we found ourselves sitting in Rob’s car in the Wal-Mart parking lot for several hours after the sun went down. We talked about some of our fears and expectations about dating and began to talk about the possibility of a future together. I still found it hard to believe that this was actually happening!

Rob and I started spending as much time together as we could, though I was consistently feeling like he wasn’t interested in me despite the hours upon hours we found ourselves enjoying each other’s company. Then Rob pointed out that he thought my primary love language was physical touch. As he described the concept of love languages to me I was confident that he’d hit the nail on the head with his assessment. So, to help me feel like he was interested in me Rob reached out and gently put his hand awkwardly on my knee. Then later he squeezed my shoulder and eventually went so far as to pat my head while we were chatting with a group of friends on campus. As awkward as these moments were, I loved the fact that he was trying to step out of his comfort zone to communicate his care for me in a way that I would understand.

Shortly after our touchy moments I found myself trying to land a seat on the couch next to Rob while watching a movie with a big group of friends. All the while I was trying to escape my obnoxious stalker—and trying to figure out why on Earth this guy wouldn’t hold my hand!

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So there you have it, the cliff notes of Our Love Story up until this point in time. There will be a quiz…

While I am no longer writing posts in “real time” 10 years later, I am committed to starting and finishing our love story within the time frame that Rob and I dated—the end of March through December 15^th.

Feel free to re-read some of our adventures through the links above, or through the “Our Love Story” tab at the top of the page. And please stop back by frequently to read about the rest of our love story as it unfolds. You can follow me on facebook if you want to know when I’ve written another post without having to check back all of the time.

I have really enjoyed writing this story. It’s been so much fun to remember all of the details of this amazing time in my life. I honestly truly feel like I fall in love with Rob all over again every time I sit down to write more of the story. I confess—I’m so in love!

Thanks for following along. Your comments and encouragement fuel me to keep writing and I’ve been richly blessed by this process. I hope in some way you too have found some source of encouragement (or at least entertainment) by reading along.

Out of curiosity, which post has been your favorite so far?