The pins were crashing all around us. The smack talk was unbelievable. The score was ridiculously in his favor. But none of that seemed to matter. The fact was, I was on an amazing date with an incredible guy who seemed too good to be true. But... he wasn't. He was there. And for some reason, he seemed to like me. A lot.

Many of you may know that Joe and I met online. I thought it'd be fun to relive that and share our story over the next few weeks! With February on the horizon, and a church couples event coming up on Friday, love is on my mind. Also, it's never a bad time to remember the amazing things God has done in our lives and our journey together! So here goes nothing:

I had been in very few relationships and I had gotten to the point in my life where I realized the most important relationship was with God. I wanted to make sure that was rock solid and squared away before pursuing anything else, specifically anything romantic. When I knew that was the case, I felt confident enough to attempt online dating. I was at the age where I felt like I'd either meet someone at a bar or online... and I much preferred the latter. I knew God was up to something from the beginning. I saw Joe's profile on ChristianMingle and immediately felt drawn to him. I sent him a smile or heart or whatever it was they had at the time to let someone know you were interested. He sent me a message back. I was so excited. I didn't want to pay for the full membership though, so I tried to find him on social media, as I had done with other profiles. Much to my dismay, I could not find any trace of him on Instagram or Facebook. I figured it wasn't meant to be, and went on. As time passed (what felt like forever but was probably just a few days lol) I decided it was worth paying the membership to be able to talk with him, since I couldn't get him off my mind. I did, and we began talking. I came to find out that Joe had paid for his membership just to send that message to me! My first thought was Ok, God... what are you up to here? I'm a dive in head first kind of person. Joe is not. But we messaged and called and FaceTimed, and decided after about a week that it was time to meet face to face. So Joe, being the generous and kind soul that he is, drove up to Iowa.

Looking back, there are a lot of things about that weekend that were huge indicators of how interested he was. Joe is a huge introvert and hates driving. So the fact that he:

• drove 2.5 hours north to meet me for bowling and dinner
• stayed overnight at my friends house, who he did not know at all
• came to a church full of faces and people he did not know, and quite possibly would never see again
• went to lunch with me and the friends who housed him overnight (who, again, he did not know)
• decided to travel even farther north with me to go Christmas tree shopping with my family (who he also did not know)

speaks volumes. VOLUMES. I could go on, but I think I made my point. I didn't realize how far out of his comfort zone Joe had gone that weekend until much later in our relationship. There are so many mini stories I could share from each of those things. How he crushed me in bowling (but only after he stopped the smack talk). How he learned early of my love for waffles, whipped cream, and hot cocoa (hello Perkin's for dinner!). How he sat with me through our church service while I ran slides (and held my hand. Eek!). How we ate at La Casa with two friends who are part of my chosen family (and they liked him, too). How he was so sweet and understanding after I got my car stuck on a tree stump at the tree farm (true story that's too long to get into, and it was mortifying and humiliating). How on the drive back to Indianola, I texted my friends and said this was the man I was going to marry (and I'm so thankful for him).

What a weekend. I didn't want him to go home. I wanted him to stay, to learn more about him, to hold his hand, to talk endlessly. I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd see him again. And thankfully, it wasn't.

Tune in next week for the next part of our story!