Tomorrow marks our three year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe because sometimes it seems like just yesterday the chaos of wedding planning consumed my every thought. Other times it seems like Nick and I have really known each other our whole lives and it seems like we've been married longer than that. We've been together for seven years now and we're still never sick of each other. In fact, I can't stand to be away from him!
The story of how we meet is a unique one. We met over the phone through a mutual friend. Nick being in Indiana and myself being in Iowa. Nick was getting ready to start his freshman year at Purdue and I was starting my senior year of high school. We talked on the phone everyday (except when I was grounded for having an extremely high phone bill...oops!) from September through December which was when we first met. We fell in love quickly over the phone and I knew he was "the one" almost immediately after hearing his voice. It was kind of a strange feeling and I didn't really want to believe it, but I just had this feeling about the man I was talking to. It took a lot of talking our parents into letting us meet and they both agreed! Nick drove all the way from Indiana to stay with my family and I for Christmas vacation. What a huge blessing it was to have his family share him with us. It was a total God thing in reality because who would have ever thought of meeting a stranger...that's scary stuff. But it turned out great! Unfortunately, Nick had to go back to Purdue, and of course I finished high school. He came for my senior prom which was during his finals week! He also came for my graduation just a couple of weeks later. He must have really loved me to do all of that traveling!! And I loved him all the more for it.
I started my freshman year of college at UNI and Nick continued to attend Purdue. Still seven hours apart, but phone calls were occurring every day more than once a day. One autumn day, Nick told me over the phone that he wasn't happy what he was majoring in and was thinking about becoming a teacher. I told him he needed to do whatever just as long as he was happy. If we couldn't be together for four years, then that was how it was going to be and we would get through it together. He surprised me a few weeks later telling me that he got accepted to UNI and was transferring in January!!
We spent our college years together, taking several classes together, making friends together, and we even got to work together! We got married right before our senior year of college and the last semester we had at UNI we lived together in our dump of an apartment. We then moved to Council Bluffs (four hours from college, and four hours from my family, 12 hours from Nick's family!) to student teach for the last semester of college. We didn't want to go, but it ended up being a great thing for us. God really lead us during that time and we didn't realize it until we look back now. He prepared us to be apart from our families and also for the big city living when we moved to Houston, TX after college graduation.
We love living in Texas and it's so neat to see how God has molded us and changed us for the better. Since we are so far away from our families, we have learned to depend on each other more. We have really cleaved to one another. I love him more and more every day. We have been through a lot this past year, and I could list all the horrible things that have happened, but I'm not one to sit and dwell on the negative. I know that greater things are yet to come in our lives and in our walk together. We are both standing firm in our belief that Jesus is the only way we can get through these difficult times. It truly has made it so much easier. Nick and I have come to have an even deeper love for one another. We both cannot wait to have our first child, whenever God's timing is right. In the mean time, we know he is preparing our hearts and minds for the future and strengthening us for life. I am enjoying every step of this walk with my loving, supportive husband and I am excited to see how things will turn out in our lives.
The Guys: Left to right: Joel-friend; Ron-friend; Joe-brother-in-law; Isaac-Cirsti's brother; Nick; Jonathon-Cirsti's brother; Jared-Nick's brother; Chad-Nick's brother; Eric-friend
Nick and I kissing after eating some delicious cake!
The rings :)
Nick's Family
Cirsti's Family
My favorite picture of all
