July 15th...

On the anniversary of the date that Cary proposed to me, I thought I would write about the beginning of our relationship.

Whenever people ask how we met, my favorite answer is that God introduced us. Well, it's true! We met through a 'hometeam', also known as a bible study group.

I had found this home team with Fellowship Church after one going down because both of the leaders got married. And it took me a while to decide between this particular home team and another one. I finally made the tough decision, and I'm glad I did.

I was a part of this hometeam for a little over a year when Cary started. He was very friendly, and was always showing interest in the people around him.

He and I got pretty involved in the hometeam and started communicating weekly with plans with ideas of what to do after church as a group, and soon, we started writing emails daily and not just about food or social activities. He always made me laugh, even when I was having a low day at work.

During Thanksgiving in 2006, I went to Europe (England and Finland) for a friend's wedding. When I got back, he actually showed disappointment that I printed off only 30 pictures to share with anyone who showed interest in the trip.

On December 8th, the hometeam went to a play in Coppell, Fruitcakes. Afterwards, both of us (and another hometeamer, Ellen) stood outside in the cold, cold night for 1 1/2 hours talking about, well, not much. But at one time, we travelled to the elementary school playground looking for swings. Can you believe we didn't find any?!

The next evening the hometeam went out to look at Christmas lights after church. We were sorting out who was riding in which car (10 in the group, 2 cars). After the fun we had the previous night, I volunteered Cary to ride in the same car as me. Looking back at that, it could have been quite embarrassing...

Cary ended up riding in the other car, only because there were 4 'couples' (2 dating couples, 2 friend groups), so we were the odd ones in the group that fit into the 5th seat of each car. It was a good time looking at the Christmas lights with my friends, but I found myself wishing that Cary and I were in the same car. Why was I suddenly so interested in getting to know him?!

A couple of nights later, he and I had our first IM chat on myspace.com. We stayed up 3 hours after we both usually go to bed. What a great time! I went to bed thanking God for my new friend.

Cary and his parents went on a vacation in Colorado a couple of days after our first chat. By a couple of days later, I started wondering if the computer chat was real...I mean, how easily could it have been a dream?!

After he got home, I was relieved to find out it wasn't a dream, and our chatting became a nightly thing for us. On New Years Eve, I was not feeling well, but I found myself going to a party because he said he really wanted me to go. Mom found me up at 5:00 in the morning 'chatting' with him after we finally went our separate ways after the party.

Not long after the new year we started hanging out more, first in a group setting, but very quickly moving to time with ourselves. Our first date was January 16, 2007. We met at 7 Salsas and ate dinner. We pretty much closed down the restarurant that night.

January 19, we went ice skating with our hometeam on our second official date. He took me to dinner beforehand, and then we met up with the group, where a few started to notice that we were on a date.

We started having 2-3 dates a week, going to the zoo, museums, movies. The same as any typical couple having a great time together. We had an interesting agreement though: we never visited the same restaurant twice. It kept things interesting, and I was enjoying trying new atmospheres and foods.

When Cary gave me gifts, he always gave them to me in his car and in quantities of 2. The first set of gifts he gave me was a teddy bear and 2 tickets to see the play WICKED. The second group of gifts was a key to his apartment and an ipod nano. The third pair of gifts was my favorite.

On July 13, 2007, Cary and I went to the Disney store to buy my little cousin, Ashton a birthday gift for his 1st birthday. I was so excited to see that the stuffed toys were 2 for $20. So Cary and I bought him Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. I debated on buying a set for myself because I am a fan of Pooh...

On Saturday, July 14, Cary had a lot of studying to do, as well as some errands and an oil change on his car. I offered to help him with the errands, but he told me 'I didn't ask you for your help'...huh. That is odd behavior for him. When I brought it up to mom, she said it wasn't odd at all...Doubly odd. Usually, I would say something like that to mom, and she would be all about investigating it.

On Sunday, July 15, Cary came to pick me up early so we could eat dinner before going to hometeam. We got into the car, and as is everytime he has a gift for me, he told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands.

When I did this, he put into my hands a large, soft object. It was Winnie the Pooh! I thought it was so great, and very perfect for him to give me. He told me to close my eyes again, and when I did, I was expecting to get Tigger next. Instead, he put something hard and small into my hand. When I opened my eyes, I saw 2 absolutely gorgeous rings in their box in my hands!

I looked at him. I think he didn't even get out the question before I said yes. My hands were shaky, my heart was pounding, but I was on cloud 9! We got out of the car to show my parents. While talking with them about it, Cary handed an old ring back to my dad and said "Thanks for helping me out." ?!?!?!?!??!?!?

When we got to the apartment, I was so excited, and I could not stop looking at my finger and how brightly it glittered. We were engaged!!!!!

We went to hometeam that night, and even though we were acting nonchalant, my ring got noticed quickly, and everyone seemed genuinely excited for us.

The monday after the big engagement was our 6 month anniversary. We broke our 'never eat at the same restarant' rule and went back to 7 Salsas, where we had our first date.