It's a Love Story, Baby Just Say Yes...4

Part Four:

We were both in college and working, and planning and saving for a wedding and a house, but not yet engaged. I (stupidly) decided that I wanted the ‘real college experience’ and moved into the dorms at Great Lakes Christian College in Lansing for the fall semester of 2006. I ended up hating it. Turns out it is nearly impossible for me to get along with girls, and being in a dorm with all girls was more than I could take! I stuck it out for the whole semester, but made plans to transfer back to KVCC for the following semester. I was home every weekend to work at my old job, and got to see Josh a lot more than we thought, which I think made it even harder to be apart during the week. Just before the end of the semester, we got engaged!

Obviously everyone was happy for us. But when they heard we were planning on getting married 6 months later? We dealt with our fair share of doubters – in fact a lot of people thought we were rushing to get married so soon because I was pregnant. I think we finally squelched those rumors, since here we are nearly 6 years later, and no baby yet ;) 

Getting married young isn’t for everybody, we know that. But it was right for us. We knew we wanted to be together forever and didn’t see the point in waiting until we both finished school or got ‘real’ grown up jobs. (I’m still waiting for my ‘grown up’ job…) So we made the decision to put everyone else’s doubts behind us, go with the ones who supported us, and do what we felt was right for us, and what we felt God calling us to do.

The next semester ended up being my last. I changed my major from social work to general studies because I was just ready to be done. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my degree once I got it, because the social work field is so incredibly broad. Not to mention, most good jobs in that field require a Masters degree, and I was definitely not prepared for 6 more years of school! Plus, I realized that all I really want in life is to be a mom. And I didn’t think it was worth taking more classes and spending so much money for a degree that would essentially never be used. So I took 23 credit hours to finish in one semester and that was that. Craziest semester of my life…but so worth it to be done. (And I got all 4.0's, thank you very much!)

For that last semester I lived with Josh’s grandparents in Kalamazoo during the week instead of driving 40 miles back and forth every day so I could save on gas money. I would go home on Friday mornings to work all weekend and see my parents, and then go back Sunday night for school the next day. This was also a good time for them to get to know me better and deal with the fact that I was ‘stealing’ their little boy.

After Josh’s Dad died, his grandparents stepped in big time in raising Josh and his sister (well all of his siblings, obviously, but Josh and Nichele the most). Josh has always had a special bond with his Grandpa, and he still does. While he liked me from day one, he wasn’t too excited about us getting married so soon and so young. And he was vocal about it. So I think it worked out really well that I could be there and they could talk to me more and really get to know me and know that I am not stealing him from them at all. Towards the end of the semester and my time living with them, we had a nice talk and he told me that it’s nothing personal he just is really protective of Joshy (he is the only person who can call him that!) and that he just wants the best for him, but that he was really happy for us and will support our decision to get married to soon.

April came and I graduated (yay!) and wedding planning was in full swing. I had been planning since before we got engaged, and really didn't want a big fancy wedding, so I knew what I wanted and those last couple months were really easy. Just putting finishing touches on things and making last minute decisions. But we never had the ‘crazy stressful wedding planning time’ that everyone seems to think exists. Maybe we were just too excited to get caught up on the little details? We also had a fairly simple wedding, but it was just what we wanted and it was perfect for us.

We started house-hunting in May and found the perfect little starter house in Otsego. We made an offer and found out the next day that the sellers accepted it. A million signatures and 2 sore arms later, we were homeowners! We closed the end of May, right before the wedding. Perfect timing.

The way everything fell into place really cemented the fact that this was how it was supposed to be. We never expected to find a house so soon, and let alone close on it before the wedding. We were fully prepared to live in an apartment for 6 months and continue our search, but when we found the house and it was in our price range and we got the mortgage approved and everything…it was just further proof that God was having a huge hand in all of this. Even more proof? The house had been put on the market the week before we went to look at it. There was one other offer put in on it, but the sellers accepted ours.

June came, and we were really excited to get married. That was all we could talk about was how many more days, hours, minutes and seconds until we would be husband and wife.

June 16 finally came, and we were married on our 2 year anniversary. It was a beautiful day, slightly warm, but perfect. Everything went so smooth, and even if it didn’t, by the end of the day, we were married! Nothing else mattered. We honeymooned in Niagara Falls for a week, and then came home to our first house. The closing dates had been so close to the wedding that neither of us started moving in before we got married, so when we got back it was really exciting to be coming home to our own house for the first time, and getting settled in and unpacked together.

Fast forward to today, and we are just as happy as ever. Sure, there are days that he drives me crazy. And I know there are days that I exasperate him to no end (I’m pretty good at it!) Every day I am proud of him for what he does, and every day I am thankful that we gave ourselves this chance. And there is no one else I’d rather do this life with. He is the best thing to happen to me and I am so thankful for the man that he was, is and will be.