A dating adventure.

I don't think Nathan or I knew completely what God would bring up for us in the 8 and half months leading up to our engagement. Then again, can anyone really say what their relationship will bring about or how making a single decision can change their life? My life changed when I moved when I went to BCF and then further changed when I realized I was in love and  then again when Nathan proposed. Now in less than 6 months, my life will change again when I say "I do" to a lifetime with Nathan. Now back to the story.

The first couple of weeks were very awkward. It's always that way though. You are just learning about each other and it's nerve wrecking not knowing what to do. We didn't hold hands for probably the first week and he didn't hug me for the two weeks. But we did gradually start to adjust to this entire dating thing. We made a promise at the beginning that we wouldn't kiss until we were engaged and it's promise I can proudly say we kept. Anyways about two weeks after we started dating was Thanksgiving break. Luckily Nathan and I are both from the same part of Florida so it worked out that we were able to spend Thanksgiving with both families. I was nervous half out of my mind but I made it through. December came and went with Nathan I growing together and learning more about each other. We also started walking around BCF campus which turned into a much loved and now much missed activity for Nathan and me. Christmas break, we saw each other a few times including exchanging gifts for the first time. I got Nathan Star Wars playing cards and a new wallet and he got me a shirt that I really did not like (sorry Nathan, you tried) but he made up for it with an adorable penguin that I still sleep with. Sadly Nathan didn't stay all break because he was working at a church near BCF so he had to go back. It was over this break that Nathan and I fell for each other. I guess distance does make the heart grow fonder. It was so exciting returning to school and now in love. This changed our relationship because we knew that this had a chance to become marriage. In the months to follow, we continued to grow and faced challenges from family drama to church issues. January to May was a hard time and it was in this time we learned how to struggle and lean on God together.

With the semester winding down we both ended up getting jobs for the summer. Mine was a mission trip to Ft Lauderdale doing VBS in churches and Nathan's was in Thomasville, GA as a summer youth pastor. The summer was even more of a struggle with both of us finding it difficult to really get our footing on our ministry and also balancing a long distance relationship. For anyone wanting to do missions where phone or internet access is readily available and in a long distance relationship, I would strongly consider what you are doing and spend a lot of time in prayer about it because it was the most difficult two months of my life. I know God used me and my team but the summer really showed Nathan and I that we could do anything and together we would make it. Was it ideal? No not at all but we praised God for our jobs. Did we fight? We fought a lot that summer mainly out of frustration that we couldn't be together. I'm thankful for that summer and what it taught me and that it brought Nathan and I even closer together.

Unfortunately at the end of the second to last week on the mission trip, I became very ill.Thursday started getting  pink eye  and Friday my body started to ache and that night my fever spiked to 102. By Sunday, I still had a fever, still felt awful and developed a new symptom, an ear ache. It was one with pressure and I knew my ear was going to pop. At 3am Monday morning it did just that and started draining. Oh the pain I was in! I felt soooo bad. The next day, my dad came down and picked me up from the hotel we were staying in and took me to the doctor. I had a double ear infection, fever and pink eye. Needless to say I felt awful but what I didn't know was that only 3days later, I was getting the shock and surprise that would, again, change my life forever.