Our Story

Warning: bad pictures...I was taking pictures of pictures and then to top it off I had a smudge on my camera lens. Oh well...you get the idea.

 I used to scrapbook (funny how I scrapbooked until I had kids and then I stopped)! I have these two scrapbooks of my dating years with Ryan and they are two of my most treasured possessions! 

(1999)

This is the first picture of Ryan and I together. A few of you college friends of mine might even remember this era of my life. 

Ryan and I met at Liberty University. 

I was dating someone else (oh my!) and Ryan told one of my friends "Let me know when Judy breaks up with that clown so I can ask her out." 

 Pretty soon we were dating. And to make a long story short we broke up after just a few months of dating. But there were no hard feelings and we actually remained friends. I tried to get back together with Ryan once, but he was dating someone else. He asked me out on two other occasions, but I wasn't interested. Ha! If only we had known. The timing just was never right.

We both graduated and I moved to Virginia Beach and Ryan moved to Florida.

 One day out of the blue I was reading a book that made me think of him. I remember digging around to see if I still had his phone number. These were the pre-facebook days!!  I called him, he answered and the rest is history! We've been together since 2000. We were visiting Ryan's home in Illinois for the first time in this picture (it was early 2001).

 

Dating was fun because we both lived in great places at the time, but things got more serious when Ryan transferred with is company to Northern Va. Then we could actually see each other.

In 2003 we finally got married. We were only engaged for three months and I remember just wanting to get the wedding over with because I was ready to be married to the love of my life. One of the best feelings in my life was when we pulled away from the reception.

It's hard for me to believe that Ryan and I have been together for over a decade and that we have three kids. Wow! Time flies. There is NO ONE else I would rather spend my life with. On the day of our wedding I was blissfully unaware of what just what a good choice I had made in marrying Ryan. The grace of God for sure! I had no idea how hard he would work to provide for our family, or how much he would one day adore his little girl, or how many hours he would spend playing ball with his son or how he would sit a soda by my bed every morning while I was pregnant to help me not feel so nauseous or how he would turn on my heated mattress pad every night so my side of the bed would be toasty and warm when I crawled into bed. I had no idea how we would end up being on the same page when it came to finances, parenting and church. I was just in love and knew that he was a man of character, but he is so much more than that and he proves that to me every day.

Happy Valentine's Day Ryan! I know we usually make this day a fun family day, but I love you so much. More and more every day!