Valentine's Forever - Part 2

It's been a while since I posted part one of Matt and I's story, so you may want to go back to part one and refresh your memory before reading this! : ) I posted it on Feb. 11th. I had good intensions to post all the parts to the story BEFORE Valentine's Day, but then I realized how long it was going to take to remember all the details, load the pictures, etc., etc. So, we'll see when I get Part 3 posted, but for the meantime...enjoy Part 1 and 2!!! : )

Matt helped me take a second load of stuff from my university apartment and gave me a ride home for the holidays. I graduated in December. It was a four hour drive home and I was just wondering when we'd talk about how we felt about each other. I think we were both nervous about bringing it up. Right when we got into the edge of town....3 1/2 hours later, Matt brought it up. It was so weird to talk about. We had been friends for 6 years and now we were talking about feelings for each other. We had this big conversation about how we never wanted to ruin our friendship, we wanted to take things slow and just see how things went. But, regardless, we agreed to always stay friends.




We spent a lot of time together over Christmas break and even into January because Matt didn't have to be back to school until February I believe. We began holding hands which was really different and fun for us. : ) Our first kiss was amazing because we had known each other so long and had so many special feelings for each other. It was beautiful!!!! We also spent some time out on his parent's land looking at the stars and talking on the roof.






Matt went back to school to finish his last semester and it was hard being apart. We visited each other here or there and one time while I was up there we both agreed that we should continue to take things slow especially because it was hard to get closer doing the long distance relationship thing. Another reason we took it slow was because we both felt we needed growth in our relationship with God before we could commit. We both didn't date although we weren't exclusive either. We kept in touch, emailed a little bit, called maybe once a week, and I had wished it was more.




Matt was getting a coaching degree at the time and he decided to do his Student Teaching down where I was so we could be closer. I was sooo excited. He lived with his parents which was about 45 minutes from my new apartment. I had just gotten my first teaching job. We were able to hang out a lot and get to know each other even better. During that time we talked about our relationship with God and how that was going. We had a big talk about "us" and if it was the time to commit to each other. I wasn't sure if we were ready spiritually so I told him I wanted to pray about it more. It was getting later in the evening so we decided to call it a night. He went to his cousin's house which is the neighborhood across the street from my mom's. After we talked, I started driving home and I felt like if I didn't commit to dating him exclusively, I was going to lose him. So, I went for it. I turned the car around, surprised him at his cousin's, and told him I wanted to date him exclusively. He was so excited. I realized that nobody is perfect and our relationship with God is a growing process for the rest of our lives. What mattered is that Matt loved God and was striving to follow Him.

I started my first teaching job the same year Matt was student teaching and was extremely busy teaching 4th grade. Matt helped me grade a ton of papers. He finished student teaching that December and then began to look for a job but started realizing that he didn't want to coach the rest of his life. For the remainder of the year he did different jobs, one of which was a Kirby vacume salesman. So funny now that we look back on it. Matt's mom was sweet to buy one. : ) He also helped his dad on several electrical jobs and did some substitute teaching. I survived my first year teaching....barely. : ) Here Matt is practicing putting a Kirby Vacume Cleaner together when he was selling them at one point during this time! : )



A fun little side note here....in May of that year we attended his old roomate's (and one of his ex-girlfriends) : ) wedding together. He caught the garder and I caught the bouquet! I couldn't believe it! That was pretty special. Here's our picture taken together after that.



Matt broke up with me that summer because he was wanting some space to deal with what career path he should choose and he said he didn't want any distractions. He was considering pursuing film and video and was feeling a lot of pressure with starting over in choosing a whole new career. During this time God continued to remind me to give my life to His purpose and to also let Him lead Matt and I's relationship. It was hard when we broke up but we still talked, hung out, and I felt like it wasn't over for us. I had fears that he would find someone else that he liked better than me and needed to know ultimately that he knew that God had chosen me for him to marry, nobody else. It's funny that I was dealing with that because I was needing for that to be confirmed in my own life during this time that we were broken up. As I prayed about it all, God showed me that there will be a lot of guys out there that have great qualities and who love God, but that Matt had all those same qualities and was even more of a match for me. Matt started pursuing me more and we got back together towards the end of the summer. I was so relieved.

Matt started checking into the film making industry. He helped on some local films being made as an extra and also ended up working for a film company in their office a little. I began a new position teaching elementary PE at the same school I did my first year of teaching. I loved it. I did that for 2 years while Matt subbed, worked other jobs, and pursued film.

In November '97 while we were celebrating his birthday he took me ring shoppping. We had been talking about marriage a lot during previous months. I was so excited that he wanted to take me to look.



Matt was starting to feel like he should go back to school to get a degree in film/ video. He didn't want to leave me though. He started looking at schools all over the U.S. and decided that he would go to University of North Texas up in Denton. We took a trip up to visit there and began looking for a job for him. I could teach anywhere so I began to consider finding a teaching job up there for the following year. Things began looking more in favor for him to go to school there. Here we are visiting the Dallas area. The other two are our friends Drew and Denise.



On February 14, 1998, Valentine's Day, Matt proposed to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were out on his parent's land and Matt had my ring without me knowing it. He had used his mom's diamond from a necklace she had, I believe, and went to the ring store to get it set. An old drillteam friend that worked there helped him pick out a setting for it. That afternoon at his parent's we were just hanging out and then I saw Matt across the field on the phone. I thought he was talking to a friend but little did I know, it was my dad. Matt was asking for permission to marry me. Dad asked if he loved me and Matt of course said he did. Dad gave him some encouraging advice about starting his new career. It meant a lot to my dad that Matt called. A little while later, Matt's mom asked if we'd take a litter of puppies up to the convenient store and try to sell them. Matt asked if I wanted to and I said yes, wanting to help her out. We had fun out there sitting on the pick up truck bed selling those pups. On the way back to his parent's land Matt rode in the back with the remaining pups as I drove. As I drove along the winding rode with the windows down I remember praying "God, I want to marry Matt so badly but I feel like he needs some more maturity spiritually. Please help him." As we returned Matt asked if I wanted to go for a walk and was acting very sweet and a little different. We first sat by the pond and read Valentine candy hearts to each other. Then we walked around the pond and explored along the property line through the woods talking and having fun. As we played around we came to our swing he made us a while back, and he told me to sit down and he'd push me. He then stopped the swing after pushing me awhile and put his arms around me saying "Meredith, will you be my Valentine for life?" I looked down and he was holding a diamond ring. I said, "Shut up! That's not a real ring!" Matt started laughing and said, "Yes it is." Matt told me many sweet, important, meaningful things like, "I love you Meredith. We'll keep learning and growing together. We will follow God together. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." My original thoughts while driving were going through my head and at the same time I knew in my heart that I loved him, felt that God had planned for us to be married, and I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. So, as he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him, I said yes, praying and trusting that God would work everything out. I was scared and felt unprepared but yet I did not want to pass up this opportunity!!! I loved him so much...like no other. We had our hard moments but I felt at home with him...like we just fit together. We held each other standing up, praying, giving it all to God, held our heads together, cried, laughed, kissed, and Lehya (our dog), jumped up in between us because she wanted to be a part of it all! Ha. It was so funny. We reassured each other of important things we wanted in a marriage. We then walked back towards the house and Matt yelled to his parents, "She said yes!" They were excited. Matt's dad told me, "Welcome to the family." Matt's mom wanted him to make sure he got a good job. I called my parents and they were excited. Matt's mom took pictures and then Matt and I went to eat at an Italian restaurant.. We were shocked we were engaged!!!!