Happy Birthday Jeff!

"The greatest love story ever told was your own."

As we celebrate this exciting day for Jeff (he is 30!), I thought back to how we met.  It really is a cool story, so I thought I would share it today.  We met while Jeff was still serving his mission for the church out in North Carolina.  Well, obviously nothing happened right away, other than my mom fell in love with him and wanted me to write to him.  So I did.  He was obedient though, and he didn't write me back.  However, he did orchestrate a meeting between me, Mom, and his family, while he was still in NC.  So I met his family, and they took me under their wings pretty quickly.  So...several months pass, as I continued writing him.  He came home July 2nd.  Two days later, his sister invited me to watch her horse show.  I had a date that night, but while I was at work that day, I got the strongest feeling that if I did not jump on this opportunity now, it would be lost to me.  So I cancelled my date and went to the horse show.  When I got there, Jeff was too nervous to talk to me.  His mom invited me to this huge extended family get together that was celebrating her birthday that night.  I was nervous about that, but excited for the opportunity at the same time.  I went.  Well, Jeff and I hit it off right away.  We spent the entire evening talking about everything.  We mostly discussed his mission and things related to that.  There was literally an instant connection as we sat there talking.  For me, nothing had ever felt so right, as being in that moment.  We went on a real date the next night.  The next day, I went to his homecoming talk and spent the whole day with him and his family.  Monday came, and we spent that night talking out on my aunt's porch.  That's when we had our first "What if we did get married?" discussion.  (Are you following the timeline here?)  After we had that talk, I prayed the next morning that I wouldn't get freaked out about getting serious with someone, like I usually did.  Good news--I didn't panic!  After that, we didn't see each other for 3 weeks, as we were both out of town.  We did spend a lot of time talking on the phone though.  Ironically, the first time Jeff told me he loved me was after our first fight, over the phone.  It was still exciting though.  When I got home, he picked me up from the airport and kissed me for the first time.  It was magical.  Honestly, up to this point, every time someone kissed me, this little switch flipped inside, and I realized I didn't like the guy anymore.  It was weird.  So, when this kiss actually made me excited and left me wanting more, I knew this was real.  :)  The final step in the journey for me was when I prayed to know if I should marry Jeff.  I had the most incredible feeling completely envelop me, and I knew I couldn't deny it.  I knew he was "the one."  He proposed on August 17th--5 weeks after he got home from his mission.  Now, I wouldn't trade him for anyone in the whole world.  He is my other half, and my life would be incomplete without him.  And now we have 2 beautiful girls to add to that love.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father lead me to Jeff, and that we have been able to share these last 7 years together.  I love you forever Jeff!