Nine Year Anniversary- 11/11/00

People always ask about "our story" so here goes:

It was my 5th year in college- that's right I was on the 5 year plan. I use that as "inspiration" for kids that I've worked with that get discouraged about having to retake a class or taking a semester off because if I had graduated on time then I would never have met Karin and Tayler.

Anyway, she lived in Memphis, TN at the time and needed a ride back home. I was friends with her sister who asked if I could drive them. I agreed and that night I heard all about her childhood. It was a little overwhelming to hear about all of the horrible things this girl sitting in my backseat had experienced- little did I know that when I was looking in the rearview mirror thinking that I couldn't get to Memphis fast enough that I was looking at my wife and son.

Fast forward about a year- I decided to try and go to Seminary in Texas. At the time Karin had moved to Jackson, TN (where my college was) and she and I had hung out some over the summer after my graduation. While I was away she would call and write but I never thought much of it.

After just one semester I had decided that was enough for me at the time. I got back to Jackson and reconnected with Karin. Over the coming months we would spend endless hours together. Finally one summer night we were out and she asked me if I ever thought that I had found "the one". I responded "no". I'm not one to take hints very well. She finally came out and told me what she was feeling. I was a little taken back but thought we would give it a try. But, it was not meant to be- yet.

She moved to Minnesota and I moved to east Tennessee to work with my childhood hero. After about seven or eight months we started talking again on the phone. A few months after that she flew to east Tennessee to see her mom get married. Oddly her mom had moved to the same area as I lived to attend the church I was serving in at the time. I picked Karin up from the airport and we spent the next few days reconnecting. I knew then that she was the one- mostly because she kept repeating it.

We decided that we would get married but neither one of us knew whether we would move to Minnesota or Tennessee. We decided to pray about it and then see what the other "felt". We both believed Tennessee was the right choice. I flew up to Minnesota to help her and Tayler move down south.

We got engaged soon after she was settled in to her apartment. We had originally planned on getting married in the spring of '01. But, people kept telling us their schedules were conflicting. So, we thought maybe Christmas of '00. Again, many scheduling conflicts. My mom told me that we should just elope. Karin and I talked it over and thought that was not too bad of an idea- however everyone else in our family did. So, we compromised (sort of). We told everyone that we would get married two weeks from whatever day it was then which happened to be November 11th. This is probably one of our bigger regrets that we were so disrespectful to our families because we would "kill" Tayler if he did that to us.

But, everyone pulled together and we had a beautiful wedding. We had no idea that it was Veteran's Day. Honestly I don't know if I had ever heard of the holiday but thought it was more like a Thanksgiving holiday (changing dates every year) rather than a Christmas (same date every year).

So, that's our story up to that point. If this were a TV show the sappy music would start and you'd see all the laughs and tears over the years. The children we've worked with, the friends we've made, the fights we've had, the family members we've lost, the adoption day, the struggle with infertility and the beautiful son we now have. But, it's a simple blog where we've tried to share as much of our life as possible. Most of you can fill in the nine years with your own stories and memories. We'll continue to share our joys and our struggles. Thank you for sharing our story with us.

Happy ninth anniversary, Karin.