How it All Began...

When I sat down to write this post I was resigned not to mention that certain sister who has become the main character in my blog, but alas, I can't tell this story without her either!
I've written about my children, my siblings, and my dad, and now it's time to write about the most important person in my life, my husband.
It was the summer of 2003, and my family was planning it's annual Memorial Day BBQ at Turkey Run State Park. Probably some of you reading this have attended or have been invited to said picnic. It's always a great time, and we enjoy it so much more when we can be surrounded with those we love. To ensure this, we invite lots of people! That year my sister's, yes, that same sister, boyfriend (now my brother-in-law) invited an old friend of his to the picnic. The poor guy had no plans for Memorial Day, and his family was busy with plans for his sister's wedding which would be the following weekend.
My sister was glad that he would come because she knew her boyfriend wanted him to attend, but she didn't want him taking away any time that they could spend together.
My sister knew that I was a reformed flirt. That is, I used to flirt with anything! However, the Lord had been teaching me a lot over the previous three or four months, and, as earlier stated, I had reformed. I didn't flirt with boys unless I liked them, and since I hadn't seen anyone I liked for a good while, I was not flirting! However, my sister wanted to keep the friend busy while she walked the trails with her boyfriend, and so, she asked me to flirt with him. I was so annoyed! I thought to myself, "Does she think I will flirt with every boy I see?" Which formerly would have been true, but annoyed me all the same. As a result, I resigned myself that not only would I not flirt with him, I would busy myself with my guests so that I had no opportunity to do so!

Us at Turkey Run
2007

The day started so nicely, it was gorgeous! My sister introduced me to the friend approximately five times, but I was unmovable, I would not play a pawn in her game of manipulation! After a short time, I began to noticed that the friend was ignoring me and all my cute friends, and was playing with my six year old nephew instead. "This is odd," I thought to myself. I started to observe him some more, but from a distance, I did not want my sister to think I was fulfilling her wishes. I noticed that he was just a little weird, but the kind of weird that makes someone fun to be around. After all, let's face the truth, normal people are just plain boring. I also noticed that he was so nice to my nephew, and he had no reason to be. He'd never seen him before, he just liked the little guy. (And they're still very close!)
I have to admit that he was starting to intrigue me more and more. By the time we left for the trail, I wanted to talk to him. But, I was cautious, again, I didn't want her to think I was flirting! While he was friendly and polite, he was busy with her boyfriend trying to find inventive ways to travel the trails.
Now, I must admit, I was more intrigued than ever before! He had the chance to talk to a cute girl and instead he was climbing around with his friend, who, I'm not above saying, is not as cute of a girl as I am!
Finally, I decided I didn't mind what my sister thought! On the next trail I tried to speak with him when I could, but her silly boyfriend got in the way!
Unfortunately, my sister hurt her ankle. Unfortunate for her, but very fortunate for me! She needed her boyfriend's support to walk the rest of the long trail back to our picnic, leaving his friend available to talk to me!
We talked to each other much of the remaining trail and the remainder of the picnic. I must say, I flexed those rusty flirting muscles some throughout the day, and by it's close, I was hooked.
I wasn't sure if my feelings would be returned, but after my sister's boyfriend insisted that his friend call me, well, as they say, the rest is history.
On the day we met my friend told one of my sisters, "Well, their kids will be skinny, but they'll be cute!" And, I must say, she was right!