home + grace + acceptance

I remember seeing a statistic a few years ago about the unusually large number of people who marry people they met in high school.  I also remember thinking that I was not going to be a part of that group.  It has taken me a long time to come around, but as fate would have it, I belong in that group after all.

My fiance and I met in the tenth grade when we both volunteered at Fircreek's spring break camp.  I don't actually remember meeting him there, but he swears he can remember seeing me holding a clipboard (not surprised).  We were acquaintances for several years throughout our high school and college years, and reconnected through mutual friends last Christmas.

Our first year together was a busy one.  He took trips to Spokane to see me.  I took trips home to see him.  Last summer, after two full months apart, Nolan drove 7 hours to visit me at summer camp.
One night during his visit, we drove down to the river to watch the stars.  Something in me was pushed to tell Nolan how I felt.  I told him I was scared.  Scared of falling in love with him and scared of the way I already felt.  A conversation that could have torn us apart only brought us closer.

The next day, Nolan told me that he could see himself marrying me.  His words felt scary for a moment, and then they felt like home and grace and acceptance.


A month later, I visited Nolan in our hometown and we attended a mutual friend's wedding together.  The morning of the wedding, we drove out to the north end of the lake where I told him that I loved him for the first time.  It was the scariest thing I've ever done, but after that, loving him felt like home and grace and acceptance.

Last weekend, we were on our way to have dinner with friends, when our plans were derailed and we went for a walk on the lake- the same park where we first exchanged the words "I love you."
Nolan was helping me skip rocks, and kept encouraging me to get closer to the water (heels on an uneven surface is never a good idea).  After two failed attempts, I turned around to see him down on one knee.

I think I blacked out after he grabbed my hands and said, "you are so important to me"
Words that felt like home and grace and acceptance.

We have been engaged for one week- and I am definitely no expert- but I have been humbled by the process of falling deeply in love with someone who loves Jesus and someone who makes really hard things like home and grace and acceptance seem easy.

Last week, my dad asked me why I am in such a hurry to grow up (let's be honest-- this is not new for me).  I don't know if I'm truly in a hurry to grow up, but I have always been in a hurry to find out who God created me to be.  I am so lucky that the Lord put Nolan in my life seven years ago, that he has been weaving our stories together ever since, and that we get to walk forward together through the rest of our lives.


My prayer is that we would continue to live out the hospitality and grace and acceptance of Jesus everywhere we go.

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