Pursuing God.

My husband and I met online. It was some shallow website I don't really care to name right now. I'm sure most of you reading this know the story and the name of the website; regardless, it's not exactly a website I want to promote to christian singles if you know what I mean. Okay, now I need to explain how we got on this really shallow website. The blame game, right? Our friends set up our profiles for us- I swear! I'd like to think we both are cool, non-creepy people but whatever. Anyway, my point is- this was totally out of character for both of us. Before this website, I planned to boycott boys for one entire year. Men just stunk at that point... Well, I made it eight months into my goal and decided Tyler (now my husband) was totally worth breaking that goal. I think I was three clicks on the site, and Tyler's face popped up. I clicked on him, not really knowing what i was doing, then he got a random e-mail saying I wanted to meet him. He almost deleted it, since it showed up in his Spam bin. Get this, he clicked on the e-mail (i'm sure he got hundreds of girls asking to meet him) he paid $5.95, FOR ME- to get my personal e-mail. I mean, I thought he was hot but I wasn't going to pay $5.95 to break my one year boycotting boys goal. He seemed really genuine, I was hooked. We finally met in person, after e-mailing and talking on the phone for a month or two. The first time we met was pretty hysterical. He called on his drive from Lansing to Ann Arbor and asked me if we should meet at a public place since he could possibly be a creeper truck driver. I laughed, and said I trusted him. He then stated nervously, "you might be the creepy truck driver." I couldn't stop laughing. He continues to make me laugh. I love him. That night we stayed up talking for hours on end.... I knew he was a keeper when he said, "I'm looking for a wife, not a girlfriend."                


2004, The internet stud himself, in hot pursuit!

To the right, is in 2006, finally his wife.... two years seemed like a long wait! I have to give God all the credit. Our relationship would have never sprouted if it weren't for Him. I boycotted boys for eight months and prayed that God would change my heart, that I would establish a relationship and foundation with HIM first. About the six-seven month mark is when I started praying if God thought I was ready, that he would place a Godly man in my life. Little did I know God could work through the internet.... Even through a shady website. Yep. Totally a God moment. Out of the millions of people on it, I clicked my future husband. Again, this was not a christian website. The chances of us meeting outside of the internet were slim, but the chances ON the internet, even on this website- even more slim! And to add, I said I was Christian, and left out the detail online that I was Catholic. I'm sure Tyler would not have pursued me knowing I (at the time) was Catholic. I am now fully processing this. Answered prayers. God was totally working with us, working in us.

I understood what I was getting into, marrying a Youth Minister... Ya, only exact opposite!  Our first year of marriage was difficult, financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Actually the week before our wedding was very difficult, setting the stage for our first couple years of wedded unhappiness. The company I worked for went under, I lost my job which meant we lost our housing too. We found this out the week before we got married! YIKES. Tyler was part time at our church.We couldn't afford anything. Not even the plane tickets to enjoy our honeymoon to Mexico (which was a wedding gift we got). Tyler's parents bought the tickets as their wedding gift, thankfully. Mexico was amazing. We came home nice and tan facing our reality. Our reality: we were homeless, I was jobless, Tyler was making $200/week. We moved into his parents basement for about a few months. I got a new job that covered housing, a great set up so we moved into Lansing. That lasted a year, then I was fired. So, we then moved into his brother and sister-in-law's house to switch it up. That was a bad situation. For a lack of better words, poor communication sums it up. I wasn't focused on God, I was frustrated. I was totally discontent living there, with myself, my husband, and our life in general. We moved out of their house and moved back into Tyler's parents basement. For a second time! HUMBLE PIE Note: this is all within two years of marriage. That puts us at the end of 2008. And then, OOPS- I am pregnant!

I say oops because I was on birth control, and still got pregnant. We were living in his parents basement, back to $200/week. Money was tight, ha- well it still is; that's ministry! I started working for a non-profit which didn't yield much but it provided what we needed. God provided. We still couldn't afford our own place, but we were taken care of during my pregnancy.  Realizing all of this, I wanted to be content. I was pursuing my relationship with God again full force. I wanted to trust Him, especially in the hard times. Within a couple months, God provided- again. He was faithful, is faithful. Families in our church pledged to pay for our housing which covered a 2 bedroom apartment and health insurance (JUST IN TIME). We were taken care of, and we SO appreciated it. We were able to move out of the parent's basement in time to have a baby and start our family in our own home.










In late 2009 we were graced with Taymos our first son. God blessed us with a sweet baby. We've learned how smart, fun, busy, vocal, and athletic this little squirt has become.

Our marriage for the first year was rough, the second year got better. But it was the third year when we were blessed with Taymos, that Tyler and I really started to get used to each other- the good and bad. That year we focused on communicating, teamwork, being more positive, God. Having Taymos opened our eyes, and renewed our purpose.

In 2011 we were blessed with Memaiko, our second son. He is a busy, smart little man. He is full of funny facial expressions, lots of attitude and sweetness rolled into one.
We purchased a home in December 2011. My mom helped with the down payment. Total blessing that we are home owners.

December 1st we moved into our new home, December 10th Tyler was admitted into the hospital for his appendix burst. A procedure we thought would be in and out. There were some complications and he was in the hospital for 10 days. That was such a crazy time. My Grandpa was on his death bed (the cancer finally won) while Tyler was trying to recover from surgery in the hospital (an hour away). Tyler had a blood infection, which freaked us all out. Needless to say, God was with me that whole time. I was at peace. I prayed and cried, and prayed and cried. I felt torn in three different directions: to be with Tyler, with my boys, and with my Grandpa. While Tyler was in the hospital, I decided to drive the boys to see my Grandpa before he passed. {My own father stepped out of my life in 2010, he chose to no longer have a relationship with us. My Grandpa stepped in and was awesome. He was intentional, and loving. We had many phone conversations about life.} God was so faithful. We heard that a couple days before we visited, my Grandpa had stopped eating, and talking. When we finally arrived, he lifted his head forced some words up, "I love you." He squeezed my hand so tight, hugged me, pointed at the boys, said, "I love you". My Grandpa was waiting to see me. He was waiting. Totally a God thing that he was still living at that point. That he was able to talk again, when he couldn't mutter words out the day before. Tyler was unable to visit Grandpa before he passed, but he was able to pray with him over the phone. My prayers were answered. God provided, he is faithful always.

I had a lot to say in this post, kind of a novel. Oh well.

I'm still young. Life lessons have taught me that God always provides. My husband has always said that even from the first time we met- but I never understood it until living through the difficult times in life. This is the life we chose, to minister to others. We obviously don't do it for the money, there isn't much of that! The people God has placed in our lives are loving and supportive, always helping us out. As an example, a family from church who we've adopted as our own, purchased us Casting Crowns tickets for Tyler and I to enjoy a night together. I cried. What an awesome gift. God is always showing in little/big ways that He is present, that He is faithful, that He will provide. I am in hot pursuit of Him, very grateful for the blessings, the plans and His promises. God is awesome.