As you may or may not know, today is Abby and I’s anniversary. To celebrate our anniversary, I thought I would commandeer her blog for the day to tell my side of our story.

It started off on a cool October night way back in 2008. I was down in Radford for a reunion of my previous summer’s mission trip to Hampton Beach. We were at a party at one of my friend’s houses with the rest of my fellow mission trippers. I was talking with my friend J.R. when I saw a really pretty girl dancing across the room. I turned to J.R. and asked “Who is that girl in the blue shirt?”, to which he replied “Oh, that’s Abby,  so-and-so’s girlfriend.” “Good for him” I said, thinking to myself, “she’s really pretty” but figuring that nothing could come of it.

Fast forward a few months, and we run into each other at another friends’ house and then at the Christmas Conference for Campus Crusade for Christ over break. These were the first times I talked to her, and I found myself wanting to make her laugh her cute laugh.

Throughout the second semester I noticed myself waiting on Facebook at night in my apartment, waiting to talk to Abby. My heart would skip a little beat each time she would come online, because I found myself drawn into talking to her. Then she told me that she was going to be going on the same mission trip that I would be that summer!

I knew that I wanted to get to know her more, and felt like the 10 weeks of the summer project was the perfect time to do so. I asked her on a date two weeks into the trip at a laundromat. We went with a group of people to do laundry (there was only one washer/dryer  in the house for 40 people) and so I patiently waited for everyone to leave. I had finally gathered up the courage to ask Abby out, but still had to wait for one last person. It seemed like forever before he would finally leave us, and I almost lost my courage, but finally, leave he did. As Abby and I were the only ones left, I finally mumbled “I was wondering if you’d like to go on a date with me?” To which she said yes (after having to ask me to repeat it), which I couldn’t actually believe that she would do.

I tried to give her the best first date she ever had. I enlisted help of friends in creating a scavenger hunt around Hampton Beach, which ended with her finding me for a picnic on the beach. I felt that this was a good first date, but then three days later Abby told me that she was not ready to date me :(.

Now for some people this might be a reason to move on. But for me, I knew that God was not done with my relationship with Abby. Lucky for me, I listened. Abby eventually let me take her on a second date! (Persistence really pays off). We started officially dating at the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince while sitting amongst 20 of our friends from the trip.

After we got back and started the next year (my Junior, her Senior), she decided that she wanted to surprise me at a Cru Highlighter party we were hosting at Mason. I was having a crappy day, and was just about to leave the party when my friend Steve was like “Hey you should stay just a little while longer.” If it hadn’t been for him, I would have missed my beautiful (then) girlfriend (thanks Steve!). Abby showing up and surprising me made my weekend so much better. It was right then and there that I decided that I wanted to marry her.

Six months after we started dating, I was able to convince both of our parents that Abby and I were ready to get married. We went out to celebrate the six months that we had been dating before Abby had to go back to school. I took her to one of my favorite Thai restaurants (Sakoontra in Fairfax, so good!), and after hurrying her through the meal, I took her to the church where I grew up and proposed on the front steps. Amazingly, she said yes!

A year later we got married and now it’s been two years. Two of the best, most rewarding years of my life. I am so blessed and can’t wait to spend the rest of them with her. I’m so blessed. I love you so much Abby, happy anniversary!

The first picture we ever took together (in case you were wondering, that is a nose piercing in this picture, Abby used to have one) and the night I asked Abby out on a date for the first time (yay laundromats! [that’s my “Play it cool but really I’m freaking out about asking Abby on a date” face])

The house we stayed (with 40 college students!) at in Hampton Beach, NH and an event we did on the beach (doesn’t she look fearsome?)

From the highlighter party and a picture of Abby, Steve and me at a $5 prom event (obviously not our everyday clothes… [at least I hope you don’t think those are, but I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, so you might think that, but they aren’t])

Our First Christmas and Abby’s graduation party (can’t think of any funny comment to say here, just wanted to put something in parenthesis for consistency’s sake).

Our wedding day! Isn’t she gorgeous?

And finally from our anniversary shoot in New York City with J&M!