It was at the Hime's place on a Sunday afternoon where Andrew and I had met for the first time. Nancy, a mutual friend of ours, had introduced us there that day. I can still remember Andrew's response upon our introducing "Laura... like Laura Ingalls Wilder from Little House on the Prarie." Little did we know what God had in store for our future together!
Throughout the next two years Andrew and I randomly met up in groups with others for book studies, game nights, singles activities and so forth. We had time to observe each other in these various settings and get a good idea of one another's character.
One particular night I remember very well. A group of us gathered at The Depot in Minneapolis to go ice skating. Now little did I know that Andrew was such an amazing skater! Being born and raised in International Falls and playing hockey most of his life I now understand it perfectly. At a young age I became interested in hockey too- or people that played it, mostly from watching the game. Although I didn't play much in my younger years, I did enjoy broomball in college with The Rock, a church I had attended. To say the least I was really impressed with Andrew's skating skills and the Lord's bringing him my way! Of course Andrew wasn't afraid to show off his skills to impress me! After skating a while with the group, the crowd died down and it turned out to be just Andrew and I still skating around the loop. It was slightly awkward as we skated around the ring together not knowing what to say, but soon we were both smiling and having a good time. Later that night upon dropping Andrew off I had invited him to play broomball the next day after church. He was quick to let me know that he didn't have my phone number. Nancy was there in the car and she was gladly willing to give Andrew my number! The next day I called Andrew and made sure he still wanted to go play broomball...of course he was in! note:Andrew later told me that he wanted didn't care about the broomball as much as he wanted to spend time with me! how sweet
So, I drove to his place to pick him up and go play. The broomball was great and we had a lot of fun together! It seemed as though Andrew was like an older brother that I never had. Someone whom I could trust and feel safe with. As I dropped Andrew off we wished one another a good week and headed our own way. Just a couple days later Andrew called me from work asking if I wanted to go out for coffee..is that okay? was his response to my enthusiastic "sure, yeah". He was always very respectful and straight-forward with me and I appreciated that. Later that day he had called to confirm the coffee outing which had now turned into a dinner at Chipotle and a walk around the lake!?
Thus began our dating history of 6 months. At the time I was in school and working part time, so Andrew was very patient with me as we spent many hours and nights at coffee shops working on homework together. We did have time to talk and do other activities like going to church, walking, going to the art museum, and shopping.
During the course of dating we had discussed our intentions of marriage and having a family, Lord willing. As we got to know one another better and spent a lot of time together, we established the idea of marriage and looking at rings.
On September 1, 2009 Andrew asked me to marry him near the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis! This was one of our favorite places to walk while we were dating.
Nearly two months later we were married on October 24th, 2009. It was an answer to prayer. God was faithful in presenting to us that special someone He had prepared our hearts for. Amazing!
