I figure what kind of wedding blog would this be if I didn't first explain who we are and where we come from.
I (Heidi) am a country girl, born and raised in south central Pennsylvania. I love the outdoors- been camping since before I could walk (yes, I take pride in that). I found my talent for art at a young age and persued my art education degree at Kutztown University. I never lost my fascination with the outdoors, so on my school breaks I always had something big and adventurey planned! Caving, climbing, backpacking, snowboarding... always something! After graduating I moved back to the homefront with my parents and got back into church. Life had a way of just rolling along, and then when I got focused on God I was blessed big time in return.
(enter Jeff)
Jeff spent the first twenty three years of his life in a completely different setting. He's my city boy! He grew up in Carlisle, Chambersburg, and Harrisburg. In June of 2008 he moved into the Gettysburg area and made a life swap. God was not much of a prior part of his life, but that summer everything changed. He was living in a Christian Discipleship Program through our church and began attending many of the same meetings I was involved in. We met on a Tuesday night at a young adult's bible study called S.O.S. We chatted, and as he recalls, he was instantly intrigued by my maturity and my sense of adventure. (I might have randomly brought up the fact that I love backpacking and that I was lost in a cave two years before for over two days without food or water)... on purpose.
Weeks went by of sending random messages back and forth on myspace, and little conversations after church. Eventually numbers were exchanged, and then the little thought arose in my mind... "I think he likes me." And then... "I think I like him."
After a Friday night bonfire with the S.O.S. group we officially started talking about a chance to hang out together. And so it was planned, the next morning we would start our day at 10am and go for his first hike on the Appalachian Trail. Poor guy didn't know what he was getting himself into. Neither did I. ;) We hiked nearly 20 miles in one day. Up and down mountains. Around bends. Over creeks. Through the woods. On and on... in ONE DAY! We finished the last part of the hike in the dark; I had my red headlamp out showing the way looking for the white AT blazes on the trees. When we got to the car Jeff said his toes were screaming. He went to take his shoes off and realized that was a horrible idea. We finished the long day off with icecream at Dairy Queen (which officially made it a date). It wasn't until he got home and took his shoes off that he realized his toes were bleeding. Poor guy... in the next couple of weeks Jeff lost three toenails. What a trooper. :) He's my man. And I love him.
We've had many adventures since, and now we're on pursuit of the greatest adventure. Life together.
God has been an active part in our relationship and we're both excited to have him in the driver's seat of our relationship. He (God) gave me a vision last January- a little over a year ago of Jeff and I sharing our first kiss on our wedding day. I was shocked and a little confused. We had been kissing since date 2... but God used this to restore our relationship and grow us even further.
So, in 254 days, Jeff and I will once again share our first kiss as we step forth into the realm of marriage. Side by side. Forever. :)
I'm tempted to say, "We can't wait!" but the truth is... we will wait... with joyful anticipation. <3
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