When Two Are Drawn Together

In past posts I have mentioned a young man named Aaron and that we're courting. Well, yes, we are! :)

Last year on Dec. 17th. God started His beautiful work of drawing two people together through multiple circumstances that only God could orchestrate. :) God blessed me with the most amazing, beautiful, sweet, tender, loving, caring, joyful, warm, thoughtful, respectful, poetically romantic(which absolutely melts my heart), Man of God I could ever dream of!

We both got invited to our friend, Tiffany's birthday. I almost didn't go, but mom and dad were pressing that I go to her party.(which, in fact is not normal seeing as at the time, they really didn't press anything we didn't want to do) .
We both showed up to the party being the very first ones.. (we both were half an hour early. :P) So Tiffany introduced us and that was pretty much that. after awhile other guests started to show up and boy, he knew just about every single one of them! *side note* Aaron went to Ironwood High-school and participated in the drama club. But also made it a point to know almost everyone on campus.*side note noted*. I wasn't too surprised though. ;) The evening went on and throughout it I noticed that he kept starring at me, but I completely ignored it because well, what do you do? haha
Later that evening my friends, Emily, Karlie and I were sitting on the couch. The order being Emily, Karlie and me. And sitting on the right of me was Aaron. To the right of him was his friends Eddy and Liz. So we're sitting there and he's just starring at me. I finally turned to him and said "Uhm..I don't mean to be rude, but..could you please stop starring at me? Its making me feel really uncomfortable." His response "Oh, I am so sorry! Its just..you have such beautiful eyes and I can't stop starring at you."
The night ended with him waving his hand over the fence and saying 'good-bye' to me.
The next day I added him on Facebook and gosh..I almost didn't do that either!
Over the course of the next few months, things just started unraveling. In Feb. we both started sending each other daily bible verses to encourage each other in our walk. And at the end of the week we both asked how we were doing, physically, emotionally and Spiritually. We were also running into each other all over the place!

The first time we ran into each other was at the bowling ally. I spotted him, walked right past him and while walking by said, 'hey Aaron!', but, I kept walking.. he turned around, only to see no one. When I came back from the restroom(where I walkted to) he picked me up and spun me around and when he finally put me down by force, he says 'Amanda! Amanda Lindley!!'. Why yes, it was me. He introduced me to his friends, I introduced him to mine(and my brothers). After that night we all went bowling 3 more times. The 4th time we had planned to go bowling, just my brothers went and I stayed home to prepare for my trip to Cali..

This is the 2nd time we ran into each other. On a Sunday we ran into each other at Avila beach. His mom gave him permission to hang out with my friends and I. That day...was so beautiful! He and I walked the beach, looked at art, went in all the little stores, took our time..gosh, I will never forget that day. He made sure I wasn't ever out of his sight. Kept me safe.
When we got back from Cali. we went bowling one last time.

Our first game had just ended and I was goofing off with everyone and I noticed that Aaron was just sitting at the game table and looking very nervous and spacey. So I sat down and said 'Aaron, you doing okay?' He then asked if we could talk privately. Without even thinking we both got up and went outside, and sat on a bench next to all the dying smokers. He proceeded to tell me how much he enjoyed getting to know me over the summer and when he ended his precious speech, he turned to me and said 'Amanda, I-I..I like you. A lot.' My heart stopped for just a moment. I then realized that gosh, I liked him too! So in return I said, 'Aaron, I like you too...a lot!'. He is so precious. Over the summer he took note of my favorite piano cover artist and bought several of his songs and made a CD for me and even printed off piano music and gave those to me as a gift that night.

After several days of prayer, I finally told my mom what happened that night. Then, a week later on August 5th, I went to his house to visit him and his mom. This is also the first time both our moms met. They clicked right away! The #1 thing I was nervous about. really ;) Mom left an hour later and at this point, Aaron, his mom and I sat down to play a game of dutch blitz. Fun game! After that Aaron and I sat down to cover some things. Answer some of the questions both of us had on our hearts.
This is a picture of both of us on that day :)

The next day he left for college. That whole first week was such a struggle for me. Because it wasn't until then that I realized, I don't 'like' him, I LOVE him. I just continued to pray and ask God to protect him and his heart. A few weeks later he invited me to go to church with him. I went 2 more times after that. The 3rd time I went, was on September 18th.
That day we made a commitment of courtship. God's timing is so perfect. That very special Sunday every moment leading up to us saying 'I love you' was being stalled. First, we got held up with talking to other church members, then we helped some ladies carry their groceries half way to their house, then we couldn't find a place to sit. Finally, we sat outside the library..again, by the dying smokers. A few days before this he wrote me a letter telling me how much he adores me and doesn't want any foxes in our garden. So, I wrote him back and handed him my letter..he sat there and read it, every once in a while his smile would get even bigger. Then he finally grabbed my hand and we both sat in silence. But it wasn't a dead silence. The presence of God was upon us and we just prayed to ourselves and finally, he said to me 'Amanda, I love our garden. I love all that God is doing. I love it!...No, I don't love *it*... I love you Amanda, I love YOU!' After this...(I'm giggling right now).. After that we sang a song together. Our voices harmonized perfectly as we sang 'You and Me' by lifehouse. And yes, the whole time, everyone around us was watching and we didn't care a single bit!

So now, 3months later, our garden continues to grow and flourish and everyday we continue to give what the Lord has given us up to Him. Everyday is a blessing. Its so amazing! Our families get along perfectly and its all just so wonderful. There have been many times when we both have even been able to use our testimony and tell others about it and they have all been very encouraged, because every single bit of our relationship is the Lords. He has given us an indescribable love for each other and we both wouldn't have it any other way!

This right here, is the most recent picture of us.


So, that is as detailed as I will go with our story right now. ;)
It's time for me to go now, getting ready for a News Years Eve party tonight!

God Bless,
Mandie