the other day I heard a song that I listened to all the time back when Brandon and I had just met and I started replaying those days in my head and it brought me so much joy. I get asked often about how and where we met, so I thought I would just write about it.. and I also invited Brandon to the party. I wanted to capture both sides of the story just as it happened. Brandon asked, "Are you sure?" This will be interesting, but I was sure. this will proabably be a long post but its all here.

here is the raw truth and the story of how God joined two people forever.

lavendar = me
forest = Brandon

⇾so one day I walked into Oneighty like any other Wednesday night and there was someone standing behind the snack bar that I had never seen, just standing there. when I walked back there (to put my purse away) it didn't take but 5 seconds for us to make eye contact. I introduced myself as did he and I welcomed him. as soon as I told him my name, Nic (his friend) blurted out, "watch out, she's mean." he was the one that invited him. we just casually talked a bit about where he was from and all that and I was off to do the tithe message in the sanctuary.
⇾My Friend (and Best Man for my wedding) Nic invited me to come with him to see his Church and the area that he volunteered at.  He had actually been inviting me for several weeks and today I decided to go with him.  He had told me about this girl that he wanted me to meet and that's how he coaxed me to go.  When we got there he was showing me around and we landed in the snack bar.  No way!  anyway we were there for a few minutes and all of a sudden Nic punches me in the arm and I look towards the door and there she was!!!  THE GIRL!  I instantly knew there was something different about her plus she was gorgeous!  she came around the counter and put her stuff down and Nic being Nic made it awkward but broke the ice!  We small talked for a minute and she was gone!

⇾time came and went and he would be there some weeks and some he wouldn't. at this time in my life, Noah's dad was hanging around and I was considering a relationship with him once again. Brandon would show up to church and we would just have casual conversations I don't even know what about. I knew he was making an effort to be around me and be funny. but again, Noah's dad was in the picture, and I don't even think he knew at the time that I had a little boy. so I didn't make anything of it, but we would talk a little bit here and there at Oneighty. I invited him to a bible study my sister and I gave at a leaders house so we interchanged numbers. I would text him every Friday inviting him to the bible study, but he never made it. my sis would tell me any chance she got, "hey, you should go out with Nic's friend." it was non-stop. by this time, my parents knew about him because my sister wouldn't shut up about it. so then my mom started telling me, "you should go out with him." I just kept telling them, "he's not my type."
⇾After our first encounter I tried to come back to Oneighty every week but my work schedule had a way of interfering and I was hit or miss on going.  I would make every effort to be around and try to talk to her about things that she probably thought were boring but that's all I knew.  I kept trying to get her to talk about her so I could find out more about her but to no avail she was a vault.  She was always nice but very standoff-ish.  I couldn't figure her out.  So I just kept being nice and trying to talk to her but I could feel that things were not going very well for me so I backed off for a little so I would'nt freak her out.  All the while hoping she would come around.  This process took MONTHS but I enjoyed being at Oneighty and it was enjoyable to get to see her.  By this point some of the other leaders were trying to help me with her, primarily Dan Aguilar, he kept telling me, "Go for it, ask her out!!!"  And of course I didn't cuz I knew so little about her.  Dan recommended that I attend her bible study to help and hear more of the Word as I was just beginning in my walk with GOD and attending church on Sundays when I was not working.  This would also give us a chance to learn more about each other.  So I asked and she invited and we swapped numbers and it took a very long time before I was able to go since I worked so much.  But she was still not interested at all it appeared. 

⇾one Wednesday night I rode with my sister to church and by the end of the night, my allergies where killing me. I was a mess. like bad. I was ready get the heck out of there but my sister wasn't so I was kinda stuck. so Brandon stuck around to talk to me. convenient huh? he offered to give me a ride home, but I said I was ok. yeah right, I was dying! but I couldn't just let some random guy "drive" me home. for all I knew, he was crazy. so I just stayed and we chatted waiting for my sis to get done. she kept putting it off, and now I know why.. so I finally accepted his offer and let him take me home. I could tell the excitement in his eyes. he was so excited. come to find out, he had a rental car. yellow Camaro, it looked like it had just came out of the movie Transformers. so he showed off as much as he could. he opened the door just as a gentleman would. on the way to my house, he asked if I wanted some ice cream, and I accepted, as long as it was just the McDonalds drive through. and then he dropped me off.
I walked into my room and there was everyone! my mom, dad, sister and Noah.. waiting for me. as soon as I walked in, everyone had a big smirk on their face, except my dad. he was neutral. my sis had left church as soon as we left to get the scoop. I mean of course she did, she was setting this whole thing up. she said, "so what happened!" "nothing, gosh!" I dropped it as quick as I could after all the questions and excitement from everyone. Noah took my ice cream and I hopped in the shower. as soon as I stepped out of the shower, I looked at my phone and saw 8 text messages and 3 missed calls. all from him. "what the crap, this dude is crazy!" I looked at the texts and starting reading. I didn't even get dressed first, I was so curious as to what was going on. texts said.. "I was trying to call you but got no answer, I left you some medicine on your front porch since you are not feeling good. I got you some Airborne, Day/NyQuil, Gatorade and some sweets." the rest of the texts where him telling me how and every so often I needed to take the medicine. my heart melted, cliché, but no one had ever done something like that for me, besides my mom. I picked up the bag from the porch and walked in to tell my mom of course. she's the best. everyone, on queue, said, "awe! you have to go out with him!" my dad was very impressed but tried to play it off. and my brother even talked to me about how good of a guy he seemed to be.
⇾One random Wednesday in the middle of June (I remember cuz the week before I had just totaled my car) we were at Oneighty and I was just chatting with Vanessa and she was waiting for her sister to take her home.  I knew she was not feeling good and her sister was dragging out this conversation so I offered to take her home so she could rest and she politely said no.  I did not want her to sit alone so I hung out with her and was taking advantage of another opportunity to be around her.  After like 20 min of her sister going on and on I asked her again if she wanted a ride home and her sister said, "Just go with him! You will be fine, I'm not ready to leave yet."  So she said ok and we headed out to the parking lot.  I had just bought a 2008 GMC Sierra and it was getting worked on so they gave me a loaner until mine was done, and of course it was a bright Yellow Camaro.  I told her that it was not mine and I was waiting on my truck.  I didn't want her to think I was "that" kind of guy but it was still a fun car to drive.  I opened her door and helped her in and ran around the car to get in to take her home.  She did not live far from church and I was trying to buy more time so I asked if she wanted some ice cream?  Ice Cream...really Brandon that's all you got she is sick and does not feel good and you want ice cream!  But she said yeah as long as we just go through the drive through.  I was shocked and excited at the same time not trying to show it.  We went to McDonalds to get the ice cream and I dropped her off.  I did noticed that her sister's Jeep had beaten us to her house.  Hmmm.  Can we say set up?  Thank you Paola! 
After I dropped her off I thought  it would be cool to go get her some things from Walgreens since she looked like she was having a bad night with being sick.  So I got her my favorite combo, Airbourne, Dayquil, and Gatorade to help her feel better.  I head back to her house and try to call her a few times but she is not answering.  I got nervous at this point thinking she was ignoring my calls and that I had blown it.  But I left the bag on her porch and texted her the reason I had called and instructions on what I thought would help her feel better.  She finally texted me back to say thank you and that she was in the shower, I took a huge sigh of relief and was glad that I hadn't freaked her out.  I wished her goodnight and that was the first time I thought she liked me. 

⇾after that night, we started texting a bit but I still didn't feel anything for him. he sure was trying hard though. he invited me to the movies to watch Maleficent since we had previously talked about how good it looked. my mom bugged me so much about the fact that I didn't get all dressed up. our house was under remodel, so I was just not in the mood. there was wet walls and junk everywhere, you know? I remember while in the movie, I was freezing! as I always am and he asked if I was cold, "um, no, I'm ok." I knew he wanted to put his arm around me, but I still wasn't feeling anything. after that night, we talked less and less because I was talking to Noah's dad. I was very short with him when we would text (I know, I'm a jerk) so he just stopped texting me all together. about 2 months went by (summer) and he (Noah's dad) didn't fail to disappoint me once again and I promised myself I would never go back to him. I know God was allowing me to see everything that a man is not, and see everything that a man truly is..
⇾Things were finally looking up, we were texting often and I thought I might have a chance so I asked her out.  We had been talking about how good Maleficent looked so we decided on that.  Our first date, what could be better?  Lots of things as it turned out.  The theater was a little chilly which I thought felt great but I knew she was freezing.  I asked her if she was cold with the hopes of getting a hand hold or arm around the shoulder but her response was the same temp as she was.  She was on her phone for the most of the movie, which she said something about her son getting home and that was about it.  So after the movie I took her home right after and things went down hill fast.  I would try and text her and she would respond very short or not at all so I knew that she was just flat out not interested.  She would text me about things going on at church and I was not interested, it was not a personal text, just a mass blast info text so I stopped responding and was gonna try and move on.  By this time I had told my mom and sister about her and had to break the news that she wasn't interested in me.

⇾I had time for myself and prayed for God to do his will in my life because I was so confused. my focus was always Noah, so that's what I did while finishing college. I asked God to just take over, I wouldn't interfere. I just worried about my Noah, and left the rest in God's hands.
I did not plan on dating around or meeting several people. Since I had a little boy, I knew that if I ever where to date another guy, it would be because I considered him as a husband and a dad to Noah. I did not want to bring people into our life just because. I was very serious about it and I'm glad I was.
⇾I was really working a lot so I didn't have much time to dwell on it but one of my co-workers was trying to set me up with someone to take my mind off of her but I just wasn't interested in dating. I just wanted to work and go home. 

⇾I occasionally saw Brandon at Oneighty but we just didn't talk the way we used to. I could tell he was giving me the cold shoulder and all. summer flew by and I started seeing Brandon with different eyes, when I would actually see him at least. every week before church I looked for his truck at his job to see if he was at work and if it wasn't there, I hoped I would see it at Oneighty. I would honestly get so excited when I saw it pulling up. when I did see him at church, he started to catch my attention. I would occasionally stare at him from across the game room and notice, man, he is handsome. I saw the way he interacted with people and the teenagers and the way he treated everyone around him. God was now letting me see for myself what a man really was. He showed me how a Kingdom man acted, talked, and most importantly, how a Kingdom man treats others. as great as that was, he still would barely acknowledge me.
⇾I was nice to her at church but I had stopped trying.  I just tried to be myself and do my thing since I was really liking what I was doing at the Oneighty.  We never really talked but always said hi.     

⇾I tried texting him more often cuz I was starting to feel things even though he would barely talk to me. I got a piece of what I had done to him and it was awful. I felt so bad. "Vanessa, your such a jerk face!" I kept telling myself. and I really was, so it was my mission to redeem myself. I would even drop hints to movies I thought where good trying to get him to ask me out again, but nope. I started liking him so much, not because I was talking to him, but because I was observing him when I could and I couldn't help but like him. the way he served, the way he lifted his hands to worship, the way he cracked jokes. I know I sound creepy, but I noticed everything about him, even the way he walked was special. I just wanted to talk to him! and all of a sudden I found myself being the one trying to make conversation and crack jokes. I just wanted to be around him, and I was trying really really hard. I've never ever had to be the one to try to get a boys attention, but I was doing my best and it seemed like I was failing. I spent so much time getting ready making sure I looked my best just in case I saw him.
⇾It had been a few weeks and I had been present a lot at Oneighty when I started to notice a change in her.  She seemed happier and always seemed to be looking at me when I looked over at her. I thought that's just me being hopeful, so I didn't make a big deal about it. Like I said, I noticed she was different in the way she acted and looked but didn't want to get my hopes up.    

⇾I texted him filling him in on church stuff but was sad to not see him there. (he worked almost every Wednesday) I kept inviting him to bible studies every Friday until he finally accepted one day. we were having a bon fire at someone's house and he went! I was so excited and obviously got ready for like an hour. this was my chance. we hung out all night, I mean come on, him and a fire, how perfect was that? after that night, things changed, we texted all day, and sometimes we talked until really late. I got my wisdom teethe pulled out and he brought me food, he stuck around late nights when Noah didn't want to go to sleep and rocked him to bed. he basically waited on me hand and foot. he came around just to see me and Noah for fun and interacted with him like nobody I've ever seen before. I mean like as if he knew him his whole life. he played with him countless hours and basically made Noah fall in love with him. he was always there and always kind.
⇾After another few weeks her texts started to change, and it seemed she was actually texting me about "things" and not just a mass blast text.  So I started opening up to the idea again.  She seemed to be trying and I was shutting her down.  Most of the reason I was not there was that I was working.  We had just started doing our overnight shifts and I was put in charge to ensure they ran smoothly, so I was working overnight Fridays and Saturdays.  She text me about a bonfire and it sounded interesting, and something inside me told me to go.  I was ready for another try.  I showed up to this bonfire knowing that I had to work an all nighter in a few hours.  We hung out the entire time and once again I thought she liked me.  We started texting again and this time it was different.  She was trying as hard as me it seemed and things started going great.  I would go over to her house and play with Noah and help put him to sleep.  Funny story:  the very first time I went over to her house and met her parents I was holding Noah and he fell asleep on my shoulder and when I put him down I had a giant pee stain on the front of my shirt.  I guess he was marking his territory.   

⇾after that, I knew he was the one. it had only been a month, but when you know, you know. we were engaged 3 months later and married 4 months after that. my life has never been the same ever since and I completely love it!
⇾I knew I wanted to marry her after I got back from my week long hunting trip.  I thought about her all the time that whole week.  Which is when we officially started dating.  On a side note she would not let me kiss her until I physically asked her to be my girlfriend.  I was clueless and she had to tell me to ask her.  In my defense I had already assumed that role in my head! 
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not too long after we started dating, my mom brought out this piece of paper. she had asked us (my sister, brother and I) to write down our "dream husbands and dream wife." basically exactly what we wanted in a partner. the bible tells us, "ask, and it will be given to you." (Matt 7:7-12) my mom and dad prayed over these lists and as you can see.. HE gave me everything on my list.
E V E R Y T H I N G !

photo dump of "us"

he's my dream husband and the love of my life. it is perfect.