VIB- Very Important Blog

Sixteen years ago today, Chad kissed me for the first time.

I know for most people this is not a huge deal. For us, it is. For most people, their wedding anniversary is what they get excited about. We do love our wedding anniversary and it is important to us but there is something about October 1 that is very special. For us, that was the day that our life started together.

To back up...

Many of you already know that I have known Chad since I was a little girl. I was about five when I was first introduced to him. I have loved him since then.

My family has loved Chad for many, many years and he has been a part of our family for as long as I can remember knowing him. He and Todd were very close growing up so Chad was at our house a great deal. It was Chad's skateboarding skills which then inspired Todd to build a skateboard ramp on our sidewalk and then LIGHT IT ON FIRE! Needless to say, it didn't end well. Todd broke his leg and was in a cast for eight weeks.

Chad went on vacation with us to Dale Hollow when I was twelve. Chad was the first to congratulate me with a hug when I found out I had made Selectones as a freshman. We went to the same church, the same school, our families were close....and although I'm sure he thought I was his sister's annoying friend, I always thought Chad was totally awesome!

Chad and I started dating by accident. Well...at the time I thought it was an accident. Now I know that this was God's plan unfolding for me. We ran into each other after not having seen each other or each other's family for six or seven years. We decided to get together to catch up. I had no expectations. After all, I had just gotten out of a not so good, very serious 4-year relationship and the last thing I wanted was to get involve with anyone. Besides...this was Chad May. He had always thought I was his sister's annoying friend.

Our get together turned into another get together. That get together turned into me being invited to his house for pizza. That evening, October 1, 1992, Chad May kissed me. It threw me off guard but in that very moment, I knew he was THE ONE. I cried all the way home. Those tears were full of fear and excitement. Chad May? Really? The California boy who I had loved since I was five? The boy who my family has loved and thought of as one of their own? This is CRAZY!

Shortly after we started dating, I was telling Chad how much I had adored him when I had first met him. I told him that in fall of 1978 I wrote him a letter (I would have been seven and Chad would have been about 11.) I told him I remembered writing him but he never wrote me back. He laughed and said he kind of remembered that.

A few days later after we had gone to dinner one evening, Chad grabs my hand and says, "Here." He hands me an envelope that is old and yellow with age. I turn it over and see my childish handwriting on the front. Inside is the letter that I wrote to Chad in 1978. He had kept it. All these years. Why? It was just a childish note. There was nothing in it that mattered. I was just a little girl. My spelling was terrible, my handwriting horrible...but he had kept it. That evening, I fell even more in love with Chad May.

I never thought in a million years I would end up with Chad. I never thought after I moved away and graduated from Delta High School that our paths would ever really cross again. I never thought that the boy I had grown up adoring would be my husband and someone I could adore out loud every day for the rest of my life.

Last night, Chad and I were laying in the darkness of our bedroom and talking about our day and how in about six minutes it would be October 1. We started laughing and reminiscing about the days when we first started dating. At that moment it was like God switched on a light bulb in my head. He immediately reminded me of promise he made to us in Psalms.

Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I immediately became silent so I could digest this. Silent tears ran from my eyes because I knew God had given me the desire of my heart. He had given me Chad.

I believe from the time I was a little girl, Chad May became the desire of my heart, even though I wasn't old enough to understand what that means. Even when I was a teenager and then an adult, I had no idea that Chad May would ever cross my path again but God did. I know that God had my steps planned out. I know that God planted that little seed in Chad's heart for me and in my heart for him. I know that what happened between us when it happened between us was in God's perfect timing.

Chad once told me, "I'm so glad that God saw fit to slightly blind you long enough to fall in love with me." I'm just glad God saw fit to allow us to find each other. So unexpected but so wonderful all at the same time.

I know I'm not the best steward. I make LOTS of mistakes. I sometimes do and say things that do not glorify my Heavenly Father but I am so grateful that He loves me and gave me the desires of my heart.

Happy Anniversary, Chad. You are the desire of my heart and I love you!