Jenn came to visit me for the first time on Memorial Day weekend of 2004.  It was strange because Jenn and I had already spent several dozen hours on the phone that first month, but my family had never spoken to her before and had only seen a few pictures.  It was somewhat difficult for me to help them see in a few hours what I had seen after many hours of talking with her, writing back and forth, and seeing her in person.

Still, my family was supportive and Jenn and I spoke with my parents about courting. Courting is an old word and isn't used much anymore. Traditionally, a couple courted for the purpose of getting to know one another, in the hopes that they might one day marry.  There was a lot of family involvement in a courtship, and boundaries in the relationship were generally defined by the Bible.  For us, that meant that we would spend time getting to know one another as objectively as we could, seeing each other interact with our own families, and in all kinds of circumstances.  Jenn teased me that she thought I took this part too seriously, treating it more as a job interview than a romantic encounter.  In the end, I decided to hire... I mean court... her. :-)  It was a little odd to some people that 26-year olds would still be "waiting for approval" from their parents.  Jenn and I have found that we don't mind breaking the mold of society - we felt that involving our parents was not only wise, but also biblical (Exodus 20:12).

Beginning courtship was a relief to us in a way, because until that point, our relationship was vaguely somewhere between friends and [there's no good English word that fits here.]

Over Memorial Day weekend of 2004, I visited Colin’s house for the first time!  Talk about nerve wracking.  I’m not sure what I said to myself or what I did on the 6 ½ hour ride to his house, but finally I was there.  I met Colin’s family and we spent a great weekend together.  Colin and I had discussed previous to this that we would not start any type of official courtship until I had met his family (and they met me!).  Colin and I spent a few hours Saturday afternoon talking with his parents about courtship and Sunday evening I called my parents so that Colin’s parents could formally ask them for their permission to court me.  They spent some time talking and praying about our relationship and Colin’s parents wrote up an Official Courtship Announcement later that week.

Leaving that Monday was soooooooooo difficult.  This was only the second time we had seen each other in person, but we were quickly becoming good friends.  Over the next several months, our relationship grew and developed as we visited each other several more times and talked on the phone for hundreds of hours.  I was able to spend some time at CreationFest with Colin and his youth group and we made a trip to visit my good friend Annie, her fiancé Andrew, and Annie's parents (Annie and Andrew are getting married June 18^th – I am the Maid of Honor).  We visited Colin’s friends Jillcha & Sidu in North Carolina.  That was a fun trip.  Jillcha, Colin and I visited Jillcha’s wife Sidu at work, and one of her co-workers asked Colin if we were married yet.  Later the co-worker told Colin that he better “hold on to her!”  My sentiments exactly.  You can read more in the proposal page!