Our Story Part Nine: It's Not Over

      So that's the story of how Raymond and I met, fell in love, and got married (all within a year and a half!). After the wedding and our honeymoon at a cottage, we spent a week in Ontario saying goodbye and finishing packing. We loaded most of my stuff on a truck, which would arrive in Alberta sometime in the next month, and finally, on Monday September 14, we loaded up my car and said goodbye to my family. And we started our long drive across the country.

    Which was actually a really nice drive! The halfway point between my parent's house and Raymond's house in Alberta was still in Ontario. It took us four days to do the drive, and on September 17 we pulled into our driveway here in Fort Saskatchewan.

     Getting married and moving across the country wasn't necessarily easy. I wasn't as homesick as I thought I would be, but it was still a lot of change. My parents were able to come visit in November, and we flew back to Ontario for a week at Christmastime. It was good.

     It wasn't until I found a job and started working, at a greenhouse here in Alberta, that I really struggled with the homesickness. I miss my old job so very, very much. It's been 2 months and I still do. It's getting better now, but for awhile there, every day I'd got to work and spend most of my day wanting to cry, wishing I was at MY greenhouse, not this one. It didn't help that my mom started working part time at my old greenhouse, and talked about it a lot. She didn't realize how painful it was for me to hear -it still is, and she still doesn't know.

     I miss Ontario. I miss my family, my friends, my church, my job. Yet I can't say I have any regrets, because I love Raymond. I don't regret marrying him, and if given the chance to re-live it, I'd make the same decisions. 

     So our story isn't over. It's really just begun. Raymond will be starting online classes in September, his first step into changing to a career in ministry. I'm going to love him and support him through it all, and we shall see where God leads us next.

     Blessings,

          Katie

Our Story Part Eight: A Very Covid Engagement

      Our engagement STARTED normal. I went dress shopping, picked out my wedding party, and starting looking into photographers and caterers. Since Raymond lived in Alberta, and the wedding would be in Ontario, the bulk of the wedding planning fell on me. I would have to be the one who would meet with people. Raymond thankfully did all he could from Alberta, dealing with our tent rental, through whom we were also renting all the tables and dishes and everything else. Because I knew that come March, I'd be working 6 days a week, I wanted to get all the major things out of the way before then. We set our wedding date for August 29, and off we went.

     By the end of February, I'd booked a caterer, a florist, and photographer. We had the church booked, as well as all the rentals for the reception, which would be held in a tent in my aunt and uncle's backyard. Things seemed to be going well.

     And then March of 2020 hit.

     We all know what THAT entailed.

     I wasn't worried about our wedding when Covid first hit. After all, it was March. The wedding was still half a year away! It would be fine!

     Let me tell you, though, planning a wedding during Covid is a very interesting thing. Constant changes, constant guessing. Never knowing if restrictions would change. It was hard to plan! I was just thankful that I had done most of the major things before Covid hit. We were more in a place of waiting to see, rather than trying to book and plan WHILE waiting, as my cousin Jacob and his fiancee Ericka were.

     In the end, we hit the sweet spot of the pandemic, if you can call any part of it sweet. We got married at the end of the summer, in between the first and second waves. Of the entire pandemic, this was when the restrictions were the more open. Two weeks after our wedding day, Ontario shut back down, and it hasn't really opened up to that extent since. 

     We got married on August 29, 2020. Because of the pandemic, we moved our wedding from the church to being outside, in my aunt and uncle's backyard. We were allowed to have 100 people, which actually was just right for me (we had to cut some people, but everyone who truly mattered to us could come!). We limited our reception to just 70, mostly family members. It was a beautiful day -very windy, but that doesn't matter- and ultimately, all that mattered was that we got married!

     Covid caused us to be flexible and reassess what was important. It wasn't fun, but it didn't matter.

     And on August 29, 2020, I became Raymond's wife.

     Blessings,

          Katie

     

Our Story Part Seven: Will You Marry Me?

      In December, we waited in anticipation for the arrival of Boxing Day. Because December 26 was the day that Raymond would fly to Ontario for our Christmas visit.

     Little did I know that there was so much more to look forward to than just an ordinary visit!

     I picked Raymes up at the airport early early early on Boxing Day. What we did for the rest of the day, I do not remember. Probably hung out with my family. That evening, however, we had plans. We were going to pick up some pizza and go to the church, back to the place we met and first began our friendship. We'd have a "picnic" under the "stars" (aka the twinkle lights that we had put up in the fellowship hall for Serve, which were still there at the time!) and open our Christmas gifts for each other. We did this, taking turns opening gifts until there was just one left. It was for me, and I opened it to find a journal.

     This journal was not unknown to me. Raymond had originally given it to me for my birthday back in September, and he'd written in it. It was to be a journal where we could write things to each other, or reflections to God for the other to read. I'd returned it to him in November, and now I was getting it back.

     "I want to read you something," Raymond said, grabbing the book from my hands before I could open it.

     He started to read, and very quickly was tearing up. I went over and sat on his lap, hugging him as he continued. I distinctly remember thinking "Aw, this is so sweet! He should have saved this for the proposal!"

     It wasn't until he got halfway through page 5 of 6 that I realized that this WAS the proposal.

     He ended with "Katie, will you marry me?" as he shoved me off his lap so that he could shimmy over to his coat and pull out a small black box.

     My response? "Yes. Absolutely yes!"

     And after just 5 1/2 months of dating, we were engaged.

     We hadn't even known each other for a year yet, but I knew. I knew I loved Raymond, and that I wanted to marry him. He was unlike anyone I had ever met, and he loved God with all his heart. Was it fast? Absolutely! It was fast, but we knew. We'd been forced, by the long distance, to have those deeper conversations earlier. We both knew we weren't going to invest in a relationship if it wasn't going to go anywhere.

     Our relationship moved fast, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

     Blessings,

          Katie

Our Story Part Six: Scared Together

      In July 2019, Raymond flew back to Ontario. Back in like, March, I'd suggested he come to Ontario for one of his weeks of summer vacation, not actually really expecting him to do so. But he agreed and booked his flights, so I also booked the week off and prepared to be tour guide. I did this quite happily, eager to see my good friend again!

     And so early on a Saturday morning, I picked Raymond up at the airport. We went out for breakfast, and I took him home, where he met my brother and parents for the first time. Later that day, we went over to my aunt and uncle's house, to visit with Jacob and so that my cousin Victoria could meet him (she was very insistent that she must!). The next day, my other brothers came home and met him, but we were still just friends so it was actually super awkward (because let's be real, no one believed me when I said we were just friends, yet we weren't officially dating so they couldn't say anything!)

     On Monday, I took Raymond to Toronto. We took the Go Train in, and started at the CN tower. After that, we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame, followed by heading out to Center Island. There, we wandered around, and even took a quick catnap under one of the trees. 

     After we ate dinner, we were walking through one of the fields on Center Island when, for some reason, we stopped and were hugging. As I started to pull away, Raymond said "Katie, you scare me."

     I knew what he meant by that.

     "You scare me, too," I admitted.

     "Want to be scared together?"

     My response was a super romantic "Sure!" And just like that, we stopped being "Just Friends" and started dating.

     Dating is hard, when you live on opposite ends of the country. I lived in Ontario, he in Alberta. Still, we made it work. We messaged even more. We talked on the phone a bit more often then just Sunday nights. And we did our best to visit whenever possible. Raymond was (and still is) blessed with a job that allows for a lot of overtime, which he can use for time off. So he came to visit in August, being there for me when I got my wisdom teeth pulled. I visited him in October, and he came back to Ontario in November for my cousin's wedding. It was just a week each time, but a week approximately every month was more than I could have hoped for!

     In October, we were already talking about marriage. 

     Raymond was my first boyfriend. He was my first kiss. And it was worth the wait, because Raymond loved God and sought after Him. He had his baggage and his past, but he had grown from it. 

     We were both scared, but we were both willing to take that risk with each other.

     Blessings,

          Katie 

Book Review: When Twilight Breaks

      Another book that I received recently to review is called When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin. This one is set at the beginning of WWII, the story of an American journalist named Evelyn who is a foreign correspondent in Germany. During her time there, she meets professor Peter Lang, another American who is working on his PhD in German. Peter, initially, is impressed by the Nazi party and their ability to maintain order and a prosperous, orderly society, while Evelyn sees the horror that it would bring about. It doesn't take long, however, for Peter's views of the Nazis to drastically change. Evelyn and Peter strike up a friendship, and Peter uses his connections to the Nazi party to feed her information. Together, they find themselves in danger as the world finds itself on the brink of a war.

     This novel was engaging and definitely had a way of keeping you reading. It was interesting reading a WWII story that happens in Germany itself, and at the beginning, before the war officially begins. Was the story realistic? Probably not. But the author draws you in and makes you hope for the best for the characters that you meet. She wrote a good story, one that keeps you reading. If you enjoy novels based in historic times, specifically WWII, you'll enjoy this book!

     *** Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. ***

Our Story Part Five: "Just Friends"

      When Raymond got in that van and drove away from my church in the early, early morning of March 16, 2019, I didn't expect to ever hear from him again.

     How delightfully wrong I was.

     I texted him some jokey thing about making sure that they actually arrived back in Edmonton, to which he responded. And that was the beginning of a text chain that, honestly, never ended. We'd text every day. It started as just a text or two, once or twice a day. Eventually, that turned into three or four texts, and so on. At on point, we were texting each other 20+ messages a day, not to mention 20+ messages on Instagram and Facebook each. 

     At the beginning, though, it was just a few texts. Every time I saw a message from him, I'd smile. It very quickly became the highlight of my days. Everything changed, though, a couple weeks after we met. I was at work, on a Friday, sticking cuttings. During this time, I'd often pray and reflect on things. This particular day, I was praying for Raymond, and I felt God tell me to stop communication for a week.

     "A whole week?!" I thought, "I can't! That's too long! That's too hard!" Which, honestly, weirded me out because I had JUST met this guy a couple weeks before, and already the thought of going a whole week without communicating with him felt impossibly hard. I didn't want to.

     "Do you trust me?" I felt God ask.

     "Of course!" I said.

     "Then let him go."

     And so it went all afternoon. God continually asking me to trust Him, and asking me to let Raymond go.

     And so I did (very reluctantly). That night, I messaged Raymond and told him that from the next day until the following Saturday, he would not be hearing from me. I explained how hard it was for me, but that I felt God asking me to do that. (He later told me that when he received those texts, his heart sank and he immediately started to pray. And that God gave him an incredible peace about it).

     And thus began what we now refer to as "Ghost Week". 

     Ghost week was HARD. Which again, weirded me out because I had just met Raymond. Just a month earlier, I had never even heard of the guy. On Monday night, I got together with Jacob to plan a service for which the Serve team was leading. The planning was done very quickly, after which Jacob turned to me and said "We need to talk." And talk we did, which I mentioned in the Twin Time post. This was, though, the first time I actually acknowledged that I liked Raymond. 

     On Friday night, the last night of Ghost Week, we played the song Goodness of God at youth group. After, I went home and played it again, and had such a good, good time with God. It was the end of Ghost Week, but it was also probably the most powerful time of it. It had spent the whole week just wishing I could talk to Raymond again, and I felt like this was the night where I truly surrendered him and the situation to God.

     Saturday, I could finally talk to Raymond again. I was afraid that he would have enjoyed the time away from me, and realize that he didn't want to continue this friendship. So I texted him on my break, saying "Hey, it's Katie. You know, that random girl from Ontario. Don't know if you remember me." Raymond responded almost immediately, saying "Katie.... hmmmm, sounds familiar. Aren't you that crazy girl?" Or something like that.

     And just like that, Ghost Week was behind us. 

    It wasn't long after that that Raymond suggested a phone call. And so me, the person who hates phones and does everything possible to avoid calls, started talking on the phone every Sunday night. The first call was our shortest- and it was 3 1/2 hours long. For the next few months, we'd talk on the phone every Sunday night, to the point where we were talking for 8 hours. I wasn't getting to bed until 2:30 in the morning, and I'd have to get up for work at 6. I remember on Monday morning, I was yawning while putting UPCs on pot covers, and my boss asked why I was so tired. "I didn't get to bed until 2," I told him. He looked at me in surprise, "YOU. Didn't got to bed until 2?! Why!?" I responded that I was on the phone, to which he literally looked at me with his mouth open in shock. I think that's when he knew that something was up.

     In June of 2019, I went to Edmonton. It was not, however, to visit Raymond. See, my cousin and best friend, Rachel (Jacob's sister) lives here, and she needed to have her wisdom teeth removed. The October before, she was supposed to have it done and I was going to come out and be her "responsible adult" to drive her home, but she ended up postponing it. Perfect timing for me! So I got to see Raymond again. I arrived on Saturday, and on Sunday, Rachel and I went over to Raymond's house and had a bbq with him and his friends. I also met his family that week, but ultimately I was there for Rebecca and so spent most of my time with her (she was also helping me to know boundaries).

     All this time, Raymond and I were incredibly close. He'd become my best friend, and me his. But friends was all we were, all we could be. 

    At that time.

     Blessings,

          Katie

Book Review: The Way It Should Be

      I love reading, and getting free books in exchange for my honest review is, honestly, amazing. This one, however, took me awhile, because right as I received it, I found a job. Moving from unemployment to full time, physical labour at a greenhouse was exhausting.

     But I did it! I read the book! This one was called The Way It Should Be by Christina Suzann Nelson. The basic premise of this book is newly married Zara suddenly finds herself taking custody of her estranged twin sister's two young children, children she hadn't even known existed before now. Zara's twin, Eve, is wrapped up in a life of drugs and poverty, but she finds support in the form of a woman named Tiff. The story revolves around these three women and the brokenness of this world. It addresses addiction and the circumstances that can either lead to it or keep you in it. 

     Overall, this was a good read. It is definitely slow paced, so if you prefer action-packed novels, this would not be the book for you. The Way It Should Be is the type of book that can bring a lot of reflection, especially on the brokenness of this world. Addiction is a hard thing to address, yet it is a very major part of our times. The author addressed it, in my opinion, quite well.

      *** Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. ***