All Because Two People Fell In Love (at the "Bu")

With Valentine's Day approaching (and a little one napping), I thought I would steal my friend Jen's idea and blog about how Mark and I fell in love.  At least the beginning of the story. . .

For those who don't know I grew up in the same town my entire life, went k-12 at the same school with two parents who also worked at that school.  I was a good girl, never really rocked the boat, in church every time the doors were open and learned to love God through the direction of my parents.

Mark grew up in Tyler as the youngest of four boys and a twin.  He was and still is head strong, wanting to do things his own way and when he wants to do them.  His parent's decided to homeschool him and the rest of his siblings when he and Blake were in the 2nd grade.  So from 3rd grade through graduation they studied at home.  Like me, Mark grew up in a Christian home, was always in church, and grew to love God through his parent's leading.  All in all we were both pretty blessed.

In May of 2005 I had graduated high school and was beginning to get ready for college.  However, this year would prove to be hard, one that God would use to bring me closer to Him and His will.  He ended up removing several distractions, one of which was a boyfriend that I had dated all through high school. I went to the University of Texas at Tyler for my freshman year, but I didn't live on campus.  Because of this I felt like I wasn't getting the true college experience (although I didn't want to live on campus there, where there were really no rules, especially where boys and girls could live right beside each other).  So after the first semester I felt like God was telling me to transfer to East Texas Baptist University.  Little did I know this would be one of the best decisions I would ever make.  I also tried out for the cheer squad and made it. I couldn't wait to finish out the spring semester in Tyler and get down to ETBU.

I came to ETBU a bright eyed cheerleader, bubbling with passion for the Lord after a summer of mission trips and camps where God really revealed Himself to me in mighty ways.  I SSSOO enjoyed my choice to come to a college where my teacher opened his class in prayer and everyone was really so nice and helpful.  I began learning and searching what God's word really said, it really was a growing experience.  I was also cheering which kept me busy as well.

To make a very long story semi-short I will cut to the chase.  There was a guy on our cheer squad who was very good friends with Mark, so when we hung out with him, Mark would tag along.  We all hung out and saw we really liked each other's company.  One night there was a projected meteor shower and so me, my roommate, Mark, and our mutual friend Josh, all decided to go and watch it.  We decided to all go somewhere where there were no overhead lights so we could see the stars clearly.  After driving around some we find a highway that leads to a random field, actually dissolves completely into the field (weirdest thing ever).  Next is where it really gets good. . . in the next post!