Our Story

Brandon and I met for the very first time on February 19, 2009 at a lifegroup through Cityview Church. Little did I know that night that just a few months later, he would be my husband. Wow, that just blows my mind; God in His wonderful, sovereign grace amazes me everyday. After all that I’ve been through the last few years, I would never have dreamed it possible that he would bring me a guy as incredible as Brandon; But He did.

On February 22, we had our first “real” conversation during a group lunch after church. A couple of months later I found out that that lunch had been carefully orchestrated by our good friend Chenille Gaumer. Praise God for her as well as my sister-in-law, Angela! You see, Ang had told me about Brandon back in December, but it was just a brief mentioning to me and that was basically the end of it. Apparently the same had happened on Brandon’s end a few times as well, but he just wasn’t interested in being “set-up”.* When I started visiting Cityview in February, apparently Brandon noticed me, but didn’t know that I was the exact girl his friends had been trying to set him up with. After that conversation on the 22nd, I guess he decided to go for it, after the encouragement of everyone around him. Looking back on it, I had no idea this whole time what was going on. I didn’t know my name had ever been mentioned to him and had no idea what the whispers at lunch that day were all about; they were about me! Again, God blows me away. Later that week, Brandon posted a short message on my facebook wall which started a conversation that ended with him asking me out to coffee for that Saturday. That coffee date lasted 7 hours!! March 5th he took me out downtown for dinner and to walk around. Again, we had great conversation. I became more and more aware of just how incredible he was. I learned about his amazing testimony, his passions and where he felt like God was taking him. He shared with me what his intentions were with us, that he wanted to be careful and protect and guard my heart, he didn’t want to lead me on, he was praying about what God wanted for us...wow. March 9th he took me out to dinner and to Trinity Park (which is where he would ask me to be his wife 2 months later). That night, we officially became a couple. He knew that night that I was the one. *Side Note: My brother is the executive pastor at Cityview where Greg and Chenille Gaumer attend, as well as Brandon. Justin and Angela are good friends with Greg and Chenille and they’re good friends with Brandon, hence the attempt at “setting up” the two of us.

Within those next 2 weeks, I knew he was the one I wanted to marry. He was exactly who I prayed for and everything I wanted in a husband. There were no doubts or fears...it was amazing! In the next few weeks we started discussing marriage plans. Then, on May 9th, after a day of hanging out with friends and even our first “wedding” thing of tasting cakes, he took me to Trinity Park. We walked around a bit. We came to a really cool spot that overlooked downtown where he dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. He then gave me a letter which he actually had written the night of March 9th, the night he realized I was the one.

Honestly, the next 3 months were a whirl-wind of wedding plans, pre-marital counseling, family events, (which included a trip in May to meet all of Brandon’s family and at the beginning of August for his annual family reunion) and learning and loving more and more about one another. Then, on August 8th, a day at one time in my life I wasn’t sure would ever come, I married the most amazing man I have ever met. I could look at him and think to myself, “I can’t believe I’m the one who gets to marry him; I can’t believe he chose me out of everyone else.” That was my dream to be able to honestly say that about whomever I married…..and my dream came true. The wedding and reception were everything I wanted them to be and everything went smoothly. We spent the next week in the beautiful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We spent a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying one another’s company; I’ll never forget it. Then, on August 15th, we had another wedding reception in Indiana for all the family and friends who couldn’t make it to the wedding. Back home, we started the process of moving all of Brandon’s stuff into our new house, trying to get everything organized, started school and just adjusting to married life overall.

Now, almost 3 months later, I can’t believe how time has flown by! Some days, I stop and think, “Wow…I’m married. This is crazy.”…but all in a good way :)Growing up, little girls' thoughts are consumed sometimes of, “when I grow up"...and now I’m there! We’re excited about life and to see where God takes us in the future with finishing school, children, church planting, ministry opportunities, etc. Who knows where we’ll be but I know without a doubt God is good and faithful.

**Wedding Pics will be posted as soon as we receive them :)

Photo Editing

I have recently discovered 2 neat photo editing websites. I understand this isn't exactly a new concept but considering that I'm usually the last to learn about things, I'm pretty excited about this new discovery.

Picnik.com is definitely my favorite. I'm pretty sure you can do most anything to your photos. Basic membership is free and the premium membership is $24.95 a year which allows you to have access to more of the effects and features of the site.

This website allows you to take a photo from this:

to this:

or from this:

to this:

I have no idea why anyone would want to do this to their picture, but still, you have that option.

The other website, phixr.com, is another good find. I don't like it quite as much as picnik, but I do like the red-eye feature better on this one and the before and after feature which allows you to see exactly what the difference will be side-by-side. This allowed me to subtlely enhance my photo by removing the red-eye and brightening it up a bit (pictured below)

Yay for being bored at work which allowed me to find these great sites!!