::three years ago::
Was the beginning of something GREAT when my now husband asked me to start a courtship with him! That picture was taken the day after we'd started courting... I feel like we look so young together :) Don't ask me why but Jim and I seem to get more excited about the 18th of every month more than we do about our engagement date or even our wedding anniversary as you can see here ;)
And if your super sappy like me, here's the story of how it all went down three years ago (taken from our wedding website)...
This is the story where Jim and Tessa's romance all began. Jim is the Single's Ministry Director at Covenant Life and as such he has led ECHO (campus ministry of CLC) which involves various colleges, including Montgomery College. Jim and Tessa met at an ECHO cookout in the summer of 2005. Tessa would see him at ECHO meetings in her first semester, but didn't really get to know Jim as a good friend until the following spring semester when she became ECHO administrator at MC.Well, Baby you know this already cause I've told you a bazillion times - I LOVE YOU and to this day I'm amazed, humbled, honored and so very grateful that YOU (the most gentle, humble, compassionate, loyal, handsome, dorky - like me, healthy, godly, now incredible father to our son... I could go on... I know!) would ask me to be his girl! So amazing!
Through serving together there, Tessa got to observe in Jim's character humility, joy, a love for the Savior, a passion for and deep knowledge of God's Word, a heart for evangelism and godly leadership that made her respect him deeply.
At the beginning of 2006, Tessa joined an E-team (evangelism-missions team) from Covenant Life Church that was planning on going to Wales that summer, which Jim happened to lead as well. Through these interactions, Tessa also was able to care for Jim and learn more how to support his leadership in ministry.
Deep respect quickly grew to affection and attraction, especially in April and May of that year. During this time, Tessa was trusting God for their developing relationship and praying for Jim. Little did she know that he was praying about her and considering pursuing her in a courtship (asking her to be his girlfriend). For almost two months, Jim had been praying about pursuing Tessa and getting counsel from the pastors in our church, and other good friends.
So after much prayer and consideration that Tessa was unaware of, Jim called her dad, Paul, on Monday, June 12th leaving a message for him on the voice mail to call him. Paul however, didn't check his voice mail and Jim sat wondering what was going on for the next three days, until he finally decided to call again. So on Thursday, Jim called Paul again and asked him for permission to court Tessa. He told Jim that he would talk and pray with her mom, Mary, and get back to him assuring him that 'Things seemed very favorable on Tessa's end'.
Completely unaware of any of these conversations, that week was especially a struggle for Tessa to keep Jim as just a friend, having many long talks with her mom, and good friends to help her. Tessa knew that she liked Jim and thought that he liked her, but she just needed to trust that Jim would pursue her in God's timing and consider him as a friend until he did.
Saturday afternoon, June 17 2006, Paul called Jim to give him the 'OK'. The next day Jim invited Tessa to come to a going away party for one of their friends that evening. Eager to hang out with Jim, Tessa told him that she would love to go, but being Father's Day she might come later. Jim called her and asked if he could pick her up and drive together to the party. Tessa was suspicious since her house was not exactly on the way to the party, but agreed to ride together.
On Sunday evening, June 18th Jim arrived and as they got to the car he went to open her door, like he usually did, but before Tessa could get in, he asked if he could give her something. Handing her a card, Jim asked if they could go for a walk together. Now Tessa knew something was up. Jim was definitely nervous and taking walks alone was not something they'd done. As they went for a little walk in Tessa's neighborhood, she read the card in which Jim shared what he respected about her. It also explained how through many times together, in which Jim had gotten to know her, his eyes had been opened in a 'special way'. He continued to write that this compelled him 'to pray, get input from others and finally talk to her dad regarding one important question.....' And there on the other fold of the card was the question 'will you enter a courtship with me?' followed by three boxes with three options of yes, no, or maybe. So cute and elementary style. Quickly, Tessa answered 'Yes!' as Jim then handed her a pen to fill it out. As they walked back to the Fosters house, they were able to just laugh at all the awkward moments of that past week and openly share how much they liked each other. And that's how it all begin.
Three years later I'm so so so deeply in love with you! All that excitement and anticipation that sparked at the outset of our relationship is still there as we consider all that Lord has yet in store for our marriage and young family. Our God has been good!
By Elizabeth Prentiss
