My healing....

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been MIA lately. Christmas, family in town, general craziness with two toddlers, lack of inspiration, etc. I hope you all had a great Christmas...
Ok so I've been meaning to write this post for a while but needed to not only be inspired...but also have time to think back....majorly hard for a tired Mama!
A while back I wrote This post...that was a tough post for me to write. I'd never been so transparent on my blog...showing my scars and wounds for the world to read. I am on a mission though...a mission to be the memory keeper for my family. To record my most precious and painful moments so that I never EVER forget them...even the bad and painful moments were invaluable lessons. If  you want to have the full story then please read pt 1 before reading this....ready? ok...

The night I met Ron....
I had broken up from my long term, on again off again boyfriend a week before and I wanted to go out! A friend of mine offered to take me out to play pool and blow off steam. I got off work, hurried home to change clothes, and met my friend Sarah in downtown Portland. Sarah had a friend with her...a guy friend that was visiting from college. He was nice and we all had fun together. About half way through our evening, and while walking from one bar to the next, The guy friend called his friend Ron and asked him to come meet up with us. He leaned over, while on the phone with this guy and told me, Hey you'll like him...I want you guys to meet. I gave him a rude and annoyed look. The LAST thing I wanted or needed was to meet a guy or be set up. I wanted NOTHING to do with men for a LONG time. I had been hurt badly by my ex and really needed to heal. Rather than saying this to him I just smiled and said ok. (I am a people pleaser at heart and can never hurt people's feelings). We were at a different bar...it was packed...smoky...loud...people were everywhere...and Sarah's guy friend leaned over and said...Oh hey there's my friend! I looked toward the door and saw him....
He was cute!! He had dark shaggy surfer hair, a skate t shirt, shorts, and flip flops on, and a big smile on his face. We were introduced and I was immediately drawn to him. The weirdest thing was that I didn't feel scared, or apprehensive, or guarded at all. I felt at ease, and excited to get to know him. We felt an instant connection. He was super nice, easy to talk to, laid back. He invited all of us to go back to his house to hang out so we all left. Sarah and her guy friend had rode together and they agreed to follow me, as I followed Ron. When we got to his house I went inside with him and we waited for Sarah and her friend to get there....they never showed. They stood us up on purpose so we could get to know each other! We spent the next 6 hours talking nonstop. Family, God, School...no subject was off limits and we were excited to learn as much as we could about each other. I left his house as the sun was coming up but I was not tired. I felt electricity...a feeling I had never felt before. I called my Mom on my way home and woke her up. I told her I met the guy I was going to marry...
Obviously she was terrified for me considering I'd ended a bad relationship one week prior. She was concerned that Ron was a rebound but that couldn't have been farther from the truth. God had truly designed this...from start to finish he had aligned our paths so that we would meet that night.

When I met Ron he wasn't currently living in Oregon. He had been living in Orlando Florida and training with a Wakeboard coach (he was a semi-pro sponsored wakeboarder...hence the shaggy hair lol) and was only in Oregon to visit his family for a couple weeks. I didn't know that he was going to leave in a couple weeks...he didn't tell me until I was already majorly falling for him. We spent every day together...with the exception of when I was working. We spent every night talking in person or on the phone. I was truly in love with him. It only took a couple weeks and I couldn't imagine us ever being apart. I vividly remember one night, as I was on the phone with him after leaving his house (he used to call me as soon as I left and we would talk on my whole drive home) and he told me he was leaving. He had to go back, to finish his training, to pursue this career. I was CRUSHED. I felt an ache so deep I could barely stand it. How could things work if we lived on opposite sides of the country?? I got home...sat in my car crying on the phone with him for an hour...and then he said something that I'll never forget...he said, Hey do you want to get breakfast? (We had spent the whole night talking, the whole drive home talking and crying, and it was now 5:30 am and he was asking me if I wanted to get breakfast?) Heck yes I do! We met at a little restaurant near my house and while we were eating he leaned over...with the hood of his sweatshirt up...and kissed me. I knew he was the guy God had planned for me....and he knew it too.

He left for Florida a few days later...

And came back! :) He couldn't be away from me and I couldn't be away from him!

We got engaged one year later and married a year after that! We've been married for going on 7 years now and I can truly say that God makes things happen for a reason. If I hadn't broken up with that ex when I did I would have never been out with my friend that night...I would have never met Ron and my life would not be what it is today! I am eternally thankful to God for his crazy amazing plans. I would not trade my husband for the world!!