Happy new year, y’all!

On this winter day, I’m returning to summer with Aaron and Whitney’s precious wedding full of such thoughtfulness, laughter, and celebration :). And even in the midst of the hot day AND sweltering ceremony (the AC quit right before. Oof.), these two darlings kept smiling and the look of love never left their eyes <3. Being a part of their day was a blast (and no, that wasn’t a pun about the surprise confetti canons blasting out some of the ceiling tiles after their kiss, but I guess it can be that too 😉 Haha) and witnessing their strong love for their Savior, family, friends, and each other was heartening :).

Happy 5 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days, Rowes! 😀

“Well, the first time I met Aaron I liked him. He was kind, sweet, gentle, loved kids, and had a great sense of humor. But I knew even from that little glimpse of meeting him, that he would never see me as an option… So I gave him up to the Lord. Through the next 2 years we had both gotten into some relationships that our friends thought might be the right ones for us. But we soon realized that it wasn’t right for either one of us. So we both came to the decision to be content in our singleness and to trust that the Lord was good and faithful through it all. For the most part being single was east, until about Oct. 19th, 2016, my sister and I had been out shopping for her wedding that was to happen within the next few days, when we got a call from my friend who was making the bouquets for my sister Aimee’s wedding. She asked if we would like a preview of the flowers before the wedding. We thought that sounded like a wonderful idea, so we headed over to her house. When we got there she informed us that there wasn’t enough room in her fridge, so she was keeping them in her cousins fridge in the meantime, and that they weren’t at home so we could go ahead and look at the flowers. As we were entering (what was Aaron’s house), we stopped in the doorway as Jemima gasped and said in a startled voice ‘Why Aaron! I didn’t know you were home!’ 

As I poked my head around the door, I saw him standing in his kitchen looking just as startled as poor Jemima was. Boy was he cute!!! 🙂 There was that overwhelming feeling all over again in my chest. I asked God why I was struggling with this feeling of liking him. I was single and happy in my singleness, so why then, every time I was around Aaron I felt this need to get to know him, and to be near him? We saw the bouquets Jemima had made, but my mind was somewhere far away figuring out this Rowe boy. We talked for a while more before we said goodbye to Aaron and Jemima, but before we had left, my sister kindly invited Aaron and his sister to the wedding ((since they were being kind enough to store her flowers in their fridge), and of course I heartily thought my sisters idea was a good one :D. The day of the wedding came and I was so focused on my sisters wedding, that I didn’t even notice that a certain person had decided to come. As I walked down the aisle it him him. He couldn’t help but wonder what I was feeling at that moment as I walked down the aisle, preparing to say goodbye to my sister. He also began to notice how cute I was all done up in my bridesmaids dress. The next day he sent me a Facebook friend request (to which I gladly accepted) and from there on out we started talking. He found out that I worked at Chick-fil-a, so he would show up every once in a while to leave me a little friend note of encouragement to help me get through my crazy day.

 As time went by, I found myself liking him more and more. Finally I just had to know if he liked me too. I looked at my schedule for that day and realized that I didn’t have to work till later in the day, leaving plenty of time for a walk. I asked him about it and was thrilled to find out that he had the day off, and like the idea of a walk. It had never weird or awkward to talk to Aaron up until that day. We chatted for quite a while on our walk before the conversation of relationships came up. We told each other about our past experiences in relationships, and how we were both ok with being single, (or so we both thought). After a while of walking, we sat down at a park bench. I knew it was now or never to ask him if he liked me or not. I took a deep breath…and dove back into it. I brought back up the topic of our past relationships and asked him if our own friendship was just purely a friendship, or if it was something more. He replied that he didn’t just start friendships with girls and text them every night just to be friendly. Apparently his answer wasn’t clear enough for me, so I asked him ‘so do you like me, or are we just friends?’ His poor face went red and looked away and got quiet. You might think that his reaction alone would make me stop talking, but it didn’t so I continued with ‘Because if you do like me, and if you were to end up asking my Dad to date me, I would probably say yes.’ Again no reply from poor Aaron. Feeling quite bold/mortified by everything I had just revealed to Aaron, you would think I would have enough sense to stop talking. But of course I didn’t, so I powered on through the painful interrogation I was putting poor Aaron through, by asking him ‘So…would you ask my dad?’ At that moment I knew that I had totally blown whatever chances I had at with being with him, and finally overcome by my own embarrassment, I looked down at my brown boots and decided to do the right thing for once and keep my mouth shut. We sat in silence for a while, until it was broken by Aaron’s reply ‘Yes…yes I would ask your Dad.’ ‘YOU WOULD!!??’ I gasped as my head whipped up, our eyes met and I could see that he was just as excited as I was. We both left the park that day, feeling completely happy and relieved that we liked each other.

 God has been so good to the both of us through every stage of our relationship. I look back now at that day and laugh when I think of how much I liked him at that point, but I didn’t really know my Aaron yet. Everyday there is something more and more to love about him, and he feels the same way about me. It truly is worth waiting for the right person God has for you.

“Well, the first thing I noticed about Whitney was her spunky personality. She always seemed friendly and willing to talk to me! (I found out why later) :). As I’ve gotten to know her better over the months, I have fallen more in love with her. I quickly found out that she was the perfect balance of feminine and tomboy :). Which was what I wanted! Besides being cute and physically attractive, she has a beautiful spirit with Christlike qualities of kindness, honor, honesty, and gentleness to name a few. She is very understanding of me and my challenges in life, she is an empathetic listener. She is just the right size, I love to rest my chin on her head which according to her brother-in-law is how you know she’s the right one! She loves to serve others and make them feel at home and comfortable. One of the biggest things I noticed early on and have continued to see more is how Whitney is looking forward to being a wife and mother first and foremost. This is what I wanted in a wife, someone who rejoiced in being a wife and mother and not busy pursuing a career. I could go on telling you about her talents and skills but I’ll leave it at that and say I am a very blessed man to be getting Whitney White for my wife! Oh, and I love to hear her laugh and giggle which she does a lot of! 😀 <3”

“He is strong, loving, and generous. He loves the Lord with all of his heart and is such an encouragement to me! He loves music, playing games, exploring, animals, gardening, and getting to know new people. He is so smart! He doesn’t always see himself as such, but he is very smart and brave! Another thing that caught my eye when I first met him, was how much he loved children. He would sit on the ground and let the kids climb all over him. He loves trying new things, and pushes himself each and every day. He loves old fashioned things and doesn’t care if people think him weird for it. He loves snow and hiking. I could go on and one, but I won’t bore you. I love him for each of these things I’ve listed, and for all the others ones I haven’t. He truly is my missing puzzle piece that I’ve searched for all of my life. If I had to sum up Aaron in one word, that word would have to be Gentle. But that is one of his biggest strengths! And just one of the many reasons I love him :). I am so lucky to have him in my life, and I can’t wait for the day that I get to be his very own wife!”

“We love being adventurous together! We love going on walks, visiting friends, going on long walks, trying new restaurants out together…pretty much just spending as much time together ;). One of our most favorite things to do is to walk down to our park where it all happened, sit at our bench and reminisce. We’ve done so many things together, and there’s always new things to do and try! Life is an adventure, and we’re excited to see what the Lord has in store for us :).”

With a smile,

{ Rachel Leigh }