Our Love Story

Oh my word, y'all! How has it been almost 2 weeks since I last posted? Y'all must be in serious withdrawals (ha!).

I have been working on a few projects, and I do not multitask very well, obviously! When I am working on a project, I tend to have tunnel vision, so everything else is neglected. Including, I'm sorry to say, the blog. But I'll show y'all what I've been working on soon!

But, in honor of Valentine's Day, I wanted to link up with Becky and share with y'all mine & Eddie's love story!!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Eddie and I have been together since September of 1997, so almost 15 years! Wow!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

I have always known Eddie, and always had a crush on him. He was our youth intern when I was in the youth group. (He is 7 years older than me)

Some pictures from before we dated..I was in high school, he was our intern

This is my favorite pic!! Can you see how happy I am just to be around him?!

However, since it was a forbidden and an unrequited love, we didn't start dating until I was a freshman at Ole Miss and he was in seminary!

These are some of our first dates. Oh my...please excuse my plaid flannel shirt. YIKES!

 We dated for almost 2 years and knew we wanted to be married!

 3. If married, how long have you been married?

We got married in December of 1999, so we just celebrated 12 years.

Pics from a couple of our engagement parties

 4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  

We got married at our home church in Tupelo, Mississippi. What is considered big? Or small? We had a couple of hundred people there and most of the people we loved most in the world, so it was perfect!

   5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

I call him Babe or Baby. He calls me Lou or Lou Lou. Nothing too exciting!

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

Oh wow...

1. I love his heart for the Lord and the way he seeks to lead his family to love God more fully.

2. I love how helpful he is. He will cook, clean, bathe babies, change diapers, fold clothes...he will take the initiative and do whatever he sees needs to be done. He just does it. No snide comments. No waiting on me to ask (usually). No complaining. SO helpful!

3. I love how supportive he is. I just love how all around awesome he is! 

It's so hard to choose 3!!!!

7. Tell us how he proposed? 

He was a pastor at a small church about 30 miles from Oxford (where Ole Miss is located). I was teaching a Wednesday night class to some children, and I walked in one Wednesday night to this....

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Neither?! He does flowers sometimes. But we are more of a go out on a date kind of couple - dinner, get some coffee, walk through a bookstore- just hang out without 4 little ones clamoring for our attention. We don't do big gifts or anything for Valentine's Day.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Both?!!

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

We like to travel....I'd like to do that again one day...cruises, trips to exotic places. 

A few pics from our before babies trips!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Well, we planned on going out to eat. Even had a sitter lined up. But the kids are going to stay with the grandparents this weekend, so we're postponing our date night until the weekend (when we have a free sitter!)

 

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Nope! We decided not to do gifts. All extra money is being saved up for our Disney trip this year!

Our first trip to Disney together...our honeymoon!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. 

Put God first. Seriously...that sounds cliche or whatever, but marriage is hard. I cannot imagine how people make it without God as the center of it. People are naturally selfish, and you can't be selfish and be happy in your marriage. And you can't be unselfish without the help of God.

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

I'm probably getting this all mixed up, but Mr. Watkins, a man whom Eddie greatly loved and respected, told him once something like: "Besides heaven, marriage is the greatest of all possible existences." So, my family is what love means to me. 

"We love because God first loved us." (1 John 4:19) I am so thankful that through Him, I can love these precious people He has blessed me with....

 

The hubby

This is me and my wonderful, husband, Eddie. And here is our story:

I have known Eddie as long as I can remember. We grew up in the same town, and went to the same church. He is 6 1/2 years older than me, and I had a huge crush on him! He worked for our youth minister when I was in the youth group, which is how I got to know him.

(This pic is when I was in high school and he was interning in our youth group)

I graduated high school and went to Ole Miss, and he was in seminary at New Orleans. Being the avid Rebel fan that he is, he would come to Oxford for the football games, and we started dating! September 5, 1997 was our first date (no clue how I remember that!). He was a youth minister then. He graduated from seminary and became pastor of a precious little church in Pontotoc, MS (which is like 30 minutes from Oxford). He asked me to marry him at the church one Wednesday night and we were married in December of 1999, which was during my junior year of college. I was doing a lot of my observations for my elementary education degree, and could do much of my work in Pontotoc schools, which was really convenient. We then moved to Tupelo for him to pastor a different church, and I taught 4th grade until we had our first baby. We moved to Georgia to another church for 5 years (and 3 more babies), and moved to Louisiana last year which is where we hope to have our happily ever after!

What can I tell you about Eddie?? He is funny. He is charming. He is comfortable being himself. He can talk to anyone --and usually does! He is so hard to go anywhere with. I am constantly reminding him that he isn't running for mayor!! He is at home who he is in the pulpit. He is honest (sometimes that is unfortunate! ha). He is thoughtful. He is helpful...with the cleaning, the kids, the cooking, anything I need help with! He takes the initiative. He doesn't wait for me (or whomever) to ask him to do something....if he sees something that needs to be done, he does it. He loves cookies, ice cream, and hot fudge. He is a hard worker. He can be a perfectionist. He is direct (again, sometimes unfortunate!). He stays healthy and exercises consistently.  He is caring. He cares about the souls of people. He is honest. His favorite channel is the Food Network. He is fun. He has eyebrows that furrow so that he looks mad even when he isn't (and couple that with his tone that sounds mad even when he isn't is often unfortunate!!). He drinks decaf instant coffee every night before bed. He is loyal. He is respectable. He is trustworthy. He is wise. He loves sports. He loves hunting and fishing and golfing. He always tries to do the right thing. He falls asleep on the couch. He is called of God and gifted by God to be a wonderful preacher. He takes his role as pastor very seriously. He is humble. He stands up for what he believes in. He loves to bake. He doesn't back down from the Truth, even if it isn't popular. He likes to argue. He has no problem eating off of anyone else's plate! He truly grieves over his sin. He is a man that daily strives to be the man God desires him to be.

If you can't tell, I love this man! I am so blessed that God chose me to be his wife! I am so undeserving of the gift that he is to me. "I have found the one whom my soul loves." (Song of Solomon 3:4)

(And I still have a crush on him!!)