So, in the comments of our 6th anniversary post, Abby asked me to write a little of the story about how Nathan and I met and got married. I rooted around my e-mail account and found this little mass e-mail I wrote after we got engaged. It was so fun to re-read! Back in the day, I loved writing long mass e-mails to my family and friends about life. I guess you could say I was blogging before blogging was blogging, if you know what I mean.
Enjoy!
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Hey all...
So, it's been a while since my latest legitimate mass e-mail. Sorry for the delay, and sorry for the abrupt manner in which I sent my engagement announcement. I was expecting people to be a little surprised, but I got so many "What the @#$%?" e-mails from people, I decided that a followup e-mail with the whole story was definitely necessary.
Let's see... I met Nathan Parker through a dear, dear, dear family friend of ours, Kathy Blume. I met Kathy when I was six years old. She was the one who encouraged me to go to Taylor University in Indiana (her and her husband's alma mater) for my undergrad, and she took excellent care of me for four years. Her son, Jeff, is the pastor of the Deaf congregation here at my church in Bakersfield, and another one of her sons (there are five altogether) is the associate pastor at Christ Church Presbyterian in Atlanta, Georgia, where Nathan is the youth director.
Anyway, Kathy met him in Atlanta a while back and fell in love with him and his heart for people and for God. She and her daughter-in-law, Paulette (Pete's wife), started scheming to try to hook the two of us up. Nathan and I were introduced via the phone in September of 2004. Neither of us was really in a good place to have a long distance blind date (I was starting my first year teaching, building a house, was in grad school full time, getting over a bad breakup), but I couldn't tell Kathy "no." One just doesn't do that. Anyway, Nathan and I talked a few times and had a few lovely conversations, but I wasn't "puttin' out the vibe" as they say, so, understandably, he stopped calling.
Fast forward to July of 2005. I mentioned in a conversation to Kathy that I was going out to visit some Taylor friends of mine in Atlanta (the Kijankos, et al) in the middle of July. "You have to meet Nathan!" she insisted.
"Kathy... that's kind of embarassing. He stopped calling me nine months ago."
"Well, do I have your permission to at least see how he'd feel about it?"
Again, I couldn't tell Kathy "no." She is the godmother of all that is pure and holy on this earth, the wisest woman I know. "*Sigh*... Ok."
She got my flight info and called Paulette, who called Nathan. Paulette called Kathy back, and Kathy called me back an hour later. "Ok," she said. "You come in at midnight on the 14th, and he's leaving for Belgium for three weeks at noon on the 15th. How about breakfast?"
"Fine," I said. Nathan called a few days later while I was on the beach with my sister for the 4th of July weekend, and we set up the time and place to meet.
On July 15th, Dee Kijanko took me to meet Mr. Nathan Parker. While I was getting ready at her son and daughter-in-law's, Josh and Nikki's, apartment that morning, I remember my friend Brit Jensen Elwell saying, "What if he's the one? What if you're about to meet your future husband right now?" I am highly allergic to such defrauding comments, but I just smiled and said, "I guess that means I'm now obligated to invite you to our wedding."
Dee dropped me off at the Starbucks next the Disco Kroger on Piedmont. From there Nathan took me to The White House on Peachtree Road for breakfast. I think he got a hard time from his friends about it because it's somewhat of a dive. I thought it was quaint. I remember everything about it: how he took me in his mother's car, where we sat, what we were wearing, how he didn't eat his grits, how the waitress told me that he probably didn't eat them because there was a pretty girl at the table, how he laughed and didn't deny it, what we talked about (movies, books, family, church, God, etc.), how many times I went to the bathroom (3)... all of it. Three hours flew by, and then he looked at his watch and said, "I have to catch a plane!"
We said our goodbyes (awkward youth pastor side hug) at Starbucks again. Poor Dee thought I had been kidnapped I was gone so long (Sorry, Dee!), and then immediately launched into how pleasant and genuine he seemed after only one minute of interaction with him.
Later in the week while I was spending time with Kathy's son and daughter-in-law, Paulette quizzed me about it when Pete was out of the room. I thought our time together was good. That's about it. I wasn't as optimistic as Nathan was after this breakfast date simply by virtue of the fact that I am a realist and recognized that the odds of "us" working out weren't really in our favor. I told him later on the phone that I wasn't into making friends with members of the opposite sex who lived in diffrent time zones. Yikes... I'm glad he wasn't easily deterred.
Nathan went to Belgium as planned, wrote me postcard that arrived about two months later, and called me the day he got back. We had a nice talk about the trip, thus beginning countless hours of phone conversations that still haven't stopped. He called every few days and always began his phone messages with "Hey Nicole, this is Nathan Parker from Atlanta calling..." and ended with "...Lord willing we'll talk in a few days."
While I was intrigued by him and enjoyed talking to him, I didn't really feel a huge pull toward him until the end of September. I had been in a bad car accident (my car was totalled but I'm fine!) and my parents were out of state, so he upped his calling frequency to every day until they came back. It was around that time that I discovered that he had been taking notes on me in a blue three subject notebook. He also told me that he wanted to "learn all of my faces." He was a good student of me. He wrote/writes new things he learns about me during our phone conversations in the notebook and would guess the faces I was making when I said or heard about different things.
After that, I didn't want to go without talking to him every day. I started to think about him more often and wanted to share more with him. He finally braved asking me if he could come for a visit, and I told him he could look around for flights. He found one few hours later and booked it for the end of October. Randomly, I booked a ticket months before we even met to go to Indiana for Taylor's homecoming. I made the trip two weeks before his California visit, and I and happened to have a three hour layover in Atlanta on my way home. By this time, we really were talking nearly every day and were looking forward to his visit. He came to see me at the airport and we got to hang out for two hours. I remember impersonating a highly emotional 7th grader and making him laugh. And he brushed the back of his hand on my cheek. After that, I was beginning to wonder if I was falling for the guy. Meanwhile in the airport parking deck, he told his '91 Nissan pickup truck he loved me.
In anticipation of his California visit, we just wanted clarity as to a direction for us. We asked people all over the country (and the world!) to pray. We didn't want to waste our time if we really weren't meant for each other. Kathy and Paulette were on their faces before God pretty much the whole weekend. Yes, we asked for clarity, and we got it! It was as if the blinders came off and the floodgates flew open. Within hours of being in each others' presence again, we knew. We just knew. God never promises clarity like that, so it was really nice of him to part the clouds for us on such a big life decision.
We didn't actually talk about it until the next night, after a full day with my parents and sister and some friends in Irvine. We basically had the most God-involved/inspired conversation we'd ever had. Late into the night, we shared our hearts and our souls connected. As our time together came to a close, Nathan said to me, "You, Nicole Sampley, are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. I want the privilege of being the man who explores your depth and unveils your beauty." All I could do was shake my head in disbelief and stare into his gorgeous eyes and say, "You found me!" Needless to say, watching him leave me to go back to Atlanta was heartbreaking.
This is us the day after we knew. We went from "Nice to see you" to "I want to have your baby" in about 24 hours. :)
So, we figured out the end before the beginning. We knew we wanted to get married after our second interaction. With full confidence we told our parents and close friends (and Kathy and Paulette, of course), and set about learning more about each other and planning a wedding. I went out to meet his family and see his world for the Thanksgiving holidays. Amazing. His parents and siblings and church and friends are totally legit! The more I learned about him, the more amazed I became by God and the undeserved blessings he somehow sees fit to give me.
Nathan came back to me on Christmas night and stayed until the 3rd of January. My family and I had a great time bombarding him with countless people to meet. We also went to the beach for a few days. It was cold, rainy, and miserable pretty much the whole time, except for a few hours on New Years Eve. During those few hours, we hiked up to a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean and sat down to take in the view. He told me he had a belated Christmas present for me. I opened it and my heart skipped a beat. It looked like a novel! When I opened it, I discovered that he had collected my stories (my old mass e-mails to you!) from my life in Guatemala and my teaching stories and edited, formatted, and published them in a book. I told him in October that it was one of my life goals to get my stories published, you know, just for posterity's sake. I was absolutely moved. Also in the book were excerpts from the famed blue book (his thoughts about me), quotes from our favorite authors, and lots of Scripture. He titled it Cardiphonias (Voices from Their Hearts in Latin).
But wait! He wrote the last chapter himself. In it (which he wrote at the beginning of December) he described our situation at that exact moment: the mountains, the ocean, the last sunset of 2005. He told me that I was a gifted and passionate communicator, and the only thing more incredible than watching me weave my stories would be weaving our stories together for life. And then he asked me to marry him. AAAUUUGGGHHH! I wrapped my arms around his neck and told him "Yes, yes, yes!" and didn't let go until he said, "Uh... don't you want to see the ring?" It's gorgeous!
For those of you who have never met him - I'm nearly in tears now - you have to know him. You have to know this man. He is the most honest, and giving, and generous, and upright, and humble, and passionate, and warrior-like, and respectable, and admirable man I have ever known. He knows my heart. He loves me, and he can't wait to prove it starting June 16th, 2006, "when the pursuit really begins," he says. I can't wait to live life with him, to come home to him, for him to put his arm around me in church every Sunday, to raise godly children with him, and ultimately, to spend eternity with him in our most gracious Lord's presence. We owe Him all the praise and glory for the most magnificent gift of each other. And I suppose we ought to thank him for the service of his servants Kathy and Paulette (now known as "the righteous meddlers"), to whom we owe a debt we cannot repay.
Even though you all may not be able to physically witness the sacred union of our souls on June 16th, I know you'll be there in spirit. But... please try! I love and miss you!
Nicole
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What a journey we've had! I pray that God gives us many more years of loving and serving Him together.
