how dave and i became dave and i part 2

ok, so before i begin, i have some major praisin' to do...

first off, the mission trip to budapest was AMAZING. God did so much. we made alot of contacts, got alot of people out to english conversation classes, Bible studies, and the battle of the bands that campus crusaders for christ put on...it was amazing. and one of the best parts of it all was the calling and burden that God put on the hearts of us all that went to continue to go to the nations and reach people with the hope of the gospel. it was great. there was so much more that God did too, it was just all together wonderful.

secondly, when we came back to tallahassee my parents met us at the airport to take some of us back home. when i was loading my luggage in the car my mom told me there was some mail in the backseat of the car. i peered in the window and saw a rather large envelope and when i looked closer i saw it was from FSU. i opened it up and in it was a ton of paperwork with a letter of acceptance to the college of nursing on top! i made it! :-D i've been praying about this for so long, and working sooo hard just for that letter, and i got it! they only accept about 50 or so students out of the hundreds that apply, and i was chosen!! :-D so all my studying, all the work that i and my teachers put in, all the help that i've gotten from friends and family, and the 3.7 GPA that i've upheld has paid off! :-) praise God!

alright...back to "the story"...where was i?

oh ok, so that was february of my junior year in high school. that was the beginning of the crush. haha! well, i didn't tell anyone about it, except my mom. she can testify to it all...nothing much happened after that, we'd see each other at church, but he was in campus ministry, and i was involved with the youth group...so we weren't really in the same circles. nothing of significance happened between us, but i do remember seeing him at a new years eve party just before 2006 rolled in. he was hanging out with some other people, and my heart fell because he was having such a good time with other people and even though i barely knew him i was sad. i even had my mom go home with me because i couldn't stay there and not be able to talk to him. i was crying in the car and i was so confused as to why i was so upset! i hardly knew dave hess, why was i so sad that i couldn't be around him? i know, kinda melodramatic, but looking back on it, i can see that God was beginning to put him on my heart, that dave was such a "kindred spirit", i didn't even know it. and i had never had a crush on anyone before, so that just added to the confusion. but it only takes one. :-)

so from then on nothing really happened until my graduation. i invited him to my graduation party and we chatted a little bit there. here's a picture of some of the people that came...notice i'm standing right next to him, and we have the same pose:


i told him that i was going to be going to TCC in the fall, and he said something like, "oh that's interesting. i was thinking of leading a lifegroup there in the fall. maybe you could give me a tour of the campus sometime?" now, don't worry, his intentions were absolutely pure, that life group was a blast and was really fruitful. but when i did give him a tour of the campus we got to talk a little bit more. we found out that we both wanted to and felt called to world missions. he said that he wanted to go to China and israel, the two nations that i've wanted to see for a long time.

craziness. so we both led this lifegroup in the fall of 2006, it was alot of fun, but nothing really transpired. later that year we both got into different relationships, but they both ended very quickly, God was not calling us to those people...but to each other! although, we didn't know.

so up to this point, he was thinking about me, but the timing wasn't right. and i was crazy about him, but i was guarding my heart and giving all my crazy feelings back to God...i remember praying and journaling prayers to God, asking him to remove all my thoughts of dave because i couldn't handle it, and i knew that it wasn't the right time. i told God over and over again that i wanted to trust him and surrender everything in my heart to him...even my crush on dave.

2007 then came around, we were both single again, i was still conflicted about dave, and was praying about him alot...and he was on the verge of committing to chastity for the rest of his life...but i was still in the back of his mind...so 2007 came, and little did we know that the conflicts we both had about each other were about to unfold...

here's another picture from my graduation party...guess who i'm lookin at! :