our love story + a ring.

November 2012

received a 4 (or 5) page long text message from a girlfriend of mine describing this "doug" person who lived in kentucky--6 hours away from where i live. i texted her a few more times getting as much information on this guy that i could (with some question help from mom ;). i found out that she had given him my number and he said he would call me that weekend. my girlfriend sent me a picture of a computer screen shot of him through text.

cute guy.

The next day (a Saturday)

he texts: 'hey marli its doug from paducah."

right then, i found out that he was a man with very few words when it came to texting. haha. ;) we texted a few times.

 (i probably gave him question overload getting to know him better. haha!)

he never called.

The next few days and weeks

we texted on and off (i always let him text first because i didn't want him to think me as being "pushy". only some exceptions of when i texted him first). i sometimes went a week without hearing from him. i began to think that we would just remain friends and that the relationship wasn't going anywhere.

December 12, 2012

after not hearing from him for a while, he finally texted me on our way home from church wednesday night. i asked him if he had any plans for christmas and he said: "yeah i was thinkin bout maybe comin and c u."

*jaw drops to the floor*

i ran downstairs to tell mom.

December 13, 2012

(note: told him the night before that he could call and we would talk about him visiting us.)

i'm at work. his name pops up on caller id on my cell. HE'S CALLING!! (FINALLY) i don't answer because i'm at my desk at work and they prefer us not to talk on personal phones during work (and partly because i was just so shocked and nervous. haha!). he leaves a message.

i go into the upstairs bathroom and listen to the voice mail. it was the first time that i had ever heard his voice. i love his voice... i call mom and my legs are shaking. i'm so excited i don't feel like working anymore. ;) 

it was a long afternoon. i let my supervisor listen to the message (she has known me my whole life and is like another grandmother to me--she knew the story about doug already) and discussed the situation at hand with her. she agrees that if he hasn't called by 5:20, i would call him (doug and i had been texting during the afternoon and decided that 5:15 would be a good time to call back. nether one of us made it clear as to which person would call back. whoops!). i ran an errand when i got off work. it was 5:20 and he still had not called. so i call him. 

sitting in the mall (target) parking lot, we talked for an hour. i had to get on the road to get to my cousin's band concert. we just kept talking right up until i got off my exit (about 40 more minutes). 

he asks if he can call the next day.

i say "yes, i think that would be ok."

The next few weeks

he calls almost every night.

when he didn't, i worried.

January 4-7, 2013

his first visit to see me.

i was soooo nervous! come to find out he was too. ;)

it was just me and mom at home when he arrived. daddy and my sister were at work. doug called saying that he was at our gate. the butterflies were so bad. i started to feel nauseous and laid on the couch until he got there. the visit went amazingly great!

The next few weeks

continued the phone calls pretty much every night. we texted every now and then.

February 15, 2013

after trying to get them delivered to me the day before at work (had some complications with the floral company), i met the flower man at the country store up the road for my pretty arrangement from doug....oh, and my teddy bear.

April 18-22, 2013

his second visit here.

he came to my work and we went to chick-fil-a for lunch. he was able to meet my co-workers--they thought he was just the cutest thing (i agree :).

April 19

held hands for the very first time.

we were in the middle bucket seats in the white suburban and he was "feeling how cold they (my hands) were". i loved it. after mom, my sister and i ran the crater run in wetumpka and while we were waiting on our rewards for the night 5k, he put his arm around my waist for the first time.

April 21

while we were sitting on the couch watching pride and prejudice with sister on sunday afternoon, he put his arm around my shoulders for the first time.

April 23, 2013

he goes out and buys a laptop so that we can skype. we skype that night and he tells me that he loves me for the first time. he said it kind of quiet so i really wasn't sure if that was what he said or not. but then again, i was positive that's what he said--if that makes any sense. and of course i said it back! 

(and we haven't stopped saying it since. ;)

May 24-27, 2013

my first trip to go see him in kentucky. my daddy, mom, and sister made the trip with me. was able to meet his parents, the church family, and fall in love with downtown.

May 26

as we were saying goodnight, he pulls out his high school class ring (which he said had been lost, ;) and asks me if i would like to wear it. i eagerly took it.

July 22, 2013

doug always leaves voice mail (which i love) any time i don't answer my phone. this date was the first time he said "i love you" on voice mail.

our relationship blossomed and more trips to alabama and i to kentucky have been made.

this little bloggy space has been put on the back burner but my little instagram account has been hopping with new and exciting news.

soooooo, those of you who are following me on this little space on the internet and not my ig life, A U G U S T 2nd was a huuuuge and exciting part in my life.

a prayer that i have prayed the majority of my life has been answered by the greatest God that we serve.

the one that i have been "waiting for" in the story on the top bar of my blog is here.

life is so blessed.

August 2, 2014

HE PROPOSED!

we're fiance's!

(love the sound of that)

my nephew, colt, had been born the day before (an exciting and jam-packed weekend, or what??? :) on the 1st. i knew that i was going to get a ring on this weekend (bless his heart, and i love him to death, but doug cannot keep a secret. ;).

we went and stayed at the hospital for a couple of hours with sister, bro-in-law and new nephew and then doug and i went and registered at bed, bath, and beyond and target. on the way home, doug asked me if i wanted to go walk in downtown after we picked up the ring at my house (it was in his truck). 

i said: "sure!"

(i did not know what the ring looked like--he did a great job keeping that a secret. :))

from my ig post that night:

while we were walking hand-in-hand by the creek on the path, we came to a park bench in which he asked me to sit with him. we talk of full moons and the future. he gets off the bench and slips to one knee and asks the question in which i say: "YES!!" with joyful tears. he slips my purity ring off my finger and replaces it with the most beautiful engagement ring--custom made out of his mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers diamonds. i'm beyond blessed.

we went and showed my brother and his wife first. then, we went home to show mom and daddy. i texted a picture of it to my sister and then called her at the hospital. then, i texted other family and friends before posting it on ig and twitter.

doug called his mom to tell her and woke her up--it was quite funny talking to her half asleep.

 October 10, 2014

wedding day.

EEEEEEEEEK!