The beginning of a good thing

Kacie with Maya (Look at those braces!)

I first met my fiance Brian when I was in the 6th grade. It wasn't quite love at first sight, but hey I was in that awkward middle school phase anyways. We met on a mission trip to Rosebud, South Dakota we were too busy serving and he forced me to sit down and have something to eat. He was not my favorite person that day.

Brian playing with Dawson, one of our favorite little guys

Then we ignored each other for a couple years until he re-entered my life my freshmen year of high school (Brian says: "The first time I noticed Kacie after that mission trip was when she came to our youth group. She was wearing a gray hat with pink writing on it that someone stole from her. She got it back by a table in the far corner of the youth room and put it back on.")

Brian picked up on the fact that I needed protection from some meaner people at school, so he filled a role as a protector. During hard days, I would usually find Brian with some nerdy friends at lunch and sit by them. They made me feel safe. Not before too long, Brian and these people became my best friends. They helped me through hard times, they taught me about God and life and made me laugh a lot. Brian was a stable, dependable friend that I could always look to. As it often happens, I started to develop a crush on this caring, wonderful boy. But I could NEVER tell him. (Brian says: "I knew all along").

I told a couple of my friends and they said, "You have to tell him." I told him that I would tell him before he graduated, and then I would say, "Well.....maybe before I graduated." It finally got to the point where I had to tell Brian how I felt about him. It took a lot for me to work up the nerve, but I finally determined to tell him....and then he wasn't at school that day. I thought it was a sign that I was not supposed to tell him, but then I got an opportunity that night, so I had to take it.

Brian was driving me home from youth group and I said, "I have something I should confess to you. Well, confess is a bad word. I have something I should tell you." (At this point, we were in my drive way. I had waited that long to start.) "I've liked you for a really long time now, and I thought you should know."

Brian had a scared expression on his face. I felt my face get very hot, and I turned to open my door, and it was locked. I fumbled with the handle for a little while before Brian unlocked it for a while and said, "Kacie...breath." (Brian says: "In my head, it was a very considerate, calming thing to say.") I went to the back door to get my bag and Brian turned around and said, "Thanks." (Brian says: "Another considerate, caring thing to say in my mind.")

I went to my room and cried. I thought I had messed up the best friendship I ever had.

I avoided him the whole next day at school. He finally found me and told me that we needed to talk. I figured it was for the, "I see you just as a friend" speech.

We went to a coffee shop the day before he graduated. It sounded like Brian already had his speech prepared. He told me that I was very attractive and that he was "not opposed to starting a relationship with me" but that he wanted to wait for the right time. We both talked about how the intention of our relationship would be moving towards marriage, and he laid out very plainly that he would not kiss anyone until his wedding day. (Brian says: "I also managed to tell her that I liked her. The most romantic thing I managed to say that afternoon.")

Brian graduated, and then fled the country. Well, he didn't flee the country, but he did leave for a month on a mission trip, as did I. We spent this month with no communication and during this time we both had a lot of time to think through how we wanted our relationship to work and what God's will was for us. Coming back into the country, I came home to an unsettling situation. My dad was in the hospital and fighting for his life. Brian and his family were very supportive during this time. Brian and my relationship grew from here. It wasn't the most calming, blissful situation to start a relationship in, but it was very eye opening about the kind of people we were.

Fast forward a couple months to August 10th, 2008 at 7:00 pm. Brian showed up at my door step with a flower in hand and asked me to date him. I said "yes" and he whisked me off to a wonderful evening of ice cream.