The Man I Love

Six years. That's a relatively short time by some standards, and long in others. As for me, 6 years has had a life changing effect. August 5, 2002 was the day I met the man I was born to love. ("Aha", you say.)

I've been reminiscing about that Providential meeting throughout the day, and thought I might share some of the original thoughts running through my mind from that day. To set up the scene, Sarah & I were heading off to spend the week at the West Coast Christian Worldview Conference in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was my 3rd year going and we were both very excited to learn from some great speakers, spend time with our friends -old and new-, and just enjoy the fellowship of like-minded brothers and sisters. "As iron sharpens iron".... Mom was dropping us off and we were doing the carpool thing and taking my friend Jenny Hatt along. We also knew they were responsible for picking up a guy from the airport and he would be joining us. That was basically all we knew. I can remember Sarah and I speculating as to what he'd be like, and I think we ended up expecting him to be either a nice homeschooled guy or a more typical-of- our- society Christian "dude". I have to laugh when I think about that... Oh, and it helps if y'all know that I was only 18 at the time. ;-)

Now here are my original words from my journal entry on that day...

"Hello! Today was the 1st day of the WCWC! Sarah and I are so glad! Mom dropped off the boys, and then we went by the Hatts' and picked up Jenny and Daniel Ferrill ~a 20 year old guy whom Mrs. Hatt picked up from the airport. He flew in from So Cal, lives in Lancaster with his family (including 8 sisters and brothers.), and is a reformed young man who attends a Baptist church (his family isn't really reformed). He is brown-haired, tall, and very pleasant.
(Yeah, I did think he was cute! Ok, back to the story...)

After we got the van loaded, I sat up front with Mom, Jen and Sarah in the middle, and Daniel sat in the back with Katherine (My then 3 1/2 year old sister. Not the most considerate seating, I suppose...) We got here around 3ish. The drive was nice and we talked a little, but not as much as if I'd sat in the back. Daniel was homeschooled and has worked for Vision Forum -so he knows Doug Phillips. (The speaker I was most looking forward to hearing. Ok, so now all the ladies in the van are quite impressed! Not to mention my Mom...)

He is very pro-confederate, seems quite athletic, reads a lot, plays the violin, and is quite friendly and talkative after a little while. We all got registered and got to our rooms. The boys are in a different hall entirely, and the girls in "Harps Hall". Sarah and I are in room --- on the 2nd floor. (Before Mom departed, she mentioned that she thought Daniel was a really great guy and that I should make the time this week to get to know him better. I already figured I would, since the conference was small enough to get to know most of the new people well. I didn't take in the full meaning of her advice until later though. ;-))

We unpacked and met other girls. 4 pm was "Icebreakers". We all had papers with clues, and so you got to meet people by asking questions. I knew quite a few people already, so I was able to relax and had fun! After I was done I sat and talked to Zach, Rainbow, Jenny, and Cody. After a few minutes Daniel and others joined us. We were laughing and talking over driving and license tests. While Daniel was in Texas working for VF he drove Mr. Phillips' suburban and got in an accident... We also started talking about snowboarding (Daniel does pretty well). We headed over to the cafeteria for dinner and were still talking. Dinner was ..... Daniel, Warren, Sarah, myself, and Jen all sat at one of the circular tables and had lots of fun chatting over dinner, and it was really nice. Daniel and Warren both had us laughing a lot. (They are roommates and seem to get along quite well.) :-) Warren and I mentioned the dancing and explained it to Daniel a little. Warren was really funny when he said "yep, those were the days." and Daniel said "what do you mean were the days?!" We headed back to go hear the 1st speaker: Brian Godawa. I sat near the front in the 2nd pew from the front with Rainbow. He was very fun listening to; talked about "the arts" and how we're going to interpret them... :-) James Nickel spoke on "Science, Math, & the Culture" and it was hard to follow at times, but still very interesting too! After that, we came back and dropped our stuff in our rooms and got ready to do some dancing! Stephen set up the music in the parking lot and quite a few gals and some guys (Not much has changed, eh?)

The first dance was the "Virginia Reel" and Kristal and I were partners. "The Gay Gordon" was next and I danced with Stephen (He taught the dances). A few more guys came over and now we had a good group going, almost equal guy/girl ratio! (Miracles do happen!) ;-)
After that, we danced "The In, Out, & Across". Daniel asked me, and he is a pretty good dancer; fast learner too! During the dance it got mixed up, so we went back to our original partners again... We also danced "New French Girl" (Brian P. was my partner!), "The Patty-Cake Polka" (With Brian again), and "Soldier's Joy" (With April Rushdooney). The last dance was a waltz; Stephen and Elizabeth taught various people and the rest danced. I enjoyed watching Stephen and Elizabeth and the others for a while. At the beginning, Daniel had asked me "if there were any girls I knew of who might have felt left out". So I said "maybe Rainbow, although she might say no, or April or Joyce." So he went over and waltzed with Joyce for a little bit. It was real nice because he was a true gentleman and wanted to make sure all the girls got a turn. :-) After a bit, Daniel came up and asked me if I wanted to dance, and I did, so we did! (Thus I was rewarded for my "help"! I was pretty happy about this!)
He taught me "the Box Step" (I know a simpler version) and we did that for a while. Then he got Elizabeth to teach us a spin and something else. It was very fun and I was glad he asked me! :-) Well, I'm going to bed now."

Maybe this doesn't tell you lots, but that first day made a big impression upon me. From the first strong handshake and charming grin (I did recognize it as charming from the beginning!) I was on the path to being smitten. It didn't take long. The more I got to know him, the better I liked him, and there you have it. August 5th will always be a special day in my life, for I met the man I love, the man I was made for on this lovely day. Thanks be to God!