We're getting married!

Once upon a time, I (Sheree) was talking to Sam’s family members, Dakota and Garhett. After a fun afternoon, they expressed to me that the last time Dakota was in Washington to see her family, Sam had seen a picture of Jordan on Dakota’s Instagram, and told Dakota that he thought Jordan was beautiful, and he wanted to learn more about her. Because I am a nosy person, I took it upon myself learn more about this Sam fellow. After I literally heard like a MILLION good things about him, I decided that he was suitable to at least talk to my beloved best friend! Of course I did all of this without telling Jordan because I was fearing for my life at this point, and I knew that she would be mad! So I FaceTimed her, and my first words were “I did something, so keep an open mind and don’t be mad”. Jordan thought I had fallen and hit my head, because this was insanity! Jordan told me there was no way she would be interested in this orchard dude who is also a firefighter that lives across the country. But, after I showed her a picture of what he looked like, she suddenly became interested in this tall man (no pun intended)! They started talking, then FaceTiming, and after countless trips from Washington and Michigan, they decided that they can’t live without each other, and are getting married! PRAISE JESUS!

I first heard Jordan’s name in September 2017 when her grandparents brought her up at a church potluck. Of course, being a true young millennial, I promptly internet-stalked her. Facebook, Instagram, I even found her blog! She was beautiful and a PNW child and her blog spoke to the depth of her relationship with Jesus.  I knew right then that she and my cousin Sam needed to meet. However, my glorious matchmaking plan (cue Fiddler on the Roof) was snatched away when I remembered that Jordan was in Maryland working at a boarding academy and Sam was on the tiny island of Guam completing a year of mission work. They both needed to focus. So, I set aside my selfish dream of demanding that Sam marry her because I knew I’d fully enjoy having her in the family, and I almost forgot about the whole thing. Just shy of a year later, I was back in our hometown for a few weeks and Sam had just arrived home from Guam. He mentioned that he was ready to find someone to spend the rest of his life with (aka “Kota, pleeaase help me find a girlfriend.”) so on came the phone and guess whose Instagram account we opened? Right, Jordan’s! Well, he thought she was beautiful too! Now, this is where the real super heroes jumped in. My husband Garhett talked to Jordan’s sister-in-law Sheree and Sheree asked Jordan if she’d be interested and then Jordan told Sheree she would be and then Sheree told Garhett and Garhett told me and I told Sam! Phew! It took a whole team of us just to get them to message each other! FINALLY, they were talking. They clicked, almost instantly! And just like it took some work and some prayer and some patience to finally connect these two, they have been working and praying and patiently communicating for the past almost-year. It’s been beautiful seeing them grow together in their relationship with each other and God, and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for their life together. Welcome to the family, Jordan! You are already so loved.