Ready set Ruhnke!

Oh where do I begin… I was just browsing the dating app feed one day and up pops a picture of this cute fun looking gal. She excitedly messaged me and we started to chat. Since I was just leaving for vacation we talked sparingly over the course of a couple weeks, jokes, sarcasm, and sharing a little bit about each other. We decided we had to meet. Unfortunately I ended up getting sick and had to cancel on her. So what does she do? This stranger I hadn’t yet met, she offers to bring me bone broth! I hadn’t even heard of such a thing before! Who does that? A few days later I rescheduled, picked a great place, and waited for her. I wasn’t sure what to really expect, but when she walked up for the first time, I have to say I was quite pleased to meet her. Conversation was effortless, we had a great time, and after shutting the place down we took it to a second restaurant. There we had some wonderful conversation, probably mostly about food, and even ended up going on a short stroll together before parting ways. Later that week on our second date, we did what most people do: meet at a large city park, on a drizzly dark evening, with no one else around, just to go for a nice little hike. Naturally we talked and explored late into the evening and made our way back to our car in the darkness, only to find we had managed to become locked inside the park. The police came. We made it out. I suppose that was a sign… we haven’t been able to separate since. Throughout the last 3 years we’ve been on many adventures, in every direction and every season, and we’ve shared a lot of ridiculous moments together. In fact, we can’t turn it off. The jokes are frequent, the adventures seem endless, and we complement each other well. Though we’ve had some ups and downs, one thing has always been certain, we’re very much on the same page, and we both want to do this thing… this thing called the rest of our lives. I love you, you're an amazing girl, and I'm so happy to have found you. -Jon

We met online, on a dating app. We both swiped right on each other's pictures and the rest is history. Just kidding. the truth is, there's a lot more to the story. I was grieving the death of my previous boyfriend who had passed away and had no idea what God had in store for my heart. Jon was searching for someone special to build a life with, he didn't know exactly what he wanted, he had ideas, but had no clue what God had in store for him either. God knows what we need in our lives and his timing is perfect even when it doesn't seem to make much sense to us in our human understanding. It was God's perfect timing and orchestration for what we both needed in a partner. Not just our checklist of what we wanted in a partner, but what we each NEEDED for growth and sanctification. So God brought us into each other's lives using a dating app. Jon put "I'm an active, 6'3" Christian, looking for the same, but shorter" on his online dating profile. That’s all it took. Tall, handsome, Christian.... What more can I ask for, am I right ladies? We started messaging and turns out he was leaving town for a 2-week family trip in a rental RV in Alaska the following day! With my family’s background of camping and traveling, and my interest in all things adventuring, I was intrigued and impressed by a man the age of 35 going on a two-week trip with his family in an RV. I just had to know more! Talk about God’s timing, Jon and I chatted throughout the time of his trip and we both had anticipation for meeting when he returned.

On our first date, we shut down 2 restaurants and still walked around for another hour or two chatting. The chemistry was there right from the start. The second date we got locked into a State Park, and had to wait for the police to unlock the gate. We didn’t know it had specific hours and was locked at a certain time! (Notice a trend?) By the third date, we were both pretty excited about each other. On our fourth date, Jon and I shared more deeply about our lives and our heart. There was a level of honesty and intimacy created between us by being so vulnerable. Somewhere in the middle of having fun and getting to know each other more deeply on that fourth date, a moment came where I felt something in my heart towards Jon that made me take pause. We were sitting together on the couch and listing off all the things we wanted to do together. Jon got out his phone and started creating a Google Doc of all the things we wanted to do together, a bucket list of adventurous and fun date ideas. My heart skipped a beat at that moment. I looked at Jon and had this feeling come over me. In that moment I saw a glimpse of how he organizes and categorizes thoughts and plans into lists, and felt the joy of God bringing that man into my life to bless me in even some of the tiniest, yet immensely meaningful ways. It was just a moment in time, yet I won’t ever forget it. I remember where I was sitting, what the room was like, what the weather outside was at that moment. Thinking back to it now, I believe my soul just “knew” on some deeper level, Jon was my guy.

All my life I've heard some people say they "just knew" in regards to how they knew their husband or wife was their person and at what given time in the process of dating. For me, it wasn’t that single moment in time, or any single moment, but several moments, weeks, months strung together into what was an undeniable sense that God brought Jon into my life and in the exact timing that he did for a reason. That he created Jon for me and I for him, that he was my God-ordained husband. God cares about the details, the minutiae, even the things we didn’t even know we wanted or needed most. I didn’t know Jon was my husband that night, but God did. For me, that moment on that fourth date was the first of many moments and feelings about him that later were more fully understood. Those heart-soaring, ‘God made this man just the way he is for me’ moments have continued on for over 3 years and built the foundation of joy and excitement for one another. That foundation and our deep faith in God is what has seen us through hard times and tough moments. We have been through a lot already in our first few years of dating, and it hasn’t always been easy. We’ve relied on God, good counsel, our faith, good Christian community of friends and support, and have learned to come together as a team to work through any issues, continue working with God to heal things in our lives that needed healing, grow as people, and we’ve both experienced a deepening of our faith as a result of every trial and circumstance. Throughout it all and in the midst of it all, by the grace of God, we’ve been blessed to be able to begin building a beautiful life together.

Even back during those first few dates, one thing was really obvious, we couldn’t get enough of seeing each other and being together. We wanted to experience everything together and were very excited to have found each other. Over 3 years later it’s still true, we just love being together and any time we are apart, we are always so excited for the next time we get to be together. We love exploring and adventuring together. We’ve built so many wonderful memories from road trips, bike rides, geocaching, playing a sport together, traveling, backpacking, countless camping trips, picnics, hikes, throwing frisbee, and the list goes on. We don’t know what the future holds, but we know we want to be together, we want to enjoy adventuring in God’s creation, we want to grow as individuals and as a couple, build our family, and create a warm and comfy place to call home. I am so excited to get married and “officially” start our lives together as husband and wife. It's not always going to be easy but it is going to be with you and that's my favorite place to be. You’re my favorite guy babe, and together is ALWAYS my favorite place to be. Love ~ Tamara