A year and a half had gone by since we first started dating.

We had another summer at the woods together. He was on leadership and I was a counselor. Later that summer, Mike left the country for a few weeks for a mission trip to Fiji. We spent two weeks working together at Northern Pines.

Many times before we had talked about “the future”. It hadn’t been an *easy* summer by any means but the future was something we could talk about in comfort.

He told me he loved me our first summer at the woods together. He had never said it before and told me when we first met that he would only say it to his wife (future wife).

We knew we were going to get engaged. We knew we were going to be married. I knew he was going to be my husband.

I did not know when.

In fact, I was told on many occasions that it would not be soon. He couldn’t afford a ring, I still had a year of school, he still had TWO years of school… I would get suspicious and then NOTHING would happen.

He had a plan though. The lying was his way of making sure I was completely surprised and it worked.

October 6th, 2011.

We had had a great week of long distance (if that even exists). It was the week before my fall break and I knew I was going to see him that weekend. I remember sitting on my porch in Lawrence, talking to him on the phone about our weekend. We were going to spend the first few days with his family and then drive to Wichita to spend the last few days with mine.

I got to Sterling that evening and didn’t notice anything different. He was happy to see me. I was happy to see him. We sat on the couches in his living room and talked to his mom and brother. There was even a moment when Mike claimed to not know the date – but he was lying because he had spent many hours before working on a picture frame with the date in it for me.

I suspected nothing.

We went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Potrillo in Lyons, KS. Our food was delicious and we had great conversation about the future. I asked him again if he thought we would get engaged soon and he told me he was proud of me for being so patient and trusting in the Lord’s timing. He made it seem like it would still be months off even though we both wanted to get married that next summer.

Again, suspected nothing.

He suggested a long walk when we got home because of all the food we ate. We like to do this after all our big meals so again, not surprised. We went back to his parents house and I changed into a sweatshirt and some more comfy shoes. We walked to the lake in Sterling where we sat on a bench for awhile and he told me how excited he was about youth group that year. We talked about not wanting to be long distance anymore.

We got up to leave and he stopped me for a hug. He started saying things and talking about how much he loved me. He loved that I had a relationship with the Lord and that I had given this relationship over to Him. Then the next thing I knew he was on his knee asking me to be his bride.

I freaked.

I believe my words exactly were… “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.”

I literally – in ALL ways – did not see this coming! But of course I said yes. We hugged and I cried. The ring was PERFECT. I was shaking and just in awe. He was so happy. We were so happy.

I was engaged. What?!?

Up next? Our Story {The Three Promises}… It’s about to get really good.

Love, KJ

Keep Reading: Our Story {the beginning}, {firsts}, {the three promises}, {the engagement party}

Mike and I had spent a few weeks talking on the phone every night – very late into the night and finally we were able to see each other again. Our first date. He drove to Wichita from Sterling – I was in town for my Spring Break – and we went to dinner at Olive Garden. He met my parents and littlest sister briefly before we headed out. Dinner was great – we were both really nervous but managed to hide it well.

He ordered the alfredo and I ordered spaghetti with meat sauce (something I had never ordered before). I guess my nerves came out in my ordering. We were unfortunately rushed through our meal and our things were boxed up before we had finished eating. Neither of us said anything though – nerves again – and we went on our marry way.

After a drive through a small Wichita park and a couple wrong turns (I challenged Mike to get back to my house without directions – eventually I did give directions – Mike is known as “directionally challenged”) we made it back to my house. He brought his guitar in and he played for me in my basement until the very late hours of the evening *morning* and then he went on his way. Back to Sterling. Back to long distance.

I had my last “first kiss” that night and I said goodbye for the first of many times to come over the next couple years. We were excited though. We had only a couple months before we spent a summer together working at camp.

We had a few other visits in between. I drove out to Sterling to meet his parents. He drove to Wichita when I was home for the weekend. We managed to see each other as much as possible before the woods. We were in a state of bliss.

Our summer at camp was no different. We were so happy to just be near each other, able to talk one on one, learn more about the other.

We shared “I love yous” on the beach and spent lots of really late nights dreading the end of summer when we had to say goodbye again.

Goodbye became a theme to us. We would do everything we could to delay that “goodbye”, but it would always eventually come. We would count down the days before we could see each other again. As hard as the goodbye was though, we knew it was going to last. We dated for a year and 8 months before we got engaged and every moment was some form of long distance besides the 6 weeks of camp in the summer.

Looking back I know that the distance really did make us stronger as we came together, but I really love not having to say goodbye anymore.

Next up? The Proposal!

Happy Day!
The Jaderstons

Keep reading: Our Story {the beginning}, {the proposal}, {the three promises}, {the engagement party}

Since this blog is about Mike and I and our ever growing life together, I feel that I should tell the story from the beginning. It’s really strange to think that four years ago I didn’t even know who he was. We got connected through Westminster Woods – the little church camp that I grew up at and worked at for three summers during college. I actually worked with his brother, my now brother in-law, the year before I met Mike. He will claim that it was his master minded plan to bring us together, but we have a little bit different perspective.

We met at a young adult retreat out at the camp where we were both asked to be a part of the praise team. He played the electric guitar (dreamy, I know) and I played the keys. We spent three different weekends out at the camp during the winter of 2010 and each weekend we got a little bit closer to speaking. We actually have some photo documentation from the first weekend we met. (Photo cred: Stephan Olson) Thanks, Stephan!

 Mike is on the far right and I am tucked in the back by the keys.

After these weekends out at camp Mike and I attempted to remain in communication through facebook. He messaged me to wish me a happy semester and it went on from there. We would message back and forth everyday and the messages got longer and longer over time until he asked me for my phone number. We had our first phone conversation on a Monday evening right after we both were asked to be counselors out at the camp the next summer. Needless to say, it was not a brief conversation and the 5-hour long nightly phone calls took off from there. Of course there are a million little details that would be way too much to share on here, but at the end of all this talking and getting to know each other we decided to be “unofficially official”. We considered it unofficial because we hadn’t actually been on a date yet. You see, Mike lived in Sterling, KS and I lived in Lawrence, KS. These two little towns are about three hours away from the other so finding the time to go on a date was pretty difficult.

Finally, after many weeks of long phone conversations and constant texting, we were able to go on our first date. It was the first weekend of Spring Break and I was in Wichita. He was able to come visit for the evening before he left for his road trip to Canada. Needless to say, the first date was unbelievable and it confirmed our feelings for each other – so we were finally “official” and very excited about what God had in store for us.

Another picture from the first weekend we met

And so we begin the story of Mike and I (again) with hopeful hearts that I will someday get to the wedding and share some photos with you all. Get ready for some really romantic, beautiful, and somewhat sappy stories of us.

Happy Friday! I hope you’re as excited for a weekend off as me.
Be back soon,
The Jaderstons

Keep reading: Our Story {Firsts}, {The Proposal}, {the three promises}, {the engagement party}