A Story Not Our Own

How We Met

Kelly: THIS is a funny story.

Last year, Pete came down to HSLDA to study for his finals with my coworker and his classmate, Vanessa. There was a Valentine's dance sponsored by PHC that year, and Vanessa decided that she wanted Pete to have a date--so she tried to set us up. Me, being the kind of "don't mess with me" person that I can be, put my foot down, being quite aware of the kind of dance it would turn out to be (I was right too!!!), and decided not to go. Besides. I didn't do the blind dating thing. Pete says we met that week, and that God really impacted him about me. I don't even remember his being there.

I figure it was a God thing.

Pete: I was... whew... Wow. "Um, you were hurting like crazy. I remembered you. You gave Dan the 'what-for' on ATI." Kelly came down to the cafeteria for something while I was studying with Vanessa and our friend Dan, and she had her cane with her. I think I asked Nic (Vanessa) why you had the cane, and she told us about Kelly's health problems. I went home, and a couple weeks later, I dropped something out to Dan about remembering Kelly.

My first real memory of Kel is sitting down in my office talking about special needs after I came down to work for HSLDA in May of 2004, and we ended up talking about her grandparents, her health, and my bestest little sister Mary Jo. She invited me to go ice skating with a group she'd put together.

Kelly: I invited him to go ice skating with a group. Ahem. I was so mad at him.

It ended up being just three of us, Pete, me, and another girl, Leeann Bisulca. She didn't know how to skate, so I was helping her, and he just skated off in his own little world. I thought he was so rude! It was okay, though, I guess, because I'd been told that he was looking for a wife. I was avoiding him too!

Pete: But I was very leery of getting into any friendship with a girl! I wasn't looking for a wife--and I didn't even want to be looking for a friend at this point!

Kelly: So much for well-laid plans. I had my own plans that night. I was going to bring Pete out of his shell enough so that I wouldn't feel guilty because he wasn't hanging out with anyone when there was so much social activity going on around him. It backfired on me too. After our skating outing, we went to Starbucks because I was starving and in danger of collapse (a fact I wasn't admitting to anybody!).

We got stuck in the Starbucks after closing time by the DADDY of all thunderstorms. There were police driving up and down and telling people to stay indoors. All I remember is that I was terrified, and so I decided to try to distract myself by conducting a surface grilling of Pete and Leeann (who, I had decided by that time, would make a good couple) that was not related to the weather.

I figured we could stick to a deep topic like the characters we thought we would be if we were in the Lord of the Rings. Pete wouldn't give me a straight answer, and I was ticked, but I was NOT pushing. *grin*

Pete: It served her totally right. She was going at it like Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, calculating each question to deflect attention from herself and find out as much as possible from Leeann and myself. I wasn't going to let her have it. So I told her I saw myself as the Nasghoul (sp?)

Kelly: Nazgul.

Pete: It seemed like the thing to say because (a) I thought at the time that the Nasghoul were the flying thingies with the long tails and loud shrieks. I didn't know they weren't- I just picked the ugliest creature I thought of, and (b) I honestly didn't really like Lord of the Rings enough to remember the characters except for the inebriated dwarf. And I just didn't want to be a sloshed shortie...

Kelly: None of which I knew at the time, and since they are some of my favorite movies ever, it was a good thing I didn't know. Anyway, the evening took a VERY unexpected turn about halfway through our digression into our favorite movies.

Pete: I was getting more and more uncomfortable because God was asking me to talk about what I had spoken with a bunch of friends about: Himself. Specifically, "did you guys ever get the impression from God that something big was going to happen?" I didn't want to ask the question, because it didn't seem surface level enough for the conversation that we were having--besides the fact that I didn't know you guys, and I knew the other people I'd talked to about Him a lot better. Kelly's jaw dropped about 14 feet, and bounced on the ground a few times.

Kelly: I must have gone into shock. For years, I had been begging God for someone who would understand the driving force behind my passion. Ever since I was a little girl, I had believed that something big was coming and that God had something for me to do. He had spent the last three or so years taking me deeper into Himself and His Word than I had ever been before.

Pete: I think at that point in time, Leeann pretty much faded out of the conversation. Kelly agreed that she thought that God was going to be doing something. I don't remember specifically what we talked about, except that you mentioned that the kids that we'd seen at the skating center could be the ones to experience the judgment in the last days. We talked about God, about how we wanted to know Him and seek Him, and about how our preparation for what He was bringing could only come through Scripture.

Kelly: We spent a long time talking about our passion for the Church. That night, after Pete left me at my house, I freaked out.

Pete: To put it mildly.

Kelly: *grin* I emailed several of my guy friends who understood my passion for the church and told them more about it than I ever had before. There was no way I was going anywhere with Pete that I wasn't willing to go with anyone else. Then I went to bed and told God I wasn't going think about it in one breath, and begging for help with another breath. I know, looking back on that night, that God used that conversation to point my heart toward Pete. I was fascinated, and not admitting it.

Pete: I was happy to know that there was someone else who was interested in God, in knowing *Him,* not just about Him. With the exception of Sam, I had never really spoken with a girl who was interested in God before.


On Being Friends

Pete: I think the main idea last summer was about offering ourselves to God and being obedient to what He called us to do. He called both of us to be friends to each other.

Kelly: For me, this was a real challenge. Pete scared me with his passion for the Lord, for the church, and for people. It matched too closely with my passions, and when I added that with the knowledge that I had gained through an attempt to pay him back for some pizza that I couldn't intimidate him, there was no way I was going there. So the day God sat me down during my devotions and asked me if I would be a friend to Pete, and actually allow Pete to be my friend, I looked rather skeptically in His general direction and asked Him why. I got no answer to my whys. Just an overwhelming sense that I should obey. Still, this left me with some serious questions about what to do with it. After some previous experiences, I was not eager to step into a friendship with a guy I barely knew and offer him some sort of validation by being a girlfriend to him. My walls were up so high I didn't know how to climb them anymore, and I was very worried about the possibility that Pete could fall for me. Then God took a step that shocked us both.

Pete: A couple days after the Starbucks incident, I went to North Carolina for my employer, for what is known around the office as the most bombed-out conference of 2004. After getting stopped five minutes into the trip for speeding by an over-zealous Loudoun County Sheriff (with a prejudice against Yankees!), I came to the conclusion that this weekend would not be the most stellar weekend of my life.

Two hours into our seven-hour trip, we discovered that we had forgotten to bring the books that we needed for the conference. After prolonged negotiations with our office (being more stressful and lasting longer than any of the Israeli-Arab peace summits) and after chewing up another hour and half of precious time in said negotiations, it was determined that one of our doomed—er, stalwart—crew would need to head back to Virginia for the books after dropping the rest of us off in North Carolina.

By a very fair and measured process, by which I mean I was the new guy (two weeks on the job), it was determined that I should make the trek back to VA for the books. Fortunately I was met halfway back up, so I only had to travel seven hours that night, instead of fourteen.

The van had no radio reception in the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, and I had forgotten my MP3 player. I was stuck in the car with God.

Kelly: Oh, yes, very stuck.

Pete: It was a decent trip. We had a good time talking about His creation, and all of a sudden, He got very rude and changed the subject on me.

“She is mine.”

Wha???

That was not very fair of Him. I wasn’t trying to say that she wasn’t. I wasn’t even thinking that she wasn’t. We’d had one conversation. Two. No more than that, I swear! She had impacted me a great deal with her passion for the Lord, with her knowledge of Scripture, and with her genuine relationship with the Lord. Her relationship was not confined to phraseology and practices. It was real. God was a person to her, one with whom you could actually speak, obey, be loved by, and love in return, and be consumed with.

The rest of the conference was something of a blur, though I do remember that at one juncture, Will tried to pay me back for some pizza that he had already tried to pay me back for and I had refused. I found it suspicious that after having rejected his attempt at repaying me once, he should so earnestly attempt to pay me back. After inquiring a bit further as to the sincerity of his desire to be rid of his indebtedness to me in re: pizza, I was informed that the source of the funds was none other than my coworker Kelly.

Kelly: I later found out that Will spent that money on himself. *grin*

Pete: I kept thinking about that conversation with God. What did it mean that she was His? I was not trying to get into a relationship, although I must admit, I had never been so intrigued by the reality of a young woman’s relationship with God.

Kelly: During Pete’s time away, I had a conversation with my girlfriend Ash, in which I mentioned the Starbuck’s incident. Pete’s name came up, and she asked inquisitively, “oh, who’s Pete?”

“Oh, he’s just a new coworker of mine. He came to work at HSLDA after graduation.”

She (wisely) dropped the subject, but I found after we were engaged that she had never forgotten that conversation, and wondered if God would actually do something with it.

Meanwhile, I was just about ready to retreat. God was putting on too much pressure.

Pete: When I got back to Virginia, I asked Kelly if she wanted to get together after work some night and talk about what God was showing me in Psalm 32. Rather than replying with a polite “no thank you” or “perhaps we should do it under supervision,” I received the most interesting email I’ve ever gotten in my life.

Kelly: Sorry!

Pete: It’s okay! I don’t remember much about the email, but I do know that I had accidentally pushed some button that she didn’t want pushed.

Kelly: Had he ever! But he hung with me!

Pete: I truly was not looking for a relationship, nor did I want to give the appearance that I was, and last thing I wanted to do to this precious treasure that God had called His own was drive her away in fear. I decided it would be best to tell her what God had told me, hoping this would assure her that I had no interest in pursuing a relationship with her.

Kelly: When I got his email telling me what God had told him, I burst into tears! I had been so afraid that he was going to fall for me, and here God had gone before me to protect me so I didn’t have to put my own walls up. I cried myself to sleep that night, completely awed at the fact that He would claim me as His own, that He wasn’t ashamed to call me His.

When I shared the story with my parents that weekend, they started praying, unbeknownst to me. Meanwhile, God had given me the impetus to trust Him in my friendship with Pete, so I decided to go out on Him and let Him lead in the friendship, instead of trying to control it myself.


Ask Me For a Sign

Kelly: I spent nine days (that felt like years) in the hospital last summer. Pete and our friend Gabe were there with me and Kate as much as they could be while keeping their fulltime jobs. During that time, God bonded the four of us in a relationship that could only be classified as His. We prayed together, shared what He was doing in our lives, cried together, laughed together (BOY did we laugh!). We scared all the doctors away from my room because every time someone came in we were praying! I wouldn’t have survived those nine days without their constant encouragement and prayers.

Pete: In late August, Kelly stayed a week with some friends from church who informed her that I was in love with her. This was a startlingly new concept for me, considering the fact that the only other hint of love that I had experienced in my life took the form of a foil, saber, or epee. Besides, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, so I wasn’t in love. Simple as that.

Kelly: HA!

Pete: I tucked myself away for about three days with my Bible and kept praying that God would reveal my motives and my heart. I had been very worried, and was very worried, because I know I don’t know my own heart, and I kept praying that my motives would be pure before Him, that His love and not my own would be the love that characterized my relationship with Kel. I knew that she loved me with His love, but at that time, I didn’t want my relationship with her to overshadow my life. I wasn’t ready for a relationship, and I really wanted God to protect her from me as necessary.

Kelly: During this time, God was beginning to heal me from a previous heartbreak. I had made a vow that I would wait for someone, and though I was aware that I was no longer in love with that person, I was not at all interested finding someone else to fill the hole in my heart that relationship had left. God had become my all, and I knew that I needed no one else.

Pete: I am grateful beyond words for the encouragement that Gabe, Kate, and Kelly offered me throughout the summer to seek the Lord first and keep trusting Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 came to typify our individual relationships with God that summer. We might not have had any idea what was going on, but God kept using us in each other’s lives to point us to Himself and to trust the Cross of Christ and not our own hearts, thoughts, minds, etc. The spiritual battles of last summer were so intense and the emotional roller-coasters so stomach churning that it caused me to wonder at times what reality was.

On several occasions, God used Kelly to challenge me specifically in regards to my motives and focus. Had she not encouraged me to know that God was ever-merciful and always longing to forgive and love me, I seriously doubt I would have continued seeking Him. There were some days where I just wanted to give it up, but God kept urging me to trust Him. As weird as it seemed to have a group of friends that didn’t know one day to the next what God was doing, it was amazing to see how He revealed Himself to us through each other, not for our glory, but for His.

It became commonplace for God to ask one of us to do something, i.e. pray for each other in the middle of the night, intercede for each other under spiritual attack, share something with each other from His Word, or confront each other as God led. He taught me to trust Him first, even if I did not understand where on earth He was leading, even if it made absolutely no sense to me.

Immediately before school started, God asked me if I was willing to be Kelly’s friend, no matter what.

“Sure,” I blithely replied.

“No matter what?”

This exchange continued for quite a while, until I got the point that this was serious.

“Like, what ‘what’ is ‘no matter what’?” I asked.

He brought a series of what-ifs to mind, each one more difficult to accept than the previous. I finally told God that if it was what He wanted, I would have to trust that He would be glorified in it and I would be Kelly’s friend no matter what happened.

Kelly: THEN the unthinkable happened. I was NOT ready for it, but God wasn’t waiting on *my* timing. He was talking to Pete.

Pete: In September, I was most surprised—no a better word would be flabbergasted—by the following conversation with God:

I was driving home from my parents’ house, and after one of our usual conversations tending toward “God I don’t really know what You’re doing, but I want to do what You want, so please help me trust You with it,” He asked me to ask Him for Kelly.

There wasn’t really much difficulty understanding what He meant by “ask Him.” I knew He meant marriage, and I couldn’t believe He’d have the gall to bring something like that up. I didn’t want to get married. I wasn’t interested in a relationship. I was in school, she didn’t like me that way, I didn’t like her that way, and give me five minutes and I’ll be able to come up with about 20 other reasons why not.

He was somewhat insistent on it—not demanding. Just the way that God’s Spirit is, tugging, “Ask Me.” I flatly refused, citing the fact that “God you don’t do things like that. You don’t tell people to ask You for things. That’s absurd. I’ll show you.”

Then I opened my Bible. “Don’t tempt the Lord,” was the passage that I was looking for.

Moreover the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!” Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:10-14)

Basically, the protestation not to tempt God was an excuse to God’s specific command to ask Him for a sign. And what did God ultimately do? He gave us one of the clearest prophecies of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I didn’t know what to do with this. I remember thinking that this might be from Satan, but I knew that if it was from God, He wouldn’t let it rest, and I knew that if it wasn’t from God, I could at least ask God for it through faith in Jesus Christ and hope it went away.

So I bowed my head and mumbled something to the effect of, “God, I’m asking You for Kelly.”

And tried to go to bed.

“That’s not what I asked,” He replied.

All told, it took me two hours to finally get around to saying, “God, I’m scared, and I don’t know why You’re asking me to do this, but please give Kelly to me to be my wife.”

You might find this odd, because at this point in time, I didn’t think I was in love with her anyway.

I fell in love with Kelly the next day.

Kelly: As Pete told me about his encounter with God, he began to realize that he was in love with me, and I sat here, wondering what in the world was going on. I certainly didn’t return his feelings, though I had to admit that even at that point, the last I wanted was for Pete to walk out of my life.

I was faced with a choice to continue obeying the Lord in being Pete’s friend and allowing him to be just my friend, even though I knew his feelings were much deeper my own. I remember getting *very* quiet. I didn’t discount his story, because I had had a similar encounter with the Lord a few years earlier when I wouldn’t surrender someone to Him to do with as He would. Pete’s argument that God didn’t ask people to ask Him for things wouldn’t have held water with me anyway.

Pete: In the meantime, God kept reminding me that she was His. I was not free to pursue her, even though I was falling in love with her, and quite honestly I didn’t want to! I kept trying to tell myself I couldn’t be in love with her because I was still in school. Kel demonstrated true love. She never rejected this. She went to God with it, and she encouraged me and prayed that I would seek the Lord about this as well.

Kelly: During that fall, Pete never pursued me. He was a very faithful friend, even though it was obvious that he was struggling. Often he would look away in pain or hold himself from sharing or saying something because he knew that I wasn’t ready and God hadn’t given him leave to pursue me. The ball, I knew, was in my court, and until I got some time with God, I wasn’t picking it up.

November came, and with it Thanksgiving. Pete planned on spending his Thanksgiving at home, and Kate and I were taking off for Appomattox to spend it with our family. I missed him WAY too much. The day after Thanksgiving, I called him and told him so.

He replied with an encouragement the Lord had given him over a very cool drive into the airport.

Pete: Surrounded by a thunderstorm and clouds floating in front of a very brilliant moon, I was reminded that I could only trust God with today, with what I have today. I told God I couldn’t go on, couldn’t keep doing this every day for the rest of my life. God asked me to just trust Him for today.

Kelly: Today. Today I could do. I had trusted God with yesterday, and He’d been faithful. Looking back now, I can see His gentle hand opening my heart, little bit by little bit. That Thanksgiving, He began to teach me again about thanking Him.


A *VERY* New Year

Christmas brought changes neither of us expected.

Kelly: The night of the Free Indeed concert (Free Indeed being the group that I founded and co-led with Gabe), Pete bought me a gift. It was a simple gift, just a friendship gift from a friend whose love language is gifts. He had given me things before, and I had accepted them without thought. When I opened the lighthouse necklace, however, my heart did something it had never done before. I knew I was going to have to think about it later, but I was waiting until I had some time.

I wore the necklace that night for the concert.

Pete: I was driving home. Kelly called. In a conversation about forgiveness in which she shared with me her struggle to forgive someone and have nothing left to owe him but love, I asked her to forgive him. I was driving up in the middle of a nor’easter, and stopped at a Subway in the pouring rain. Somewhere in Podunkville, Pennsylvania, it struck me that I wanted to marry Kel. That’s basically as far as the thought got, because what hit me next was the irony of my comment to God that summer after He asked me to ask for Kel, when I said I wasn’t interested in getting married, I didn’t want to get married—and here I was, thinking that I wanted to marry my best friend, the person He had used time and time again to point me to Himself. My bestest buddy.

Kelly: Awh. By the way, the run-on there was his. :-D

Pete: I emailed Kel from my sister’s home that night in regard to several conversations that we had had.

Kelly: The next morning, I was more thrilled than I should have been for where I was confessing to be about our friendship to find his missive in my inbox. His words encouraged me to take the step the Lord had been asking of me in forgiving the person who had hurt me before. He told me that he was extremely proud of me for being courageous enough to forgive, and he was probably going to be considered insane to encourage the woman he was in love with to make amends in a previous relationship. He closed his letter with an “I love you.”

I knew that the love he was offering was a friendship love, though I also knew wanted more. But he hadn’t asked, and I knew he wouldn’t unless God led him to.

Pete: And I also knew that was something that God had to do in Kelly’s heart.

Kelly: The next evening Pete was confronted about his email to me, specifically about his inappropriate relationship with a young woman. As I was the young woman in question, I thought I would shatter. Three years before, I had been confronted in a similar fashion over an email I had written about the young man that I was in love with. I felt like I was reliving that pain, and was certain that it would be only a matter of time before Pete caved to the pressure and walked away.

Pete: For me, it was a struggle between being her friend as God had led me, trying not to live out my love for her, still struggling with why God would ask me to ask Him for her, and praying that I would see her again. I was terrified that she was going to run away. I was also scared that I had misunderstood God and was only seeking what I thought was best.

Kelly: THAT was also the night that my parents had sat me down to express their concerns about my commitment to the Lord regarding my previous relationship. I called Pete, because I didn’t know who else I could talk to about it, to be met with his explanation of what had happened on his end. I had never heard someone so determined not to hate. He wasn’t angry, but deeply wounded by those he loved more than his own life. His heart was on the altar, and I knew he was losing it all because God had asked him to be my friend. God was leading him to obey Him in that commitment.

I hung up the phone that night and I knew in my heart that Pete was a man. I also knew that he was a man after God’s own heart. It had been a while since I had considered my prayer for such a man, but God brought it to mind that night in regard to Pete. Again, I set it aside to wait until I got to Tappahannock, where I would be spending a few days over the New Year.

Before I left my parents’ home, I shared what had happened to Pete with my parents. I remember my dad’s soft look as I told him how much I respected Pete. I think he knew then what I would soon find out for myself.

Pete: I asked Dad for help. I explained that God had called me to be Kelly’s friend, but I was terrified of stepping over that boundary, and I didn’t know if I already had. He agreed to help keep me accountable. That same night, Kel called me from Tappahannock.

Kelly: I wasted my first day at the bed and breakfast in Tappahannock. I didn’t want to admit to God that I was feeling these things. I was, after all, still bound to my own commitment to another whom I didn’t love. It served me right. I didn’t want to hear Him tell me I couldn’t love Pete. And I didn’t want Him to tell me I could! I was terrified.

The next day, however, I had a two-hour conversation with, Esther, my friend from England. She asked me some *very* pointed questions, which I answered without thinking about. I couldn’t escape them, though, and as the day wore on, I found myself trying to dodge them. I decided that I was going to rent some movies, only to discover that there was no VCR at the bed and breakfast. Desperate, I went into town to rent a VCR. There were none to be found. Finally, I went to Walmart and bought one.

It was too late. God had gotten through. On the way home, He asked me what I really wanted.

“Oh no, God. I’m not going there.”

I can be very stubborn.

“What do you want, Kelly?”

He can be more stubborn.

We kept this up (a bit longer than two hours) until I finally explained to Him exactly what I wanted.

“God, I want to love Pete, all right? I want him to be the father of my children, to be the one that I get into fights over the dishpan with, the face I wake up to in the morning, the voice I hear for the rest of my life. I want him to be my husband. I want to accept his love, and I want to love him in return!”

I was a bit frustrated with God for dragging it out of me. I’d been so good.

I didn’t know what to do once it came out. I bounced from one side of my bedroom to the other, pacing, freaking, trying to figure out what in the world had just happened. I thought about calling Kate, about calling the guy in the other relationship, and finally settled on calling my parents. I heard rumors that Dad spent most of the next day humming around the house. Mom said she’d never seen him so happy.

*wry grin*

My next step was calling Pete. He didn’t answer. I left a message.

Pete: I still have it on my phone.

Kelly: I KNEW I was going to POP.

I put my movie in and enjoyed (thoroughly enjoyed, I might add) the “Princess Diaries II.”

It had just finished when my cell phone rang.

Pete asked me what was up, and I started with, “Um, what would you do if God didn’t bring me to Tappahannock to tell me to get as far away from you as possible?”

Pete: That was the “logical” conclusion I had reached before I went home for Christmas.

I said, “what?” And she repeated herself. I queried for more information, “What are you saying, exactly?”

She hemmed and hawed for a bit, and then came out with, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

I fell into a snowbank at that point, for the record.

Kelly: You didn’t!

Pete: I did! It was one of those things where I went, “Ah….!!!” And fell backwards into a snowbank.

Six and a half hours later, we hung up. It was 4:30 on the morning of December 31st. I, of course, wanted to do what any self-respecting, manly 23-year-old guy would do—I went and got my mommy up.

Mom was intent on praying about it, which she did with me, and my parents promised to continue. I called Kelly’s dad from an Exxon station in Nuagola, Pennsylvania.

The Proposal from Kelly's Perspective

Our New Address

We know it! God gave us a beautiful place to rent after we get married in October, and we have an address! It's perfect!

Picture this: You pull into your very own tree-lined driveway and find yourself in another world as you approach the gray/brown-sided house that used to be a barn. You park in your own garage (a carport created from a section of the barn) and climb the steps in the shade of the woods to open the door to what will be your very own house. If you look to the left, you can see the pool that the landlords said you could use for swimming (perfect for Kelly, who can only exercise in a pool!)

When you walk in the door, you see steps that have an oak finish circling up to the second floor on your left. To your right is a kitchen with dark green counters and cupboards with a light finish, complete with new appliances . Through the kitchen, you can see a dining room with two windows that opens into a cozy living room done in white and taupe that has another window! There is a gas fireplace in the living room, and all of the floors on the lower level are hardwood.

If you go to the left when you walk in the door and take the curving stairs up to the second floor, you find a full bathroom at to the right that has a tub that is low enough for Kelly to get into without a problem. Just outside the bathroom is the stackable washer/dryer combination. Directly ahead of you is the room that we will use for our bedroom, a room that has two windows that face east, so we can watch the sunrise! If you go to your right, there is another room with two windows that we are going to use as a study so Pete can have a place to do his work. This one has an interesting shape, with a small alcove as you walk in the door that opens up to a full room as you round the corner. The upstairs rooms have white berber carpeting and closets and extra storage in cubbies behind the walls.

Kelly: It's totally a God thing. Do you ever get the feeling that He has just blessed you beyond belief? I mean... I struggle so much believing that He would actually give me things I desire that I couldn't even ask Him for this, and yet... It's more perfect than I could have imagined, right down to the tub and the use of the pool! I didn't do anything to deserve this... didn't trust Him, didn't dare hope... But He is so good anyway. I get so caught up with trying to deserve what He gives, that I don't know how to be blessed or how to accept His gifts. But first He gives me Pete, now this house... My heart is opening with excitement--what is He going to do next?

Pete: I tried talking to God about it. I can't think of what to say other than "Wow" and "Thank you."

Our new address as of September (when Kelly moves in) will be:

36810 Stone Meadow Lane
Purcellville, VA 20132

Wedding Party

Our wedding party is an eclectic group of people who, for some seriously demented reason or another, actually LIKE us, and even claim to LOVE us, which seems unbelievable, except for the number of times they have proved it.

Seriously, though, there were so many people we wanted to ask to be a part of our wedding, but costs and practicalities run high at these things, so we had to limit ourselves. Thank you to all of you for your love and support for us, and for being willing to stand up with us, however embarrassing it may turn out to be!

(Kelly: Yes, you should take that as a warning!)

Here are the chosen.

Pete: Picture little green aliens... "Oooooohhh.... You have been chosen...."
Kelly: It won't be THAT bad.

Maid of Honor :
Kate Langner (who won't be walking the aisle without a miracle that turns her into Cinderella which, to Kelly's chagrin, is NOT likely in the next millienium. DARN for Prince Charming.)

UPDATE: It happened. She is now walking the aisle, hurray!

Bridesmaids:
Joli Chism
Christy Du Mee
Leeann Walker
April Quarto
Ashley Trim

Best Man:
Alan Sauer (Pete's dad. In case you were wondering.)

Groomsmen:
Courtney Canfijn
Gabriel JOHN Waddell
Fred Spielman
Corey McLaughlin
Joseph Moss

(How's THAT for an ethnic round-up?)

Pete: You forgot a large Atlantic Cod named Phil "Braintree, Massachusetts" Bankhead.
Kelly: THAT would be Prince Charming.

All in all, it appears to work out to twelve people who will be standing at the front with the couple. Who knows, though. Anything could happen.

And then there are the ushers...

Daniel Mitchell
Joshua Langner
Joel Langner
William Estrada

Welcome aboard, guys!

Twelfth Night: Custody of "The Platter"

On Monday night, Pete and I hosted our first annual Twelfth Night party. Being newly married, we understand the importance of creating our own family traditions, and since all of our other holidays were booked, we decided to create a Twelfth Night celebration--a few days late.

The invitation email went out the day of the party and read:

A Cock-Eyed (er... Cockney) Evening

Most of you know about and have been looking forward to our joint jewellry this evening.

For dinner and treats, we'll be serving wig with eyes on feet with head, followed by a dessert fondue made of stairs. To avoid wife, we'll avoid the missis, horse, and watch.

Come meet Road at Soap tonight, seven-o-clock on the nose.

If you expect to gain any idea from this email of what is going on tonight for our "Un-Twelfth Night Party", just be aware that you may all expect anything.

Our house. 7:00. Be there. (Click here for directions)

Your somewhat sincere, albeit well-meaning hosts,

~Pete-n-Kelly~
P.S. translation below...

Most of you know, and have been looking forward to our joint tom-foolery this evening.

For dinner and treats, we'll be serving syrup of figs with mince pies on plates of meat with a loaf of bread, followed by a dessert fondue made of apples and pears. To avoid trouble and strife, we'll avoid cheese and kisses, bottle of sauce, and bottle of Scotch.

Come meet Frog and Toad at Cape of Good Hope tonight, seven-o-clock on the nose.

(Pete has this really great new book of total randomnity... :-D)

At 7:00pm, as scheduled, the party commenced.

We played a few rousing rounds of Catch-Phrase, in which we learned that girls know nothing about sports, boys are very loud, Gabe is very particular about particulars, and Vanessa believes there is a Seattle baseball team called the Seattle Sea Lions. Chris is terrified of the buzzer, and Katie holds the record for the most buzzes.

After that, it was on to a short name game in which we experienced imitations of such random characters as Scott Somerville, Spartacus, and Zelda the Warrior Princess. I think.

Then it was on to the evening's real entertainment: "Family Court:" A custody battle between the newly-freed Katie and John Caleb, who just finished their second-year finals. The battle? Who should *not* gain custody of "The Platter."

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, we'll let them tell the story.

Gabe, counsel for Plaintiff Katie Schlaak, kept ticking off Judge Random. This had some rather nasty consequences.

Examining "The Platter" that Plaintiff Katie was "too feminine" to own.

Plaintiff Katie--Does that laughter look a bit horrified to you?

Defense Counsel Will stands up to object to Expert Witness Abigail's testimony. "The fact that there is no pink on that platter is no reason that my client should be the one to have custody!"

Defendants could not keep straight faces. It seriously affected their credibility.

Defense Counsel insulted Bailiff Vanessa, who had to be restrained by a higher authority. The offense? Will's sea lion imitation: "ARP, ARP!

Expert Witness Abigail--zany femininity personified. "The Rose always helps!"

Or not.

Defense Counsel had serious trouble being serious for his closing arguments. Which were already closed because Defense had rested by the time the Plaintiffs presented their first witness.

Judge Random, now Witness Random, had some trouble staying awake to be sworn in by Bailiff. (Please note that CD case is not a Bible.)

The evidence of Defendant JC's insanity: A can-opener and rubber gloves, brought onto the premises on Defendant's person.

Judge Random would not allow the evidence to be admitted.

Objection! Intimidation of Counsel!

"Very well. We shall prove which one of you deserves custody of 'The Platter.' Cut it in half, and we shall see who the real owner is!"

Abigail was the real owner.

They couldn't believe it! Witness Abigail's amazing generosity stunned Vanessa.

And Chris.

All agreed: it was an extremely fun party.

And who knows where "The Platter" will end up next?

Directions to Our Place

Follow Main Street (Business 7) through Purcellville toward Round Hill until you're almost out of town.

Turn left at the 7/11 onto Rt. 690S.

Follow 690 South to Colchester Road and turn left onto Colchester.

When you reach the STOP sign at Telegraph Springs Road, turn left again onto Telegraph Springs.

Turn right at Stonemeadow Lane.

Our downhill driveway is the fourth driveway on the left, marked by a smallish black mailbox with 36810 on it.

If you need help, call us at (703) 727-4220 or (703) 297-6059.