2.3 //I do not like Valentine's Day [Part 2]

//Confession: I do not like Valentine's Day [part 2] 

Catch up here if you need to.

So about a year ago I got a text from this guy, who I would call a good friend, that indicated he would like to "DTR", as my roommate put it. (For those like me who have no idea what this means, it's "define the relationship.") Apparently our friendly conversations had increased so much so that we were teetering between friends and well, more than that. I, however, was a bit oblivious to that fact. Fearful I would lose a good friend I hesitated, but only long enough to realize this guy was perfect and I'd be an idiot not to see what could be. 

After all these days gone by, it's clear to me that I had nothing to do with this arrangement; you don't find a guy like Chase by chance. God went to great lengths to arrange for Chase and I to be where we are today. Hours of prayer, skype, phone calls, flights, and miles have gone into the love that I get the privilege of enjoying. That's the real gift for me; this isn't something out of a movie or fairytale. It's work... and somehow easy at the same time. But more than any of that I have found a man who loves Jesus more than he loves me. Who teaches me what it means to love like Christ, in the way he treats me. Who prays for me instead of trying to fix me. 

I could never thank Chase enough for all the ways he loves me. Though, I have made my attempts. 

Here are [some of] of the best I've ever given:

I am not an artist. I do not claim to be, but for some reason I had an urge to make a flip book that illustrated that whole 'girl meets boy' thing... and it needed to include an air balloon. It was a valiant effort at being cute, if anything.

Chase and I connected at a debrief after extended stints overseas (his in India, mine in Poland). One of my fondest memories is sitting around playing games like 'zip/bong' and a card game called nertz with Chase and mission friends. One year later to the day, Chase was planned to arrive for his second trip to Florida. I wanted to give him something that captured inside jokes, memories, and favorite things. So I took a deck of cards and printed my favorite 'Chase things' on them... 52 weeks after we partnered up to play nertz together. It was so fun to make.

If you know anything about Chase, it's that the boy has talents that go beyond architecture. While in Texas over the summer, he spent some time teaching me the in's and out's of Adobe illustrator. So for his birthday I did my best to utilize his teaching by creating a little piece of artwork. Made of memories, lyrics, inside jokes, and prayers, words come together to illustrate Texas, Florida, and Virginia.

This bracelet with a message in braille is a bit difficult to explain without knowing us, but i'll just say it's a pretty neat little gift.

Chase & I love questions. We have spent hours asking one another random questions. This is a custom Jenga I created with questions and challenges on each piece.

I'm thankful for the gift that I didn't see coming.//