God's Blessings...
Well, the truth is I read a lot of LiveJournal posts, which keeps me updated on all of your lives, but I rarely post myself...thus you have no clue what may or may not be occurring in my life! Ever since the TN trip in July I've wanted to keep more in touch with you all...but, of course, just never got around to it. So, now I want to really start this thing up right, and update at least once a week! I love reading some of your posts...they can be so entertaining, funny, deep, filled with spiritual insights ETC! So, if you know anyone that should have my LiveJournal sn or anyone else's that I need to have--please do let me know!
Ahh...this Thanksgiving has definitely got to be one of the most memorable. I don't even know where to start...it's only been one month, and yet there is so much to tell! So I guess I'll just blurt it out...drum roll please.........on Thanksgiving night Jack and I made our courtship/dating whatever you want to call this "God directed love connection experience" official. It's so crazy...I'm truly in a state of shock at God's goodness and faithfulness seemingly out of no where. Jack came into my life when I least expected it...
So, who *is* Jack you may ask? Well, I first met Jack on Oct. 29 at a 707 bonfire. I met up with a group of friends there (of which Jack wasn't even apart of) and was mingling about having a great time of friends and fellowship when I noticed a guy across the fire wearing a big jacket with SFD written on the back. I asked my friend Angela (who works in ER with me) if she thought he *really* worked for the Strongsville Fire Department or if he just got it at the Salvation Army or something lol. She said "Oh no, that's Jack, I grew up going to Grace CM&A with him and he IS a Strongsville firefighter. I actually told him about you last week. We ran into each other at the mall and I told him that you (meaning me, Rachel) helped me get the job in ER." Angela then encouraged me to talk to him and I was adamantly against it:-P Eventually I did go over and talk to him, used my do you actually work for the SFD or did you get this at the Salvation Army line…we talked for a good 15 minutes-about ER and his job and then parted ways. Never thought a thing about it. I spent time with friends that night and in the coming week and never really thought much about Jack.
Jack brought in a few patients into ER via squad (ambulance) and came to visit me. We would chat and that would be the end of it. Then one Saturday I worked dayshift and then went to a pasta dinner with my team that went down to Louisiana. I had apparently forgotten my coat in ER, so on the way home I stopped to get it and saw a Strongsville squad in the ambulance bay….hmm, I wonder if it could be Jack??:-) Well, it sure was, we talked and then raced each other home on the highway, me in my little Honda, Jack driving the ambulance. (the station he was at that night is seriously 2 minutes from my house!). We said we’d look for each other at 707 the next day, but never saw eachother.
Another week goes by….saw Jack in ER again, we talked and he said he was going to the 4:30 707 the next Sunday. I told him that was too early, I normally go to 6:30 or 8:30…to which he replied, “Then, I’ll be there Sunday, at 6:30, and will see you.”
So, long story short, we went to 707 together, sat together-the sermon was on relationships:-D. During the offering time we both were praying separately and then stood up at the end of the service. I couldn’t get the smile off my face and I just looked at his smiling face…and it was like we both just KNEW that this was from God and said at the same time, “yeah….”:-) After the service we went to a Browns/Steelers football party with some of my old co-workers from 2 North, then we headed (all spontaneous mind you) to my friend Josh’s house for another football extravaganza. There he met a lot of my hospital friends-Josh, Jenn, Mitch, Jaci etc.
And thus started our relationship…we talked or text messaged everyday for the next week and then went to see “Walk the Line” about Johnny Cash that next Friday night with my friends Shannon and Ethan and Renee and Mark. That was a blast…afterward we all went to Perkins and sat and talked for hours.
Then last Tuesday we went to dinner with some of my old LCCC school friends. He got to meet Phil, my big brother and one of my best friends. That was awesome…to get the approval of Phil, Shan, Ethan, Renee, Mark, Josh and Jenn, Mitch and Jaci from the start. On the separate occasions that we were with all of them, we just all seemed to get along and fit together:-)
Then on Thanksgiving Day I worked 12 hours, 7am-7pm. Afterward he invited me over to his place (he owns a condo in Middleburgh Heights very close to the hospital and lives with his brother Jaime and roommate Allan). He had thought of everything! He had a fire burning in the fireplace, a sweatshirt ready for me to put on (I was still in scrubs from work and he knows I get cold!), blueberry muffins he had made for me, soup ready to put on the stove and movies ready to watch. He also gave me this little stop-watch thing that I can put on my stethoscope at work:-)
After the movie we talked and talked. We both were so open and honest. It’s like God had just given us both a confirmation that yes…this is it!:-) This is the one that God has been preparing me for…this is the one I have been praying for…this is the one I have been saving myself for. We were both so at peace, so amazed at God’s goodness, God’s faithfulness and God’s amazing mercy and grace. We ended the night holding each other as Jack started to pray…asking God for direction for this relationship, for guidance and wisdom….that we would follow in His steps and honor Him in all we do. He prayed that God would use us in amazing and powerful ways together, and for His glory. Yeah, talk about an amazing moment. I still can’t even believe it happened!
Yesterday Jack came over, met the whole fam and we watched our traditional family Thanksgiving movies…On Moonlight Bay and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (both with Doris Day). He fit in with the fam and I can’t wait for more opportunities for him to get to know us all.
So that’s my story…God is so faithful and good. 2005 was definitely the best Thanksgiving ever!! Jack is more than I could have ever asked for or imagined. I thought my “ideal” didn’t exist. But, God cannot be limited. He is so good…and the confirmation I have in my heart, that this truly is *it* is something I never thought could be possible. But, *anything* is possible with our God! I’ll definitely be keeping you all posted! Someone hold me accountable to updating at least once a week…please!!!!:-)
Praising Him all the day long,
Rachel
Ahh...this Thanksgiving has definitely got to be one of the most memorable. I don't even know where to start...it's only been one month, and yet there is so much to tell! So I guess I'll just blurt it out...drum roll please.........on Thanksgiving night Jack and I made our courtship/dating whatever you want to call this "God directed love connection experience" official. It's so crazy...I'm truly in a state of shock at God's goodness and faithfulness seemingly out of no where. Jack came into my life when I least expected it...
So, who *is* Jack you may ask? Well, I first met Jack on Oct. 29 at a 707 bonfire. I met up with a group of friends there (of which Jack wasn't even apart of) and was mingling about having a great time of friends and fellowship when I noticed a guy across the fire wearing a big jacket with SFD written on the back. I asked my friend Angela (who works in ER with me) if she thought he *really* worked for the Strongsville Fire Department or if he just got it at the Salvation Army or something lol. She said "Oh no, that's Jack, I grew up going to Grace CM&A with him and he IS a Strongsville firefighter. I actually told him about you last week. We ran into each other at the mall and I told him that you (meaning me, Rachel) helped me get the job in ER." Angela then encouraged me to talk to him and I was adamantly against it:-P Eventually I did go over and talk to him, used my do you actually work for the SFD or did you get this at the Salvation Army line…we talked for a good 15 minutes-about ER and his job and then parted ways. Never thought a thing about it. I spent time with friends that night and in the coming week and never really thought much about Jack.
Jack brought in a few patients into ER via squad (ambulance) and came to visit me. We would chat and that would be the end of it. Then one Saturday I worked dayshift and then went to a pasta dinner with my team that went down to Louisiana. I had apparently forgotten my coat in ER, so on the way home I stopped to get it and saw a Strongsville squad in the ambulance bay….hmm, I wonder if it could be Jack??:-) Well, it sure was, we talked and then raced each other home on the highway, me in my little Honda, Jack driving the ambulance. (the station he was at that night is seriously 2 minutes from my house!). We said we’d look for each other at 707 the next day, but never saw eachother.
Another week goes by….saw Jack in ER again, we talked and he said he was going to the 4:30 707 the next Sunday. I told him that was too early, I normally go to 6:30 or 8:30…to which he replied, “Then, I’ll be there Sunday, at 6:30, and will see you.”
So, long story short, we went to 707 together, sat together-the sermon was on relationships:-D. During the offering time we both were praying separately and then stood up at the end of the service. I couldn’t get the smile off my face and I just looked at his smiling face…and it was like we both just KNEW that this was from God and said at the same time, “yeah….”:-) After the service we went to a Browns/Steelers football party with some of my old co-workers from 2 North, then we headed (all spontaneous mind you) to my friend Josh’s house for another football extravaganza. There he met a lot of my hospital friends-Josh, Jenn, Mitch, Jaci etc.
And thus started our relationship…we talked or text messaged everyday for the next week and then went to see “Walk the Line” about Johnny Cash that next Friday night with my friends Shannon and Ethan and Renee and Mark. That was a blast…afterward we all went to Perkins and sat and talked for hours.
Then last Tuesday we went to dinner with some of my old LCCC school friends. He got to meet Phil, my big brother and one of my best friends. That was awesome…to get the approval of Phil, Shan, Ethan, Renee, Mark, Josh and Jenn, Mitch and Jaci from the start. On the separate occasions that we were with all of them, we just all seemed to get along and fit together:-)
Then on Thanksgiving Day I worked 12 hours, 7am-7pm. Afterward he invited me over to his place (he owns a condo in Middleburgh Heights very close to the hospital and lives with his brother Jaime and roommate Allan). He had thought of everything! He had a fire burning in the fireplace, a sweatshirt ready for me to put on (I was still in scrubs from work and he knows I get cold!), blueberry muffins he had made for me, soup ready to put on the stove and movies ready to watch. He also gave me this little stop-watch thing that I can put on my stethoscope at work:-)
After the movie we talked and talked. We both were so open and honest. It’s like God had just given us both a confirmation that yes…this is it!:-) This is the one that God has been preparing me for…this is the one I have been praying for…this is the one I have been saving myself for. We were both so at peace, so amazed at God’s goodness, God’s faithfulness and God’s amazing mercy and grace. We ended the night holding each other as Jack started to pray…asking God for direction for this relationship, for guidance and wisdom….that we would follow in His steps and honor Him in all we do. He prayed that God would use us in amazing and powerful ways together, and for His glory. Yeah, talk about an amazing moment. I still can’t even believe it happened!
Yesterday Jack came over, met the whole fam and we watched our traditional family Thanksgiving movies…On Moonlight Bay and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (both with Doris Day). He fit in with the fam and I can’t wait for more opportunities for him to get to know us all.
So that’s my story…God is so faithful and good. 2005 was definitely the best Thanksgiving ever!! Jack is more than I could have ever asked for or imagined. I thought my “ideal” didn’t exist. But, God cannot be limited. He is so good…and the confirmation I have in my heart, that this truly is *it* is something I never thought could be possible. But, *anything* is possible with our God! I’ll definitely be keeping you all posted! Someone hold me accountable to updating at least once a week…please!!!!:-)
Praising Him all the day long,
Rachel