From the Archives - Part Two

Today marks the third month of our engagement! In honor of the occasion, Sarah and I have been looking at some things from our past, and we are bringing them to you in a two part series called From the Archives. We hope you have enjoyed Part One, and here in Part Two, we reveal an actual exchange between Sarah and Blake within the first week of their aquaintance! Note: As stated before, this blog is more for Sarah and Blake than anyone else, so understand the following has limited interest to other people! but I still think it's pretty cool!

blakolawesome: hey sarah,
BkReader0221: yeah?
blakolawesome: have any of the people from your highschool or friends your own age like, been crazy and gotten married?
BkReader0221: yeah.....im the only girl at my church now who has not been engaged by 18....all my other friends were engaged by 18 and married by 19
blakolawesome: what!
BkReader0221: haha
blakolawesome: no way!!!
BkReader0221: yeah, technically, im an old maid
BkReader0221: lol
blakolawesome: I wasn't going to be surprised if you knew some who were married,
blakolawesome: but I thought it would be like two or three
BkReader0221: no, its like 6 
blakolawesome: that is soooo crazy sarah
blakolawesome: don't they realize?
blakolawesome: not to be like, mean or anything, but I kind of see it seriously as a way to 'play grown-up'
BkReader0221: yeah, well, alot of those girls didnt believe in going to college, they believe a womans place is to get married and be a home maker
BkReader0221: only one of the girls stuck with college
BkReader0221: and she'll be graduating this year
BkReader0221: and shes having a baby too
blakolawesome: did they marry guys their age or like, older??
BkReader0221: umm, now to think of it, they were all older 
blakolawesome: I was thinking about my good brother Mark
blakolawesome: and how he has a girlfriend now, and everyone at the church just knows they are going to get married
blakolawesome: and she jokes about it and like, says he's just 'stalling'
blakolawesome: he just turned 21 and she's 22 actually
blakolawesome: and like, I really feel sorry for poor Mark
BkReader0221: why? does he not want to get married? 
blakolawesome: no I feel sorry for him because he DOES want to get married
blakolawesome: haha
BkReader0221: what? why do you feel sorry for him then? 
blakolawesome: oh, maybe you don't understand? marriage is a death-trap
BkReader0221: excuse me? 
blakolawesome: haha just kidding, but like, I have these mixed feelings about it
BkReader0221: how so? 
blakolawesome: because I actually don't believe in marriage without bearing children
BkReader0221: yeah 
blakolawesome: and I don't believe in bearing children without being responsible
blakolawesome: and I don't believe in being responsible without being at least like, 25
BkReader0221: I believe that there has to be responsibility, but there is no real age at which someone becomes responsible.....one of the girls at my church who had a baby when she was 20, is one of the most responsible moms I ever met 
blakolawesome: that's good, but it's so rare
blakolawesome: did any of those girls who got married do so like, without having children on purpose for a while?
BkReader0221: well, only the one girl who decided to finish college 
blakolawesome: well you seem to know some pretty good people
blakolawesome: and I guess it's because of the church you go to
blakolawesome: but I know more than few people who have gotten married
blakolawesome: and if they had thought that marriage means having children too
blakolawesome: then they would have known it was way too soon
BkReader0221: but its not like you have to have kids right away 
blakolawesome: I mean, what I'm saying is that young people getting married just to get married and not for ministry, and not for holiness, and not for having children right away is such a wrong reason
blakolawesome: oh it's not like you have to--but it IS like you can't try and prevent it
blakolawesome: if you know what I mean
BkReader0221: yeah 
blakolawesome: any two people getting married should be completely ready for children to come right away
blakolawesome: and I know so many who just got married and they know they can't have kids yet
BkReader0221: what about enjoying married life for a bit before having kids?
BkReader0221: thats what my parents did
BkReader0221: like they new they wanted kids
BkReader0221: but they waited a bit
blakolawesome: that's for God to decide for you, though sarah
blakolawesome: and it's not our place to say we would enjoy ANYTHING without God's blessing on it
blakolawesome: but that attitude seems to say 'I don't care what would honor God, I want to enjoy this now'
BkReader0221: God ordained marriage to be a representation of Christs love for us......im not saying a diagree with you, im just saying that....well, im not sure what im saying
BkReader0221: lol
blakolawesome: I totally used to think the same thing, and I always always said that I want to get married and then wait a few years before having kids to really have a great marriage
blakolawesome: but now I understand so much more about satisfaction in God only
blakolawesome: and I say why would I ever assume I could plan the best marriage or family?
BkReader0221: true 
blakolawesome: if God wants my marriage to have kids immediately, it doesn't matter what we do to prevent it, we will have them
blakolawesome: if God wants us to be just together for a few years, it doesn't matter how hard we try to have kids, we won't have them
BkReader0221: I agree with what your saying there 
blakolawesome: Psalm 127:4
Like arrows in the hand of a warriorare the children of one's youth.
blakolawesome: sometimes I really believe I'm either going to never marry and be in ministry to the world my whole life, or marry and have like 11 kids and have a ministry of a godly family
BkReader0221: you could also marry and go into ministry with your family 
blakolawesome: right, but we both know it would be different that way. of course if I had family I would be in ministry regardless,
BkReader0221: what about missionary families? 
blakolawesome: haha maybe that will be me
blakolawesome: but still, there's a lot more to consider with the family that I wouldn't on my own
BkReader0221: thats always true 
blakolawesome: like... having life insurance, lol
BkReader0221: haha

From the Archives

Here's something Sarah dug up when we were talking about the first time I ever wrote her a message. It's the first real communication from me to her. Note: the photo for Sarah's profile did NOT look like that on December 27th, 2005. That is the current picture as of today--the archive photos are updated.



We have also been getting some exact dates for our 'firsts' because pretty soon we will be celebrating 1 year anniversaries for many of them!

First Message to Sarah - December 27th, 2005
First Phone call - December 28th, 2005
First IM Conversation - January 2nd, 2006
First Meeting (Even though Sarah saw me at the student building before this and was too scared to tell me hi!) - January 16th, 2006
First Time Meeting Sarah's Family - February 18th, 2006
First Time Talking to Parents About Courting - April 8th, 2006
Officially Courting - April 13th, 2006
Asking Sarah's Dad to Marry Sarah - September 3rd, 2006
Buying the Ring(We had been looking for a ring for a few weeks already) - September 4th, 2006
Getting Engaged to Sarah - September 8th, 2006

Now it's December 8th, 2006 and we are celebrating our 3 month engagement anniversary by taking a look at how God has been at work in our relationship. And thank the Lord I had my last college exam today--making me officially a college graduate!

P.S. - If anyone can correctly guess the date of our first kiss, we will give them a prize ;)