Our Love Story: Part 2

Part 2:

This is the second part of my Love Story. :) If you didn't read the first part you can find it by clicking HERE.  So...I think the turning point was a Young Adults retreat that we both attended in May.  There were about 20 of us there and it was such a great experience. (Let me add that living in Russia has created so many wonderful friendships and I don’t know what I would do without them.  Eric often refers to our Young Adults Bible Study as his family.)  At the retreat, I noticed his passion for the Lord and for His word.  After one of the sessions, I saw him standing there and thought, “I haven’t talked to Eric in a while. And he looks cute in his baseball t-shirt.” :)  So I asked him how he was and we talked for a while.  After that, he was now on my “radar.” You ladies know what I mean.  I was aware of where he was the rest of the retreat and felt a small desire in my heart to know more about him.  When we were in the same area, I knew where he was in the back of my mind.  I also started to notice when girls would talk to him at church and I started to feel that small pang of jealousy.

Later that month, I was able to attend his baptism.  What an amazing experience that was.  I can’t really describe being in Moscow, watching dozens of people dressed in white publicly confessing their faith in Jesus Christ and watching them all take communion after.  It was great to be able to share that experience with Eric.  It seems as though God’s timing is perfect.  Well, it doesn’t “seem”, it is.  Had I gone home earlier that summer like everyone else, "Eric and I" would never have been.  If Amber hadn’t decided to have her wedding at that time I would have already been in Minnesota.  My roommate, Amber, planned her wedding for the beginning of July.  My friend, Sarah, and I made a plan to go to her wedding, waiting in Moscow until July 1^st.  I, then, flew to the East coast for the wedding and then flew home.  Because of this, I was in Moscow trying to find a nanny job and Eric was trying to win me over (which was not very hard.) :) 

The Baptism

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There's Eric.  He went last.

Just friends.

I went to lunch with him and Alvin after church during the end of June.  I found out that someone they knew was very pregnant and did not have a stable place to live.  Since I was living alone at the time with two empty rooms, I invited her to stay with me.  The most important detail was that she didn’t speak English, only French.  Since Eric already knew her, he would come over and translate.  Also, he would just be there so she would have someone to talk to…AND…just in case her water broke, he would be there to support her.  (After I left, she stayed with other friends and had a beautiful baby girl on July 10th.)  We called her and told her the news.  While we waited for her to come to Moscow, Eric and I had coffee at Starbucks.  For some reason the conversation turned to marriage.  He asked what I would like my future husband to be like.  So I said something like, “Loves the Lord, taller than me, funny"…and so on.  Then I asked him what characteristics he would like in a wife.  Then he said, “Well, all the characteristics that you have.”  I was like, “Really??”  I really didn’t know what to say.  We had to go and didn’t talk about it more. 

Here's the beautiful Katya that was born 10 days after I flew home.

On Tuesday of that week, Eric had to give his testimony at Bible study.  I sat there listening to him talk about how God brought him to Moscow and how thankful he is for all his struggles.  This might be weird, but I suddenly had this picture in my mind of him somewhere else and a child running up to him and him lifting it in the air.  It was a fleeting vision/feeling that got me thinking.  With this sort of vision came a sense of peace that this might be something to pursue.  Not having children with him! :) But seeing if starting a relationship with him was something that God had planned.  I texted him that night and told him that we needed to talk.

We met for coffee the next day.  I had to know what his intentions were.  So asked him, “What do you mean when you say I have all the characteristics of someone that you would want to marry?  What does that mean??  Are you just being nice?  Or does that mean that you can see yourself marrying me??”  So basically he said that he sees all the qualities in me that he’s been looking for.  Things are not done the same way in his culture like they are done in mine.  I had to explain that people normally date before you say that you want to marry them. :)  You date for a while…then you are engaged for a while…and then you get married.  So we decided to take it slow.  I think I really had a hard time saying yes, I’m going to date this man with the intention of marriage.  Because that just seemed crazy.  Marrying someone from a different country, while living in a foreign country, who did not have a visa to the current country…etc??  I prayed about it and right before I left, we decided to “date” long distance over the summer.

To be continued...again... :)