Courtship – the wooing of one person by another

Date – a social appointment, engagement, or occasion arranged beforehand with another person

Friend – a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard

Love – a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person

(definitions are from dictionary.com)

As I dug deeper into my new homeschooling lifestyle, I did get to know David and Kirk more as they were the only other homeschoolers I knew.  I was still determined that boys were no good and I wasn’t going to fall in love with either of them!

David was quiet, serious, and responsible, but he was a leader within his youth group at church.  He would organize 3-way calling groups where several youth would connect and basically have an antiquated type of conference call in the mornings prior to school.  Primarily, this was a daily prayer group.  However, as each of the others had to go to school, they would disconnect from the call.  This eventually left David & I on the phone because our school was our home.  Not long after that, we were attending the homeschool skate days together at the local skating rink and spending hours talking to one another on the phone.  Soon, our time together became a good friendship.

David was a year older than I was and was homeschooled since 6th grade.  At 16y/o (about 1 – 1 1/2 years after we met), David graduated with completion of highschool credits and started attending the local junior college.  It was around that time that we had that conversation that plays in my head still to this day.  “Do you think we are more than just friends?”…  “I don’t know, do you?”…  “Well, I like you a lot.”…

At the time, we were both in a church that was extremely conservative on the dating scene.  It was not uncommon to get a lecture from the elders just for being in a group of youth that had even numbers of girls and boys.  They certainly didn’t allow ANY touching, including just handing something to each other, and certainly not spending ANY time alone.  They did not want the youth to date or have a courtship in any sense of the modern terms.

So, that was that…  we were rebels!  We were in love!  I don’t agree with that particular church’s stance on dating, but I do think that youth need to be cautious to protect their hearts and innocence more these days.  Nevertheless, my family had gone to that church and started homeschooling which led to meeting the Johnsons, which led to me falling in love with David.  Coincidence?  I think not!  I believe it was all in one Master Plan from above.  David was meant to be in my life forever and we would have never met otherwise.  God is in control!