Our Story - by Carrie

James and I met June 4 at a singles hike.  We even have a picture from that day!  James was the only person I hadn’t met previously.   We went on an orienteering hike, and then another hike to a waterfall.  Some of the group conversation revolved around relationships, and I was happy that James seemed to have healthy/optimistic attitudes about dating.  I found out that he was recently divorced with five children.  One of my friends on the hike asked me if I was interested in him, and I had to admit that I was.  He seemed really nice, mild mannered, interested in hiking and not bad looking. 

We ran into each other again in July at the DC Singles Conference and talked some more, but I was dating someone else at the time.  Just before the Labor Day weekend my sister sent me a note that her family would be praying and fasting for me that weekend.  I had been thinking about James and how I would like to get to know him better.  I decided to visit the Potomac ward where James attended church to see if I could run into him.  It was a successful visit, and I had a hard time focusing on the rest of church.  Having exchanged contact information, I then proceeded to invite James over for a game night and was happy that he could make it.  James and I proceeded to date, and were exclusive by October.  We have had fun visiting lighthouses, dancing, dressing up for Halloween, cooking together and more.  It’s nice that we have so much in common and it’s good to do fun things together, but it’s the gospel discussions, sharing of hopes and fears, and other deep discussions that really helped our relationship grow.  We were both amazed by the impressions that came, the confidence that grew, how quickly concerns were resolved, and the similarities in some of our life experience and attitudes.  It was November before I met his kids, and December 24th we were engaged.  While our relationship may have moved fast by many standards, we both felt the spirit confirm pretty early that our relationship was a really good thing.  So, I’m a fan of small group activities, a lot of prayer, a little initiative, and of course faith and patience in the Lord’s timing!