As Eric and I reflect on our story, we can only begin by thanking the Lord first and foremost for His direction, timing, and perfect plan. God truly blessed the broken road that led us together and brought us a joy and love that neither of us knew we could find. We are in awe at the way He has redeemed our stories and at the new story He has begun to write for us . . .

Matchmaking - How we met

Meridith’s Side of the Story

I was a little skeptical about the whole “online dating world” but when I finally decided to give Match.com a try, I quickly stumbled upon the profile of Eric Allen. There was something about his gentle eyes and sweet smile that drew me to him and prompted me to read his profile. His profile spoke of loving the Lord, being a man of integrity, having a sense of humor, and loving to have fun. Over the next few days, his profile crossed my path a few more times and I decided to take a really scary step . . . I sent him a message, the first and only message I ever sent to reach out to someone. In God’s perfect timing, his response came on a day of closing doors of past hurts. How could I have known that this new door opening would shift the course of my entire future?

Eric’s Side of the Story

I had signed up for match but had paused for it several weeks over the holidays as I was focusing on what my life would look like in 2020. After a lot of prayer, I decided to reactivate my profile. Three days later I received a well-thought out message and was intrigued by Meridith from the start. After reading her profile, we had a lot of shared foundational interests such as our belief system, our love for the Lord, our families and our kids, and what we were looking for in a “match”. After I responded, the messaging continued quite frequently and I could already tell Meridith had the ability to pull me out of my comfort zone.

Meeting our Match - The First Date

From the very first message, we had something special. Even though we live an hour away from each other, we decided that that couldn’t stop something that might be meant to be. Messages flowed back and forth non-stop for days and we asked some really tough questions right from the get-go. (Criminal histories and credit scores were even discussed :)). Messages turned into sending pictures of our days which turned into phone calls and finally . . . our first date. Our original date got postponed because Meridith had a school board meeting. Ironically, it was supposed to be on a Tuesday which has come to be our favorite day of the week. (More to come on that later). Instead, we met in the middle at Yard House in Scottsdale.

Meridith’s Thoughts about the First Date

Okay, so meeting “in the middle” still took over an hour, so I was already having doubts about whether I wanted to do a “long distance” relationship. I knew that if I was as attracted to this man in person as I was to his beautiful heart, we were going to be doing A LOT of driving. I was really nervous and just wanted to keep my crazy under control for as long as possible. We had an amazing time. There he was on the other side of the booth, on a bench that was really low and made him look like a kid in an oversized desk, but he was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. I couldn’t get over how good he made me feel and how he was already checking off every “box” for qualities I was looking for. After 4 hours of amazing conversation and laughs and falling toward love, we were closing the place down and we decided to call it a night. He walked me to my car . . . and I allowed him to give me a hug. ;) No kissing on THIS first date, bub!

Eric’s Thoughts about the First Date

I was full of anticipation to meet Meridith after our long and sometimes late night chat conversations. Before our first date, I was more than intrigued at this point. I was attracted to Meridith’s resolve and her passion for life. She knew what she wanted and so did I. I was really nervous because this felt like more than just a meet up for dinner. I still remember her smile when she walked in the restaurant. At that moment, I felt something inside my heart shift and felt a calmness come over me like I have known her my whole life. 4 hours went by really fast as our previous chat conversations were expounded upon. I think we went through every emotion at that table while we were there. When it was time to leave I was captivated by Meridith’s heart, her sense of humor, her wittiness and her beauty. The calmness I felt earlier quickly turned to nervous anxiety as we were leaving and thinking about kissing her for the first time. No kiss that night but as I left the parking lot I knew something touched by God had just happened.

The Match Ignites - Dating

From then on, we were inseparable . . . well, about as inseparable as an hour-long drive and a COVID-19 lockdown can make a couple. Luckily we got in a couple fabulous months of “real life” before the world shut down.

On our second date, Eric came to Mer’s side of town and we hung out at a coffee shop, headed to Tortilla Flat for a hike, hung out by Canyon Lake for hours, and made dinner at my place. It was like we had known each other forever and wanted to spend every minute that we could together.

That got tricky being so far apart. We enjoyed finding restaurants all over the valley and would spend hours talking before heading back to our sides of town. We’d send each other special songs that made us think of the other, FaceTime a lot, and do whatever we could to make it work . We enjoyed day trips to Sedona and Prescott, hanging at each other’s places, movie nights, and spending time with the kiddos. Tuesdays really became “our night” as we tried to space out how much driving each of us was putting in. Eric drove out to Meridith a majority of the time, but he never minded. It was always just part of our story.

A Perfect Match - The Engagement

Meridith and the girls drove to the west side on April 18th to hang with Eric and his kids. We watched a movie and then just hung out for a while before heading to the nearby park to bbq some hotdogs. When we got there, Eric and his kids forged ahead to find an open ramada by the lake. As we got closer to the ramada, it looked like someone was already having a party there. There was a “Will You Marry Me?” banner and some vases of flowers on the table. Eric and his kids had set the whole thing up that morning and Eric got down on one knee and popped the question.

A Match Made in Heaven - Our Future

We are thrilled to see what God has in store for us and for our new family of 8. We are in the process of getting Meridith’s house up for sale so we can find and purchase our dream home. The timing of all of it is a little iffy since we are hoping to sell a house, buy a house, and move Meridith and the girls into the house all before the wedding--which as you know is coming up soon! Eric and I will be heading to Cancun for the honeymoon and will be coming back ready to start a new life together as husband and wife. Eric’s job is still on the west side, so he will be “taking one for the team” and commuting every day, a drive that he is already VERY used to since we’ve been dating. We know there is a long road ahead. We know there will be ups and downs and things that we’ll need to figure out. Joining two families takes a lot of work and a lot of changes are coming our way not just for us, but for our 6 kids. All we know for sure is that we are so thankful that we found each other and that we have a lifetime of love and happiness ahead of us.

Travel

Travel coming soon!