God has a way of steering us to the best parts of our lives sometimes through difficult and unbearable circumstances. It's our choice whether we listen and follow his guidance. Thankfully, both of us did and so it began with each of us following His word and closing painful chapters of our own before HE made a pathway to each other.

When ya know - ya know! From our 1st text messages to our 1st date in Oxford at Boure this just felt different than all the times before. Scary, exciting, hopeful, and peaceful - miles separated us and very complicated challenges awaited us (work schedules, needs/demands of 9 children between us, our habits & hobbies, and the distance from MS to TN), BUT GOD! Each and every obstacle , every mountain, HE moved... and looking back it's truly a miracle!

50 years of living gives you miles and miles of reasons to fear and worry about choices you make! Both of us had real scars that held us back sometimes from trusting in God's way through our mountains... but each step together whether at the camp in the woods exploring, rainy Sunday nights in Oxford, on the town in Memphis, or those 1st family holiday meetings, we began to see that God had a hand in this - not just us.

Our love of travel and outdoors took us to many places early on - short quick trips in the Delta, our first BIG trip together to New Orleans, then a once in a life time 50th birthday trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where we saw God's magnificence at every turn. We loved being together and sharing these experiences with each other.

It is not an easy fete to weave together the lives of 2 middle aged people with large families spread across 2 states. Thankfully, He specializes in the complicated and from the beginning began building the foundations of our relationships with each other's children, family and friends. We both love each other's kids and family as our own. Neither of us aim to take the place of the other important people in their lives, but instead to be another person to love and nurture and support them however it is best suited.

We believe in His role in our lives because we have both experienced it first hand. There are too many to count - those little God moments where we KNOW He had a direct hand in something. Two that just cannot be explained without Him, we will share with you now. The 1st is after a close friends wedding vow renewal in December of 2021, Dianna cried out to God and prayed all the way home for a love like her friend's marriage. She had been off of dating websites for many months but the day following felt Him lead her to post again. A week later, she met Ricky. At about this same time, Ricky had a conversation with his Mom about closing his last chapter and turning the page to new things, and joined for the 1st time on FB dating. The rest is history... One of the most poignant moments in our relationship was in a challenging time , when we were both wrestling with how we could make this work across states and schedules. Dianna was feeling as if she was not necessarily a top priority for Ricky with all the balls he was juggling and she prayed one Sunday morning while in Oxford that God would give her clear guidance on whether Ricky is who He wanted her to be with. In her mind while praying, the word "Cherished" came to her mind. She never uses that word - it was odd to her but she prayed over it and said Lord if he does not or will not cherish me - let me let him go. Later that same morning, before Dianna packed up to head home to Arlington, Ricky hugged her and said to her - you are a rare jewel in this world and I cherish you ! After sharing her prayer with Ricky, they both knew that this is from God and to focus 1st on Him!

There is much more to tell - but we hope you will come join us in Oxford, MS for a walk in the woods where we will share more!