Where do I begin!?

Let's start with the fact that I was interested in him for nearly 2.5 years before he became interested in me.

In those 2.5 years, I not only remained very good friends with him but also with the rest of his family.

Here's the true yet amazing story of how God called me and Uriah together.

Due to our different schedules and ministry opportunities, the month of June was going to be a month where we did not see each other. But God had other plans... In that month, I saw him twice, due to one reason or another. During this time, he had noticed for a few weeks that I hadn't been around his family's house as much. I began to be on his mind more and more, and he took it to the Lord in prayer.

In the month of June, since I was on his mind more and more, he began to pray for signs seeking if this was truly the Lord's will for him to pursue a relationship with me.

The First Sign: He prayed for me to take a bulletin from him.

Those of you who know me well know that every Friday at Ifire (Youth Group), it has become my job to get the bulletins for Sunday folded. This is one of many opportunities where Uriah and I have served together. Now, I only help fold the bulletins, I never take one because there's not enough room for me to take notes. Each week, I bring my own notebook. If you never take a bulletin, how was this sign fulfilled/answered? Thanks for asking!

Before I forget, Uriah is a door greeter and usher. He passes out the bulletins each week at the front door and before the service starts.

Ashley and I were interested in switching Hope Groups (Biblestudy), and each group is listed in the bulletin. I grabbed one from him unbeknownst to me, that he had recently prayed for me to do so. It's safe to say that after I walked around the corner, he internally freaked out. It's crazy how quickly God can answer our prayers.

The Second Sign: A phone call from... Ashley!?

Last year, I was asked to organize Camp Tikva (essentially our church's version of VBS but better) but in the state of PA. I took Ashley and one of his younger sisters, Verity, with me to PA a few days early to get everything prepped and ready for the others to arrive.

While we were there, we were tasked with making a sign so the families knew where Camp Tikva was being held.

Uriah is known for being creative and building amazing things. For the last few years, he has made a Camp Tikva shirt. Since Ashley and Verity are more artsy, they wanted to see the design of that shirt and incorporate it into the sign we were making.

We decided that we needed to call Uriah to get top secret information on the design. I wanted to be the one to call him, but I was already interested in him at the time, and Ashley and I both agreed it would be wiser for her to call him. Now I know why... it was God answering Uriah's prayers. I'm so thankful we were able to listen and follow God's guidance in that moment.

Long story short things ended up not working out last year for PA Tikva, and we had to head home early. This is important to the story because I'm about to see Uriah again. If everything worked out according to what we thought would happen, I wouldn't have seen him for a month.

Verity, Ashley, and I headed back to the Niemi home to drop off Verity. We ended up getting invited to stay for dinner and got to hang out with their family (which we love doing!). We shared photos and stories, and yep, you guessed it, Uriah was at the table listening to all we had to say.

Later on that week, he would be headed to AK for Camp Tikva there, and he'd run into my parents at the airport (They were flying back from the trip to HI). My mom recognized him, and they chatted for a little bit. He told me later that he considered asking my parents then, but he decided to wait and spend some more time praying it over in AK.

Roughly two weeks have now passed, and it is July 5th. I finally get to see Uriah at Ifire and hear all about his experience. I debated whether or not I was actually going to start a conversation, but I decided to be bold and did. He showed me pictures of AK and told me some stories and then...

Out of nowhere, he turns to me and says, "You should come over dinner on Sunday." It was at that moment that the pit in my stomach dropped (in a good way), and I knew he felt the same way about me that I felt about him.

How was I able to figure it out by those 7 words? I'm not sure, maybe intuition. I have a knack for figuring stuff out unintentionally. It was a dead giveaway when he was the one who invited me over because, to my knowledge, he had never done so before.

That Sunday, he did indeed ask me into a courtship. We went downtown with his family and got ice cream and went by the river conveniently next to the ice cream place. I sat on a rock by the water, enjoying my ice cream, and I turned around to see Ashley talking to Uriah (At that point, she was informing him that I was on to him and knew what was about to happen next).

He came over to the rock I was sitting on and asked if I'd like to go for a walk. I said sure, and we got up and walked along the river. I will never forget that as he's probably building the courage to ask me into a courtship, he said something like, "I don't know why I am so nervous." I thought that was the cutest thing because he didn't know that I had been interested in him for quite some time.

He finally asked me if I'd consider entering a courtship with him, and he explained all of which I have explained to you now about the signs he prayed for and how God very clearly and quickly answered his prayers. I told him I needed some time to pray about it, and I was able to give him my answer of "Yes!" 24 hours later.

There is so much more to this story even though it has just begun. God has clearly been working in our lives as we've gotten to know each other more and fall in love. If you'd like to hear more about our story, please don't hesitate to ask. I have many more stories and reasons to thank God. Thanks for reading!