Our Story (or, how we met and decided we wanted to marry) In April 2006, Anna came across Brent’s Xanga blog through a webring called “Waiting for THE One God Has for Me”. She subscribed to it, not expecting to hear in person from him. A few days later, Brent emailed Anna and thanked her for subscribing to his blog, and suggested that they should chat online sometime. Anna didn’t know it at that time, but after Brent read parts of Anna’s blog, he was curious to learn more about her, and had a feeling that she could be the one that God had brought along for him! Several online chats were exchanged, and Brent asked Anna if she’d like to talk to on the phone sometime. She said she would, and cell phone numbers were exchanged. A day or so later, Brent called Anna and talked for about a half hour. After that, they began to regularly talk on the phone, which developed into a daily routine. Another routine that began within the next month or two, was praying together before bed, a tradition which has continued to this day. Brent decided to visit Anna in person the end of June, 2006. There had been many conversations by this point, and both felt that there could be something deeper. On June 29th, 2006, Brent and Anna met for the first time in person. It was a little awkward at first, having talked many times on the phone but never met, but in no time they had warmed up to each other, and spent the rest of the night watching “The Phantom of the Opera”. Brent spent a wonderful three days in North Carolina with Anna and her family, and after leaving, knew that this was a family he wanted to be a part of and the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. On July 4th, Brent sent Anna a surprise bouquet of flowers at work, with a note that said: “Dearest Anna, I miss you and I’m thinking of you. I hope this brightens your day and brings a smile to you. You are close in my heart even if we are miles apart. I love you, Brent” That was the start, and they both knew that they loved each other. Many, many visits to Pennsylvania and North Carolina followed, as well as letters and phone calls, and surprise packages and poems. Anna and Brent both talked over the next several months about various aspects of spending their lives together. These months seemed to pass so quickly in retrospect, but time slowed to a crawl in between the visits which usually happened every 2-4 weeks. There were some challenges to having a long distance relationship, the biggest which was not seeing each other as often, but their love for each other was only deepened through it all. Then, on February 16, 2007, Brent asked Anna to marry him. Of course she said yes! On April 14th, Brent moved to North Carolina and started to get established with a house and new job, since they had both decided that North Carolina was where they were going to make home together. On August 11th, 2007, Brent and Anna will begin the rest of their lives together!