I vividly remember the night.  I was lying alone in bed, thanking God for bringing me through the last several months of life-changing heartbreak.  My financial and emotional life was in turmoil but I was closer to God than ever before and he gave me a hope as I cried out to him for my heart’s desire. 

A few days before, I had signed up for ChristianMingle to start “looking around”, but this night I decided to be more intentional with my search.  I probably clicked through hundreds of local profiles when I decided to broaden my search to a larger town an hour away.  Shortly thereafter, my life changed forever. 

 

When I saw her face smiling at me from my laptop, I smiled to myself.  Her loving eyes and adorable face made me beam, and I haven’t stopped since.  Although I thought she was far too pretty to be attracted to me, I saw a button on the webpage that allowed me to “smile” at her.  It was a very safe way to let her know that her lovely pictures made me smile. 

Much to my surprise, Christine smiled back at me the next day and through a series of emails back and forth, we set up our first meeting. 

I knew from her pictures that she was stunningly beautiful, but no picture could prepare me for seeing her in person.  When she walked into the restaurant, she took my breath away.  I managed to compose myself for the next hour and we talked and shared our stories with one other.  The highlight of our first “date” was certainly the look on her face when we realized that we each had 2 sons with the same names, Dillon/Dylan and Logan.  You really can’t make up stuff like this!!

From that moment on, I knew she would become my wife.  My soul felt connected to her in a way I had never felt before.  Until that day, I had never believed in love at first sight.  I had even scoffed at some “chick flicks” that try to capture that magical moment.  Then it happened to me. 

The next 18 months was just confirmation of what my heart and my soul knew all along.  I would get to know this beautiful woman better and better each day, working through the challenges that come with starting a new relationship at this stage of our lives. 

Finally, on June 7th, we had the only day that could eclipse that first day.  The captivating woman with the stunning smile became my wife.  We chose to fly out to Las Vegas and have an intimate ceremony just for us.  To say it was perfect doesn’t even come close to describing the day.  Magical, life-changing, fun, beautiful and loving, are just a few words I would use to attempt to capture the essence of this amazing day.  Thankfully, our families got to enjoy watching the ceremony online and were able to congratulate us on Facebook as the ceremony went on.  It was a very appropriate exclamation point on a magical love story started online, with a smile, on ChristianMingle.