i am amazed at the work god does. it is incredible...and the great thing is, is that his hand is at work everywhere, and people are in awe and glorifying him all over the world. i enjoy talking to people, hearing what is going on in their life, and realizing how present God is in their life. it is a blessing to be a child of god and be around all his miracles.

the main miracle and blessing i am currently overwhelmed with is by jared and i's relationship. i mean, it is a dream to marry someone that i s perfect for me....and it is a bonus to have known him for so long. its funny to think about when we were in high school, and i clearly remember the classes i had with jared. one in particular, junior english, jared and i sat next to eachother (good old alphabetical order! cantrell, clayton). he sat right in front of me, and we sat on the right hand side of the room. i would always be distracted by what he was doing. often, he would be drawing in the style of pointillism. i was always disappointed when he would miss class (which was fairly often at this point in his life). it was like something was missing from my life. throughout high school, we were pretty good friends...and nothing more. we never dated, although we dated each others friends. now, i am thankful that we never dated, because we both agree that we prob wouldnt be where we are today if we did. i always had a lot of respect for him even back then.

jared and i also had another connection, through our brothers' friendship...will and aaron. they were best friends in high school and we saw each other a lot...which enabled us to get close to each others brothers and families as well. in high school, i began going over to the cantrell house once in awhile, mainly with will and we would just hang out...mostly at the kitchen counter. i always remembered that as such a comfortable place for me to be. when our family moved to chicago, my brother and i would make random trips to indy, and i always made an effort to stop by the cantrell house....and if i was lucky, jared would be there.

during college, jared and i still would hang out....but i had a boyfriend at the time. its funny because my old boyfriend always saw jared and his brother as a threat...for real!! now, i know why :) hahahahaha.

the summer before i left for ecuador, my brother and i went bowling with jared and aaron. we had such a fun time. during my first year in ecuador, i didnt hear much from jared...except when i would go home for breaks...he always seemed to call once while i was home...which i always thought was kind of odd because i wondered why he would call. still, i always enjoyed talking to him and we always ended up talking for a long time.

during my second year in ecuador, i would get random emails from kim sharing with me what was going on and shared prayer requests for jared as well. in february, i went for a morning run and specifically thought about jared and prayed for him. when i got back from my run, i got an email from jared (first one ever)! it was short and sweet...which started our relationship. from that email, we caught back up on our lives and i started praying for our future. seriously, i started praying about getting married from that day....and continued to up until we did get married. i always prayed for God's will and perfect timing for our relationship.

that summer, i went over to jared's house for a cook out with some of his friends. at the time, i was with my friends and we were going to stop by for an hour before we went down to bloomington to hang out. however, i didnt want to leave. it was so nice to be back at the cantrell house, and be around jared. the WHOLE time i was looking at him and thinking if i could marry him. he thought i liked someone else who was at the gathering.

basically, two days later, we were on the phone talking about marriage. a day or so after that (i think) he told me he loved me....then, i got the guts to tell him (huge for me)....and...well, lots has happened since then, but i think you get the picture.

i cant say enough how great our time together in costa rica was. such a great learning experience in so many ways. as i said before, God is doing a lot of work in a lot of people's hearts down there, and we are so excited to be part of it.

it is very hard being away from jared during this time, but i am so thankful God has given us this time for jared to be down there, getting to know the culture, people, language and preparing us to live there. i cant imagine how it would be without this time for him to be there. God is providing for us in many ways through jared being there now, and for me being here as well. i know it is a challenge for him, for us in many ways, but all the work and service is for God and his glory and purpose...and we are sustained by his unconditional love, mercy, and grace.

thank you again. i am so excited.

eileen