Finally able to get online!!!!!!

I'm sure you all are wondering why my post is late today. Usually I get it done first thing in the morning, BUT our DSL decided to take a break today, so we've had no internet until now.
It's funny how attached you become to it without even realizing, I use it for blogging, for emails, for banking, for recipes, for school, you name it........

So this morning while driving Jasmine to school, I was listening to a local station and the topic was "Internet Marriages". The host was asking people to call in if they met their spouse or loved one online.
I should have called, really.......a lot of you may not know, but Curt and I met on the internet 9 years ago. Many people have asked me how we met and I guess it's time I share our story. Brace yourself, you will be ooohhhhing and aaahhhhing by the end. LOL

So 9 years ago, I had just started using the internet and becoming familiar with chat rooms. After lurking around for a few months, I decided to join MIRC Webchat. It was August 12, 1997.
After chatting for a few minutes with some people, I get a private message. It was Curt.
My chat handle was Koala, so his first question was "are you from australia?". LOL
I told him that I was not, that I was in South Africa, and we started chatting, we hit it off and during the next year we talked on the phone, wrote letters, emails, sent packages and photographs.
Now that may sound like your usual internet love match, BUT there was an obstacle. I was christian and Curt was a Pagan third degree priest. I told him that I was not comfortable with that and that nothing could ever happen between us while he was involved in the Wiccan/Paganism Religion.
I didn't give him an ultimatum, that wouldn't be my place to do so, but I was also not about to immerse myself into that belief.

And so it started. A whole year of questions, endless questions about the bible and why MY way was the best? Why MY God was the right one?
I felt overwhelmed, I loved him but I honestly did not know how to answer some of the questions, so before we talked everyday, I prayed to God to give me the right words to reach Curt. He obliged!!!!
I knew the right scriptures to quote, I knew the right things to say and I didn't give up. It took time and patience, but he is now a devoted Christian like I am.
One of the best examples of the power of God working in our relationship, was when Curt was deployed to Bahrain. He called me in the afternoon, and I was talking to him on the fax machine phone, which was plugged in to the power outlet.
We talked for about an hour, and when I got off the phone, my grandmother walked up to me.

Grandma: "What were you doing on the phone?"
Me: "Talking to Curt"
Grandma: "Really? Are you sure? How long have you been talking to him?"
Me: "Oh I don't know, maybe an hour? Why?"
Grandma: "Well I don't know how to tell you this but we have had a power outtage for the past hour, there's no way you could have talked to him on that phone"

I was stunned, I picked up the receiver and brought it to my ear, SILENCE!!!! The phone/fax machine was indeed dead.
Wow, to this day it gives me goosebumps to remember that. How amazing?
So exactly one year to the day we met, on August 12, 1998, Curt flew to South Africa and we got married.

One month later, I packed my bags, already pregnant with Jasmine, and moved to the States. I left my family, my house, my friends, everything behind. It was the scariest thing on earth for me, I was and still am, extremely close to my family, and leaving everything I knew behind was terrifying. BUT I did it, I held my head up high, I moved to where my husband was stationed and 2 kids and 3 dogs down the road, we are still happily married :)
I thank God everyday, for my life and my family!!!

So there you have it, the story of how we met and how we came to this point :)

And with that I have to say Happy Birthday to someone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASMINE!!!

Exactly 7 years ago this beautiful person was born. She was our first and we were excited and scared at the same time. Here was this tiny little person, and we were solely responsible for her well being.
She's always been strong willed, stubborn and feisty, guess it goes with the fiery red hair :)
She makes us laugh, she makes us cry, and we are so proud of her, what a beautiful and intelligent girl we have. We wish so much for her future and we are sure that whatever she sets her mind to, she will easily accomplish.

If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she will quickly tell you.....a Paleontologist. She's had her mind made up on that one since she was 2 years old. :)

So Jasmine, Happy Birthday baby girl, Mommy and Daddy and Nicholas love you MORE than you will ever know.

This morning while without internet, I actually sat down and read a bit. It felt good and I couldn't have asked for a better choice of reading than Phil Calloway's "I used to have answers, now I have kids". How funny the book is, it's filled with funny stories about life after kids.
Here's my favorite part:

I soon discovered that parenting is the biggest investment we will ever make, yet children come with no instruction manuals, no "mute" buttons, and no guarantees. And if we happen to have all the answers with our first few kids, chances are that God will send along a little surprise package who will change everything.

How true is that? LOL

Well my friends, it's time for me to get ready to pick up Jasmine. I really hope you all have a wonderful tuesday afternoon. Enjoy the sunshine, the smell of freshly blossoming flowers and thank God every minute for those small things, they are one of life's greatest treasures.