Roller Coaster

"How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemies say, "I have prevailed over him," lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me." 

Psalm 13

These past 7-8 months have been a roller coaster for Matt and I.

Let's jump back about 8 months to when this all began. As you know Matt is going to play professional basketball. He signed with an agent back at the end of March and we have been waiting patiently for a call that a team wants to sign Matt. We heard many different things during the time after signing with his agent about where Matt would possibly play. Many different leagues and teams showed interest, from the NBA to Turkey, Holland, France, Cyprus, Israel, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and a few others. So you can probably imagine the excitement from both of us when we hear that Matt is getting looks from so many different places!

As months passed we began to grow more and more anxious about where Matt would play, and ultimately where we would be living for the next year. Matt would talk to his agent but none of the teams made any official offers. We actually had decided to officially accept a contract from a team in Holland, but the door was soon closed less than 3 hours later when we received a call that told us the team gave the offer to someone else. So obviously the Lord did not want us to be there! We continued to pray for God's will to be done, and for Him to place us where we could best serve Him.

As the overseas' seasons were growing closer we still did not have an official offer on the table. A lot of interest, but no contracts. So now you can really understand what we mean by this being a roller coaster! Every week a couple of new teams would be interested, and later that same week they would not make an offer. This was our life for about 5 months! (Also, during this time we were planning our wedding so you can imagine the madness.... lol)

In the beginning of September we decided to switch agents in hopes that someone else could get Matt a job. The new agent talked with some overseas teams but it was really too late, they had already finalized their rosters for the year. This is when the NBA Development league came into the picture. Matt had some interest from NBA teams and this led to interest from some NBADL teams. Matt's agent worked hard and got him into the NBADL draft where Matt was picked in the third round by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers! We were ecstatic! We were going to be in Texas (although still 9 hours from Dallas.. This state is huge!) and Matt was now going to be able to begin doing what he loves for a living!

This is where it gets really crazy. A week and a half into training camp Matt was released from the Vipers due to an overload of guards at camp and a few guys were being sent down to the Vipers from the NBA. So just when we thought the roller coaster had come to an end and things were going to settle down we are thrown right back through another loop.

Now Matt's name is in the available player pool for the D League and he is working out with the Texas Legends in hopes that they will sign him soon! (Prayers are appreciated!).

Now your probably wondering, "how have you remained sane through all of this?" Well.... we haven't haha. But I would like to share how we have grown in our relationship with Christ, and trusted in Him to get us through this trying time.

Throughout this process we have obviously had ups and downs, but one thing has remained the same, our faith, trust and hope in Jesus Christ! Within the last 3 years I committed my life to Christ and I can honestly say that it is the best decision I have ever made in my life. I have grown tremendously in my relationship with Jesus and without this relationship I would have been a total WRECK these last few months. When we give our lives to Christ we are not guaranteed a life without pain or suffering. But, we have a way to get through the hard times and come out on the other side with a stronger faith than before!

"More than that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" Romans 5:3-5

I have peace about our situation right now because I know it is in God's hands. The future and everything that is going to happen is in HIS hands. All we can do is continue to pray and put our faith and trust in the Lord. We are continuing to pray for God's will to be done in our lives. I am content in wherever He may lead us, whether it is with the Texas Legends, another team or if he has something different in mind all together. I know the Lord will always be with us and that gives me great comfort.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7

I hope that by sharing our story I can give encouragement to others who are having a difficult time right now.  We know that if this is the worst thing that we have had to go through, then we consider ourselves extremely blessed!

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, those who are called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28

We appreciate all the support from our family and friends throughout this time. We are so thankful for all the prayers and encouragement we have received from everyone. 

"I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3

The Proposal: June 8, 2012!

Matt and I were down in Destin, FL with his family for a nice long beach weekend. I was so excited to have a few days off of work and to spend a nice relaxing weekend at the beach!

We woke up early Friday morning to head to the beach and hang out. Unfortunately it was super cloudy and there was a chance of rain ALL WEEKEND!! So needless to say we didn't spend that much time at the beach. Matt's best friend from high school, John and his girlfriend Jenny were in Destin as well, so despite the weather, we had a blast spending time with them. 

We went back to the house to get ready for dinner. We were trying a new place we all had never been to before. Matt and I went a little ahead of his family to the restaurant. His mom told us it was in a really neat area so we could walk around while everyone was finishing getting ready. We drove out to the restaurant and it was inside this beautiful little bed & breakfast right on the beach. We got out of the car and went around to the back to go walk on the beach. My first hint that something was up was when we walked up to the gate to get through to the back of the building, Matt new the code to get through haha! I asked him, "How did you know that code," and he said, "Oh my mom got it when she made the reservation." Good recovery Matt! 

The weather was not the greatest. The wind was blowing so hard, the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and the sky was really dark! It looked like it could just pour at any moment. We started walking down the beach just chatting and looking at the sky (it looked really cool!). We were drawing in the sand writing our names and stuff, just being silly. 

I kept asking Matt, "Are your parents here yet? Can we walk back now, I'm really cold!" He just kept saying, "No, they will come get us or they will let us know when they are here." We turned around and started walking back towards the restaurant and we stopped when we got pretty close. Matt told me to close my eyes he wanted to draw me something. 

(Right before he got down on one knee!)

In my mind I started to freak out! I was thinking, "Oh my gosh! He is going to propose! I am going to open my eyes and he is going to be down on one knee!!" He told me to open my eyes and I looked and he was standing in front of me. I looked down and he had drawn a heart in the sand. So sweet!! In my mind I was a little bummed, I really thought he was going to be down on one knee. 

Then he told me to close my eyes again. This time when I opened my eyes he was still standing but he had written "forever" inside the heart. Awww!! At first I couldn't read what it said and I bent over to get a closer look, "What does that say?" And Matt said, "Can you not read it??" haha!

Then he said to me, "It says forever and thats what I want it to be is you and me forever." My silliness replied, "Well I know that!!" 

Honestly the rest of it is a total blur! He got down on one knee and I said, "Of course!" before he ever even officially asked me. I am sure he said a lot of beautiful things and I really wish I could remember them!! I was in total awe the whole time and all that was running through my mind was, "oh my gosh! oh my gosh! oh my gosh!"

After he asked me of course I said yes!! I gave him a huge hug and kiss and he said to me I have another surprise for you....turn around your parents and sister are here!! When I turned around my family and his family were all standing on the bank behind the restaurant waving at us!!! I was in total awe again!! I was so excited that my parents were here to celebrate with us! I couldn't have asked for anything more. The whole proposal and night was absolutely perfect! 

(The moment Matt told me my family was there!)

I could not believe that he had planned this whole trip and everything was just perfect! I was in such amazement the whole time!!

Matt had to stall a little bit while we were walking on the beach. He was waiting for everyone to get in position to watch. The reason it took a little longer than expected was John and Jenny's car broke down on the way to the restaurant!!! John didn't want to make anyone late so he told Jenny to get out of the car, they were going to have to run!! haha!! They were about 1 mile from the restaurant! No, they did not run, they called Matt's parents and they turned around and picked them up to bring them! 

I also found out that our reservation for the restaurant was actually cancelled a few hours earlier! We had reservations on the porch but because the weather was supposed to be bad they cancelled all of their outside reservations!! 

(I was in such awe!)

Fortunately, the rain held off just long enough for Matt to propose! It absolutely poured the rest of the weekend. Which actually turned out to be a blessing. We were able to get a lot of planning down for the wedding. Ya'll are probably thinking "these people are crazy they just got engaged and are already planning the wedding??" Well with Matt going to play professional basketball and the very large possibility we would be moving overseas in the middle of August, we wanted to be married before we moved. So we planned a wedding for 7 weeks from our engagement weekend! Ahhh!!! 

I will share more about our wedding and the short timeline for planning in another post. All in all I couldn't have asked for a better proposal or a better man to spend the rest of my life with! It was absolutely perfect!!!

(My family!)

(Matt's family!)

(My dad and I!)

Road Trip!

This weekend Matt and I took a road trip to Central, SC and Atlanta, GA. We headed to Southern Wesleyan University Thursday so Matt could play with the Crossfire basketball team. 

Crossfire Ministries is an awesome organization that shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ through basketball. They travel all around the world playing basketball games and holding camps. At halftime they share a great message! This is Matt's second time to play with them and it is truly a blessing to be a part of. If you want to check out more about Crossfire Ministries click HERE!!

We started out our road trip like any other with non other than Chick-fil-a! You will learn we LOVE Chick-fil-a, some might say we are obsessed!

(Look at that face! Pure joy!)

We actually stayed on the Clemson University campus while we were in town for the Crossfire game. The campus is just beautiful and our weather was so nice!! I wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy it!

Friday morning we made our way back west towards Suwannee, GA, just outside of Atlanta. It was really nice to have all day to just hang out together. We went and saw Taken 2, which I highly recommend, and had dinner together. Matt was trying out for an NBA D-league team on saturday so it was nice to have a day of relaxing. 

The tryout went great! He played so well!! Matt made the top 20 and got a call to come back for the All-Star game on Sunday. I am so proud of him!! All in all it was a pretty awesome weekend!