the month of love

It's here! OCTOBER! My very favorite month! Not for the stereotypical reasons that are flooding your Instagram feed (though I do enjoy a good Pumpkin Spice Latte!), but because this is our month. 'Round here, October is the month of love.

Stephen and I met on October 1st, and I knew instantly that he was "the one".
We had our first kiss on October 11th.
We fell in love on October 31st.
We got engaged (the following year) on October 15th.

In the spring before our wedding, while touring campus with my mom, we popped back into the gym that we met in on that fateful Thursday in October and captured the pictures above - a pretty accurate representation of the day we met, minus the kissing, but all the smiles. Oh, and Stephen's dancing skills had greatly approved by then ;)

It's not just that we met on October 1st, though that alone could chalk it up to one of the top five best days of my life, it is also the day I met God. I didn't know it for almost a year, but that overwhelming sensation of, "of course, him. he's the one" that struck me the very second I laid eyes on Stephen, was sent straight from heaven. God gave me Stephen so that Stephen could give me God. It is a month of love for so many reasons...

And as an added bonus, it is smack dab in the middle of a beautiful season full of color and cooler weather and fun activities and family traditions and thankful hearts. All the easier and better to enjoy and celebrate.

Happy October, Stephen! For forever and a day, with all my heart...

read our love story, here