How We Met!

Its hard to believe that I met Todd 16 months ago. I was finishing my freshman year at the time and my roommate, Veda Mann, was determined to set me up with a really nice boy. Veda was taking a psychology class with Todd at the time and knew him from Santa Barbara. She mentioned Todd's name several times and stressed what a good boy he was. She showed me a few pictures of him on Facebook and that was that. Several weeks went by without any mention of Todd and I forgot about him. One sunny March morning, on my way to class, I noticed a guy walking towards me. He was looking at me, and had a huge smile on his face. I instantly recognized him from facebook and couldn't help but smile back! We had never met, and never spoken to each other, and we just smiled and walked right on by. I couldn't stop smiling all morning. I called Veda and I told her what happened. She already knew! Todd had already talked to her and she had given him my phone number. Later on in the day, I received the following text: "Hi, Christianne! My name is Todd, I'm one of Veda's friends. I don't normally text random girls, but Veda said it would be worth it. Did I get the right number?" And that is how it all began!

The very first picture Todd ever saw of me was of Veda and I hiking at Stewart Falls (above). He told me that when he saw it he wanted to ask me out.

Another funny coincidence is that I visited Todd's hometown of Santa Barbara one month before I met him. My sister, my roommates, and I stayed with Veda's family over a three day weekend from school. I fell in love with the place! I can remember thinking to myself that I would love to marry someone with connections to SB! Todd and I have already been there to visit twice since! Thanks Joe and Geri :-)!
Todd and I started dating very soon after we met, and we have been together every since....well...errrr...I guess not "together" in the physical sense. Soon after Todd asked me if I was his girl, I took off for a family reunion in Alaska, and Todd left to spend a month as a counselor for EFY in Santa Barbara. Five weeks later and after I had a LONG night at the SL Airport due to delays, we had a fun reunion in Santa Barbara. We then took a road trip to Washington and spent some time at our cabin in Priest Lake, ID. It was definitely a fun summer! We knew that marriage was a possibility, but I was headed to Jerusalem for that fall semester and everything seemed centered on that trip. Todd unofficially proposed to me in August, before I left, and I wore my CTR ring on my ring finger the entire time I was gone. Todd put a real ring on my finger in January and we finally married in June! What a journey! I feel like the finish line was in the distance for so long, and now its all over! I mean...its just the end of a wonderful beginning!

Summer 2007