Wedding

Greg and Karen first met through attending the same church in Moscow, ID, and working with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries at universities 10 miles apart from each other.

Greg thought Karen was interesting and wanted to get to know her better but after a few conversations he was not picking up any “good vibrations”  in fact you could even say he was getting the “cold shoulder”.  Since he really did not see her all that often Greg just decided not to worry about it and be civil when it was required.

In December of 2005, Greg and Karen attended a World Missions Summit Conference with their college ministries in Louisville, KY.  One night, they went out to dinner with other Chi Alpha staff and ended up sitting by each other and talking.  This was one of the first times they really noticed each other. 

 

A few months later, Karen was involved in her friend Rachel's wedding in Bellingham, WA.  Paula Davis (Greg's sister-in-law), was also involved in this wedding.  Paula asked Karen if she was dating anyone, to which Karen responded "No," and Paula proceeded to share that she had a single brother in law in Pullman, WA.  Small world!

 

 

Later on, in the summer of 2006, Karen decided that she was interested in getting to know Greg a little better.  She decided to talk with multiple of her married friends, and ask them various questions about dating, and getting to know guys better.  They all encouraged her that getting to know Greg seemed like a good idea.  Karen decided to ask Greg to be her "friend" on MySpace (an internet network, that is a place for friends).  Greg was happily surprised by this invitation and accepted Karen as a "friend" and wrote her a short email, asking about her summer.  Karen wrote back, and decided she would try to talk to him at church the next Sunday.  She did, and asked him if he would like to join a group of friends for lunch.  He accepted, and they enojoyed a casual lunch with friends.

 

 

 

Besides church and the occasional Chi Alpha staff function, there were not very many other "natural" settings that Karen and Greg could get to know each other better.  Karen decided to confide in her friend Jenni, that she wanted to get to know Greg better.  Jenni, being one of Greg's co-workers and friends, decided to help Karen out, and planned a group dinner, to which Karen and Greg were both invited. Greg being oblivious to the purpose of this gathering did not make it easy, he canceled and rescheduled several times. But was still clueless that the party always seemed to move to a date he was available.  After this evening, Karen was more convinced she was definitely interested in getting to know Greg better, especially after seeing him perform at a local coffee shop! 

 

A couple more instances arose where Karen and Greg had lunch with groups of people but nothing too serious.  During this semester, Greg confided in Steve, the WSU Director, that he was pretty frustrated and confused on how two people were supposed to "date" nowadays, and spoke of his interest in Karen. 

 

 

 

Then on October 29th 2006, Jenni told Karen that Greg was playing music at One World Cafe, if she wanted to go.  Karen did!  Greg and Karen hung out with friends for awhile. One by one each of the friends left the table until just Karen and Greg were left. Greg was pretty suspicious but was not complaining J. They ended up talking for another hour by themselves.  It was pretty exciting for both of them!  Near the end of their conversation Greg asked Karen if she wanted to get coffee with him sometime that next week.  She said "yes!" 

They then proceeded to go to coffee and talk for the next 6 weeks.  Then on December 7th, Greg asked Karen if she would like to start officially "dating," to which the answer was YES!

 

 

 

Greg and Karen have loved getting to know one another this past year and a half and see their relationship as a fantastic gift from God.  They are very excited for the shared adventure God has in store!