A week later, John was visiting and he and I were sitting in the living room talking. John suddenly seemed to hesitate and stumble over his words.

"Uh, Ashleigh? Uh.. What would you. well. Would you object to me talking to your dad about a relationship. between you and I?"

I was stunned. I sat in shocked silence for a minute or two before catching my breath. I had a million thoughts running through my head. Um, what did he just ask? Is he serious? There's um, seven years between us. Doesn't he know that? He can't mean me. And, shouldn't he have talked to Dad first?

"I think you need to talk to my dad," I managed to spit out.

"That's what I was wondering-would you be okay with that? I mean, would you want me to?"

I knew he was just wanting to know if I was even interested. There had been so little interaction between us of a romantic nature, such an absence of flirting and such complete respect for each other that he probably wasn't sure just what I was thinking. The truth was, I had been trying as hard as could be to not think anything at all. I had been purposely not allowing myself to dwell on him, because I was afraid of ruining what was such an innocent friendship. I wanted desperately to tell him "Yes! Talk to my dad, now!" But this wasn't how it happened in the courtship books I had read, and could it be that God would actually work differently than the way an author portrayed the perfect courtship?

He began apologizing profusely, believing me to be offended. He thought surely I was not even interested and he had done something drastically wrong by my reaction. In an instant, he envisioned the end of what had been a sweet friendship. With haste, I merely stumbled for words while telling him again to just talk to my dad and then quickly rushed to find my mom! She could immediately tell by my golf ball size eyes that something was up. We hurried into her room. Again, my dad was working his 24-hour shift that day and wouldn't be home until the next day.

I swallowed hard. "He-John-just asked if he could talk to Dad about starting a relationship between us." The shock still had not worn off of my face.

Mom's eyes began to fill, but she stopped herself and asked, "What did you tell him?"

"To talk to Dad."

She laughed at her silly daughter. "So he's out there thinking you aren't even interested? And are you?"

I tried willing myself not to blush. "Yes."

"Then you need to tell him so."

"What do you think, though, Mom?"

Her eyes were watering again. "You don't know how earnestly Dad and I have been praying about this the past few weeks. We've been thinking God is showing us that He has brought John into our lives for this reason and have been praying for some very specific things, one being that if it was God's will, He would have John initiate talking to Dad soon."

Now it was my turn to cry. before going out to tell John, "I just wanted to tell you, I would be very happy if you talked to my dad."

"That's what I wanted to hear," he smiled.

April 28, 2003

2:20 am

My stomach is doing flip-flops and I can barely see to write this-I'm using my night light. John has asked if he may talk to Dad.

The next evening, when Dad was home again and was driving John back to his barracks, John broached the subject. A few minutes later, this led to the infamous story of the ticket Dad got for driving 45mph in a 35mph zone on base. We attribute this to the fact that, though he had already talked to Mom and I and was expecting it, he was slightly distracted by the fact someone was asking for his baby girl.

Dad and John talked in the parking lot of the barracks into the wee hours of the morning. Dad asked him every question he could and had been thinking of. He wanted to know what John's intentions were. Was he just expecting a short-term, emotional relationship? John assured him that he fully believed that I was the girl God intended him to marry. He wasn't interested in a relationship for a relationship's sake. He wanted to get to know me better with the intention of marriage down the road. Before he left, Dad told John that he gave his complete and full blessing for our courtship to begin.

The next day, John and I went back to the Monument to hike up a short trail my family often visits. At the top, in a little notebook put up for the tourists, we wrote, "John and Ashleigh, Day 1-'This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes!' (Ps. 118:23)"

During the next month, I wondered how any person could be as happy as we were and still continue living. The peace we all had in this was astounding. I had never known anything like it. Our friendship continued and grew, and John prepared to go back to Japan indefinitely. Our conversations turned from "If we get married." to "When we get married." I couldn't believe this was happening to me. We talked about everything-standards, convictions, preferences, likes, dislikes, foods, hobbies, dogs, flowers, Bible verses, books. We talked to his parents as often as we could, including them from their much-too-far-away distance. We began a Scripture memorization "course" together to do while he was gone. Then John received the news that he would only be in Japan for about a month before being stationed-we could hardly believe it-back here to the base only thirty minutes from where I lived.

Shortly before leaving for Japan, we were stopped half way up on one of our hikes when John looked at me and asked, "Is it okay to tell you I'm in love with you?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"I love you, my Ashleigh."

"I love you, my John."