I (Sarah) just thought it was another set up attempt by a well meaning friend. I was a little burnt out and also didn’t expect it to go anywhere. But after talking to my parents it seemed there was no reason not to try at least so I decided I would talk to him. And that was the beginning of the end of life as I knew it ❤️
I tell everyone that the very first thing I admired in James was how very intentional he was in our correspondence (that first email?!?) and how open he was to talk about anything I wanted to know. Even though my heart continued to fear some times after being hurt in the past, James only ever showed me that he wasn’t taking this potential relationship lightly and I appreciated that so much. And that is how the first two months of emails went! So much information went back and forth! Lol (my dad might have commented on how much James was talking 😉) I admired how dedicated he was to the Lord and how he wanted to serve Him with his whole life, how much he loved his family, how hard he worked, how he could be serious but also funny, how he was always wanting to learn something new, and how he wanted to get to know me and how respectfully he went about getting to know me ❤️ After a couple of months of emails and him starting to really grow on me 🥰 James called daddy and asked him if we could go to phone calls. Daddy grilled him for two hours lol and said we could so that evening (April 27, 2019) we had our first phone call and even though it was kinda weird at first it was also quite amazing 🥰 (I love his voice so much) and we immediately fell into the habit of being in constant contact ❤️ James began texting me every morning and we had many phone calls in a week usually (occasionally life would just get so busy we couldn’t until the weekend) with again, so much information going back and forth! But within just two weeks of this we could tell something had changed....after James discussed it with my dad (a God orchestrated conversation) we officially started courting on May 15, 2019! I was on cloud 9 and soon thereafter dared to, with tears, utter the words, “I think he’s the one....!” to my parents ❤️ We began to do things like praying together, reading the Bible together (or sometimes reading separately and discussing it together as time would allow), and doing devotionals together which made our times together even more special and helped us to continue to get to know each other even better. It wasn’t long after that (June 1, 2019) that we took some time to pray and seek the Lord and both felt Him confirm without a doubt that the Lord was leading us toward marriage and thus began just over two and a half months of being “sorta engaged” haha
There were some ups and downs. There’s so much you don’t see when you’re looking on when your friends get engaged and married. Even when the Lord makes things abundantly clear at every turn there are still things to figure out as you begin the brand new process of learning how to combine two lives that have lived completely separate up to this point! At each “situation” that arose though it only drew us closer together and reaffirmed each time that God was doing this ❤️ After a long summer of anticipation (ring conversations, engagement conversations, wedding conversations and more!) James came to visit me (August 16, 2019) and was here for a short but amazing weekend! The first couple of hours were pure comedy as I had a royal panic attack and had to even be told to shake his hand when he first entered the house 🤦🏼♀️ Yes, that really happened lol I did say hi though! 😂 However, we very quickly began to put together the person we had grown to know and love over the phone with the person in front of us ❤️ It’s a whole chapter describing all that we got to do that weekend (including celebrate his 30th birthday!! 😍) so I’ll just summarize with Sunday evening.... after a couple of days of amazing time spent together, in my favorite place to be (church), in front of some of my favorite people...James got on one knee and asked me to marry him ❤️ I said yes ❤️ I still stop and wonder at that sentence when I say it .... wow ❤️
The time since then has been a whirlwind of more getting to know each other, my visit down in Texas, the beginning of wedding planning, and just learning how to begin the process of transitioning from here to there...from single (to engaged) to married...It’s been a lot some days (ask me about it if you dare! Lol) but again, at the end of each day I’m only more excited to become Mrs Sarah Hammons and thankful and grateful for this gift the Lord has given me. I am learning a LOT!!!! Lol What an adventure..... ❤️
And now you’re caught up! And if you’re reading this it’s because you are one of the many people we want to share our blessing with! We are not perfect, far from it. And yet God’s grace has been bestowed upon us ❤️ And the only thing we can do in return is continue to try to live this new life together for Him and His glory and share what He’s done for us ❤️
#FinallyEverAfter
edited to add: this is definitely just the high points lol there is no way I could go into every detail of the last nine months! ❤️ However, I love talking about it and sharing so if there’s ANY questions feel free to shoot me a message or comment below!