Julie's Version of "Our Story"
Eli would just say, "she showed me her cards during a game," but there was really more to it than that!!
The first time I really got to meet Eli was when we worked together on a project for church during Easter. He was painting murals and I was ordering the paint. I had seen him around the church before, heard his name mentioned (since he works with my brother-in-laws), but didn't know much about him. As we had the opportunity to talk more and more, I began to notice his love for the Lord and that is what initially attracted me. Then I quickly noticed his sense of humor, his good looks and charm. We spent a few weeks getting to know each other over the phone, random events and through game nights (yes, I showed him my cards). On May 21, 2011, Eli took me out on our first official date to Sesame where we talked through our relationship and he prepared to talk to my dad the next evening! We spent the next months traveling here and there...meeting his family in Jacksonville, my family in Maryland, etc. Everything since that day in May had been leading up to February 10, 2012, where on his birthday, my surprise party for him turned out to be the surprise of my lifetime...Eli asked me to marry him and I gladly said, "yes".
I am beyond excited to be Mrs. Eli Byrd.
Video from the engagement can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAwfKtmL2wY
Eli would just say, "she showed me her cards during a game," but there was really more to it than that!!
The first time I really got to meet Eli was when we worked together on a project for church during Easter. He was painting murals and I was ordering the paint. I had seen him around the church before, heard his name mentioned (since he works with my brother-in-laws), but didn't know much about him. As we had the opportunity to talk more and more, I began to notice his love for the Lord and that is what initially attracted me. Then I quickly noticed his sense of humor, his good looks and charm. We spent a few weeks getting to know each other over the phone, random events and through game nights (yes, I showed him my cards). On May 21, 2011, Eli took me out on our first official date to Sesame where we talked through our relationship and he prepared to talk to my dad the next evening! We spent the next months traveling here and there...meeting his family in Jacksonville, my family in Maryland, etc. Everything since that day in May had been leading up to February 10, 2012, where on his birthday, my surprise party for him turned out to be the surprise of my lifetime...Eli asked me to marry him and I gladly said, "yes".
I am beyond excited to be Mrs. Eli Byrd.
Eli's Version of "Our Story"
Good day everyone. So let me tell you the real story of how all this went down.....
It
was during the spring break of 2011 that I finally hung out with Julie.
That spring break I stayed in Charleston to do some work on CSU's campus
with a good friend of mine, Joel Walton. Cleaning up trash, a little
pressure washing here and there, some COD Black Ops for breaks, and a
lot of joking around was the consistency of our days. Our sister, Tam
Odam, made mention of how we all needed to spend some time together
because of how goofy Joel is... lol and that we were going to spend this
time at the "Party House". Now I cannot spill the beans on the location
and reason why this house is called the "Party House", but we are all
followers of Christ and there was nothing wild going on, my nerves were
calmed after finding that out.
When
Joel and I arrived at the house it was a little late and the only ones
there were Julie Lynn Kellenbenz a.k.a. PT, which by the way stands for
"Party Time", go figure at the "Party House", and Tam. They wanted to
play this fun game called Sequence since we were there to make the most
of the time. I sat to the right of "PT", directly across from Joel, and
Tam was diagonally across from me to my left. The object of the game is
to get 2 sequences of 5 on the board. It is a card game, so we are all
dealt cards that you normally keep to yourself, but in Ms. Party Time's
case she had another agenda... Ever so cutely she proceeds to show me
her cards as we were playing and that is how it all began.
We
attend Summit Church on CSU's campus as well and are a part of the
creative team. Our pastor, Jon Davis, let us know that soon he would be
preaching in Cleveland, NC for a revival. All present at the meeting was
Tam, Mike Brown, Pat Jackson, Maddy Jackson, Julie Kellenbenz, and
myself. All of us and I say ALL of us agreed that it would be legit to
sneak up on Jon and surprise him in Cleveland. Little did we know that
more fire would be kindled on this trip...
May
15, 2011 arrives and we are ready to head up north. We all decided to
take Julie's car and another for spacious reasons. When time came for us
all to meet, there were only 4 of us; Maddy and Pat Jackson, a MARRIED
couple, Julie, and myself. Everyone else dropped out, but the Lord knew
what He was doing. Ms. Kellenbenz allows me to drive, which she
apparently does not normally do, she sat passenger while Pat and Maddy
rode in the back. I feed off of energy and PT has a lot of that. Her
name is Party Time for crying out loud and trust me the party began. We
immediately clicked and I guess it seemed to Pat and Maddy that we were
flirting the entire time. When we got to the church and Jon saw us he
was surprised and happy. He preached and I was maybe the only one that
came up during the invitation, because it seemed that he was talking
directly to me. He said that we needed to go out to dinner with them to
the famous Cracker Barrel. This was when the "relationship" became
verbal. We, of course, were talking about food places in Charleston
while we were in a restaurant and Breck's had been brought up. I
mentioned how there is this 64oz. steak there and the older gentleman
said, "Oh, is that where you had your first date?" talking about Julie
and myself. I attempted to correct him, but he proceeded to say again
that that place was the location of our first date...
On
the way back to good ol Charleston we stopped at a gas station and Julie
went inside to pay the gas while I pumped it. Maddy stuck her head out
of the SUV and said, "So when are you going to start dating?" I looked
at Maddy like she was crazy, because that just was not on my radar...Six
days later we became Facebook official lol at Sesame, the location of
our first date and I was suppose to meet her parents the next day.
Everything happened very quickly and I admit that I did not even see it
coming. So, Sunday May 22, 2011 was the day that I officially met
her rents. In my mind Julie was going to be there with me, but the Lord
saw fit for something else... SHE HAD A SOFTBALL GAME!!! and the meeting
would have to happen solo dolo. This is where the things that happen in
movies began. I pull up in the drive way and her dad comes out with a
rake and a hoe and asks me if I knew anything about ant piles. "No sir"
was my reply and in my head I'm thinking, what is going on? After
flattening an ant pile we proceeded to the backyard where we would have
the introduction ceremony lol (that is just extra for us talking, but it
felt that serious BY MYSELF). We had a great time and it was not as bad
as I thought it would be. Mr. Glenn closed us out by praying for Julie
and my relationship, while I'm thinking that is cool, by the way who
told them that we were dating.
A series of unfortunate events took place over the span of our
relationship between her father and I. The exposure of my clumsiness
came to light as well as the exposure of "G Funk's" grace. G Funk is Mr.
Glenn's nickname. To list them there was; me dropping the mast pole on
his head while trying to come in on a sailboat that he just got,
breaking his fence to the backyard because I thought it needed some
WD-40, dropping the makeshift sailboat rack on his car and scratching
the paint, and driving into the garage of which I do not know if he is
aware. Boy oh Boy was that the times or what. There has been a clean
slate for some time and hopefully that stays that way. I now know how
Gaylord Focker felt.
After
all of this, he decided that he still was ok with me marrying his
daughter and June 16, 2012 will be an amazing time that our families can
become one!!! We are excited that you will possibly be joining us as we
worship our Father because of the astounding grace that he has shown us
by giving His Son in spite of our many mishaps and hiccups.
Grace and Peace,
Eli
Video from the engagement can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAwfKtmL2wY
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