Some of you might be a little surprised by getting this announcement. What has transpired over the past six months is pretty amazing to me also. I will dive right in and tell you a short version of how I came to be engaged to this wonderful woman.
Before Katie passed away 3 ½ years ago, we did discuss me remarrying. One of the concerns that Katie had was that whenever I did remarry that it be someone who would have a mother’s heart and would treat my children as her own. I told her that if I did remarry it would have to be her hitting me over the head and telling me where to look to find someone like that. Over the pass 3 years I have emailed several women and have gone on a few dates, but did not feel inspired to continue any of these relationships.
In the middle of January of this year I had to get after Mary (my 7 year old daughter) about getting ready for church. This did not make her too happy with her dad. We went early to church for choir practice and while I was singing, I noticed Mary talking to a dear lady in our ward. I thought to myself that she was probably telling her all about how mean her dad had been that morning (I found out later this was correct). It was right after this thought that a voice (Katie’s) came to me and said, "Don’t you think it is about time the kids had a mother?" Honestly I had never had those thoughts before since Katie’s death. I remember thinking that if that was going to happen then she (Katie) would have to set it up for me.
About a week later after this experience, I came home and was told by my daughter Camille that someone named Natalie wanted me to call her. My first impression was that this was someone who wanted to set me up. I got on with the nightly tasks and then decided that after the kids were in bed to give her a call. I found out that Natalie had a sister (Emilie) whose husband had been killed by a drunk driver 1 ½ years earlier. She had 5 children and had started to do the online dating thing but was feeling pretty discouraged with it. She said that she had heard about me and my situation from a former member of our ward who both Emilie and Natalie had bumped into while picking up their kids from gymnastics. In fact this member would not let Natalie go until she had my number to give to her. Natalie checked with Emilie before she called me and then made the call.
I got up the courage the next evening to give Emilie a call and we talked about losing our spouses and the experiences that we had since then. It was so refreshing to talk to someone who understood how you were feeling and who you could discuss all that was happening in life. I never realized how much I missed having those talks with Katie. I found out that Emilie was very devoted to the gospel, had served a mission to Hong Kong, and was indeed someone with a mother’s heart. We went on our first date a week later and have never looked back.
There is much more to the story of course but we both feel that the Lord and our former spouses and family members on the other side of the veil have been behind this union of our two families. It has taken a lot of hard work and energy to put our two families together. We have tried to get together as often as we can so that the transition will be more smooth when we officially become a family. Part of that transition is getting a bigger home between Blackfoot and Rockford. It makes us very sad to be leaving such wonderful friends and neighbors who have been so supportive of us over the years through our trials.
Thank you my dear friends for your support through these years.
Sincerely,
Dennis
(p.s.) If you would like an invite, please give your address under the comment.
