Love at first sight is not how we would describe our relationship. It took a bit longer than that. We met when Philip came on board as a Keystone staff member in September 2006. Tammi's first memory of Phil was his interview. Phil's first memory of Tammi was getting directions to Keystone from the friendly receptionist.
It would take four months for a friendship to begin -- before January we were strictly business colleagues. In January, Tammi asked Phil to come Frisbee golfing with her, and the friendship blossomed from there. After being part of a core group of people to start the best 20somethings group in GR (in our humble opinion), and spending many more days hanging out, a spark flew one week in late-April.
Phil asked Tammi to date him on May 1, and just two weeks later, we were talking about marriage. We decided to wait a few weeks for everyone else to catch up with our puppy love, but not much longer than that. Actually, we waited a whole summer long, and then a couple more months before Phil proposed on October 5. That's a really long story that involves dinner, symphony, some magical elves and other things. If you want to see the story in pictures, check it out here.
We enjoy doing multiple things together, including rock climbing, geocaching (essentially a high-tech worldwide scavenger hunt), swimming, laughing, and general fun and frivolity. We also love our 20somethings group and growing together as we walk with Jesus.
We were married on January 11, 2008, with many friends and family involved. On January 13, we left on a magnificent honeymoon to Roatan, Honduras. We spent a wonderful week in the sunshine before returning home to Grand Rapids. After saying a final earthly good-bye to Tammi's grandma, we packed up and moved to Greeley, Colorado.
We are excited to begin our life together in Colorado, where Tammi has accepted a job with a non-profit group that works with underprivileged Hispanic students. We know God will walk with us and lead us through this adventure, and we are eager to see where He will bring us next.