A Night to Remember...

We had a happy ending to our "Next Great Love Song" story on Sunday night. After winning the Valentine's Day contest where Mark Schultz took Toby's version of our love story and made a song out of it, we have been hoping that we might meet him and thank him. This weekend was our chance! We went to see Mark in concert in Greene, NY about an hour and a half away. It was held at a not so big church, so we were able to get nice seats near the front. We tried getting a message to Mark 2 weeks ago that we would be there and would like to meet him, but didn't know if he received our message. At the conclusion of the concert, they had announced that you could wait in line to meet Mark and he would sign autographs. So I waited in line. When it came to my turn I told Mark that he didn't play the song of his that is Number One at our house. He asked which song that was and I told him, "I Will Always Love You". He said, "You know that song?" I said, "Yeah, you wrote it for us!"

After a split second, he knew who we were and seemed very excited to meet us and we shared hugs and introduced ourselves. (It turns out, he never did get our email message.) And then he said he would play our song for us! He acted like he was going to do it right then, but I told him we could wait while he greeted and signed autographs for the rest of the line :o)

When he finished, we went back to the sanctuary and he sat up at the piano. He had Toby stand up and tell our story to the thirty or so people who had wandered in for this second little concert :o) After that he did a great job of remembering our song which I am sure he hasn't even thought of since he wrote it those 5 days in February! It was quite an honor and very personal.

After he finished the song, he asked the crowd what else we wanted him to play! Then he decided to play parts of a song he is working on and it was very good. I am sure we will be hearing it on the radio in the coming year and on his next CD! Maybe it will be right after "our song"....

My Love Story

My husband submitted our story of how we met and fell in love to a KLOVE Christian radio Valentine's Day contest. It was a great honor to find out that our story was chosen by Mark Shultz for him to write and perform "The Next Great Love Song"! Here is the link:

http://www.klove.com/promodetails.aspx?i=2464

Or click on the song here:

I Will Always Love You, written and recorded by Mark Schultz

We have been listening to it all day on the radio. I still can't believe it! I decided before I knew we won to write down my "version" of our story to give to my husband for a Valentine's gift today. So here it is...

I remember the summer I met Toby. He was good at sports and had a big smile, but what I loved most about him was the way he loved the campers. He was so focused on his campers each week. Whether leading his own campers or the entire camp, he was always pointing others to God. He was someone who was confident in who God made him to be and didn't need the approval of others. I was dating another guy that summer who was also a counselor, which gave me the opportunity to watch Toby and get to know him without the emotional ties of "boyfriend and girlfriend".

I was finished with junior college at NCJC in Villanova, PA and had already made plans to transfer to Harding University in Searcy, AR, where Toby was attending, that fall. My boyfriend at the time had plans to stay up north, so I headed down south alone. Since Toby and I had become friends at camp and I didn't know many people we became good friends that fall semester. Having a long distance tie to my boyfriend back north I believe gave me the freedom to get to know Toby better as a friend. I will always be thankful for that friendship first. I believe it gave us a solid foundation later on.

That fall semester, Toby was a friend I sought out above all others. I was so excited to see him in Hebrew poetry and then having him for a partner was.... very nice! He ran with me to get my PE 101 requirement that I needed as a transfer and kept me company in the Laundromat as we memorized verses together.

At Christmas break I went home and did two important things. I broke up with my boyfriend and told my parents that I had met the guy I was going to marry! Without a kiss or a promise I felt that God had placed Toby in my life for a very special reason. Going back to school, I couldn't wait for him to ask me how things went over break. I finally had to blurt out, "Aren't you going to ask me?" I wanted Toby to know I was available! A day or so later, he held my hand for prayer during church and didn't let go. I was on cloud nine! After a beautiful day spent together, I will never forget walking under the street lamp and hugging goodnight and that first kiss which I seemed to have waited my whole life for!

God gave me someone to walk through life with. It hasn't always been easy. We've had ups and downs. We've made mistakes together and done great things together. But more often than not, we have our moments of weakness when the other one is strong. We love to say "you complete me" because the God who made us has given us each other for that very reason. To be His arms of comfort to each other and to help point each other back to Him.

I love you Toby. You are my Valentine forever!