10 years ago...

...I met the man of my dreams at a well-loved ice cream stand in Damascus, MD called Jimmie Cone. It was my very first college care group meeting, and my very first week of college. It was Joe's first week in Maryland and his first week at Pastor's college. I was 17. He was 22. And never in a million years did I show up to that CG meeting thinking I would meet my future husband. Joe...well, its a long story, but he actually showed up for the very reason that he hoped I would be there. He'll have to be the one to explain that one himself :)

For almost two hours Joe carried on with a group of guys, standing next to this table below. I sat on the table talking to various friends throughout the evening. Little did I know all evening he was working up the courage to talk to me. Then at the end of the evening I pulled out my chemistry HW to ask a friend for help working through a problem I got stuck on earlier that day... Joe saw this as his "golden opportunity" (he didn't take 4 years of college chemistry for nothing, he says :)...and the rest is sweet, beautiful history.

We happened to be in Maryland last month, on the very week we met 10 years ago.

And during our trip, Joe and I took off for three days just the two of us (leaving Alathea and Abigail with Dad & Rachel...Ava tagged along with us). Amazing the Lords ways...about 35 minutes into our trip we stumbled upon Jimmie Cone! We hadn't been back in YEARS (and wouldn't have remembered how to get there).

It was a precious gift from God to happen upon this place.

Hard to believe that I sat here, just 17 years old and in my first week of college, across from the man I was to marry...who all I knew of at the time was he was in Pastor's College and seemed way out of my league!

As you can imagine, stopping by Jimmie Cone sparked some fun and incredibly precious conversation on our drive!

We spent 3 beautiful days together at a cabin at Deep Creek Lake, in the mountains of Western Maryland.

I lived in Maryland for 19 years and never made it to deep creek. It was beautiful.

We stayed at an adorable little cabin owned by family friends.

The first two days we had fun exploring the area...

And took Ava on her first hike!

Precious girl slept the whole time.

She was almost like an invisible baby (not the norm for her :)

Day 3 we decided to expand our exploration and picked three fun places to visit: Berkeley Springs, WV; Antietam Battlefield in Maryland and Harper's Ferry, WV.

Joe planned the entire itinerary from our beloved "1,000 places to see in the US before you die" book. We LOVE exploring new places together.

Joe drinking genuine spring water in Berkley Springs.

Antietam was WAY more interesting than I ever anticipated.

We wished we could have stayed longer.

We loved our first two stops, but Harper's Ferry, WV was the all time favorite.

I cannot believe I lived so close all those years and never came here!

It was beautiful, quaint and had so much history.

And the icing on the cake was driving home on Skyline Drive:

But THE highlight of the trip was 3 whole days with my boy...who I'm still amazed wanted to marry me, that 17 year-old girl he met at a little ice cream stand 10 years ago.