A lot has happened..

In the Fall of 2008, Pastor Doug Jordan of Lighthouse Baptist Church happened to be standing next to Sean-Paul as he was waiting to find a seat in a Sunday morning service. Pastor Jordan turned to Sean-Paul saying that there was a girl he should make contact with. Sean-Paul was slightly surprised at the unexpected suggestion, and amused, replied that he "wasn't in the market" for a relationship of the sort. Using his undeniable skills of persuasion, Pastor Jordan convinced Sean-Paul to give him his email, so it could be passed along to a certain girl in the Shaver family. Sean-Paul didn't know that just a few months prior to this, Pastor Jordan had tried to convince Julianna that there was a certain eligible young bachelor available for her consideration. Having been teased before about eligible bachelors by her dad's close friend, she laughed it off and didn't give it another thought.

Several weeks later, Sean-Paul received a call from Beth Shultz (Julianna's aunt), who promptly asked if there was anyone he had an interest in - saying that if there was, he should meet a certain girl from Washington first, before making a decision on any other potential candidates. Again, Sean-Paul was pleasantly amused, but didn't mention to Beth that Pastor Jordan had come to him weeks before about the same girl.

By the time Christmas came, Pastor Jordan returned to Sean-Paul to ask him for his email address again - in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, Pastor Jordan had lost Sean-Paul's email. With Pastor Jordan's second approach, Sean-Paul decided to bring the idea to his family, but wait until the new year (2009) to do so. In the meantime, Jason and Beth Shultz were on their way to Washington to spend Christmas with the Shavers. It was during that trip that Julianna found out that Aunt Beth had mentioned Sean-Paul to her mom, and had also brought a photo of Sean-Paul (just in case she still didn't believe that he existed..).

In January, Sean-Paul first relayed the story of his encounters with Pastor Jordan and Beth Shultz to his brother, Matthew. Beth had mentioned Julianna's blog, and Sean-Paul asked his brother to look at the blog, and report on any interesting findings. Sean-Paul had decided that if this girl was the Lord's will for his life, he wouldn't need to see any photos of her to make the decision to pursue a relationship with her. After some time, Sean-Paul retold the last few months' story to his father, Maurice Chambers, who told him that the Lord may be working.

Over the next few weeks, Sean-Paul spent time with his parents, Pastor Jordan and Jason and Beth Shultz, to learn more about Julianna, watching for anything that might suggest an incompatibility between the two. Finally, on February 28, Sean-Paul called Julianna's father, Pastor Tavv Shaver, explaining what had transpired over the last few months, and asking for permission to email his daughter. By the end of what seemed to be the longest 9-minute phone conversation of his life, Sean-Paul received permission to email Julianna. Pastor Shaver mentioned the phone call to Julianna, and assured her that this young man did indeed have permission to contact her.

Sean-Paul had spent several days drafting the first email he would send Julianna, but so as not to seem hurried after receiving permission to contact her, he waited until March 3rd to send the email. The following day, he received his first email from Julianna. She seemed interested enough to reply, but more than that, she simply seemed to be a very happy girl.

Sean-Paul and Julianna would spend the next 3 weeks emailing each other, learning about each other, and finding out what was most important in each other's lives. After Sean-Paul felt that he had truthfully described his personality, beliefs, interests and goals to Julianna, and she had done the same for him, he decided to take the next step, and ask Julianna for her phone number to speak with her for the first time.

On March 23rd, on his lunch break, Sean-Paul called Julianna for the first time. He was quite nervous, but did his best to make Julianna feel comfortable during their first conversation together. To this day, Sean-Paul remembers being relieved and quite thrilled that Julianna's voice was, in his own words, "beautiful." Julianna, very relieved that her dad was only teasing when he suggested that his voice was "a bit falsetto," loved every moment on the phone with the man who was beginning to capture her heart.

Another few weeks went by, and after many, many hours in conversation ranging from silly to serious, Sean-Paul realized that he loved Julianna, and that she truly was God's pick for him. At this point, Sean-Paul asked Julianna for her picture, and on April 29, he saw photos of her for the first time. Needless to say, Sean-Paul was thrilled. He didn't know that she had fallen in love with him as well, or that she was simply waiting for him to take the next step in their relationship.

Sean-Paul and Julianna had the joy of seeing each other in person for the first time when Julianna visited San Diego in June. On June 5th, after a very long, nervous walk with her at the Embarcadero Marina Park, Sean-Paul professed his love to Julianna for the first time. Before leaving the park, Julianna also confessed her love to Sean-Paul.

Julianna returned to Washington, and over the next 8 months, Sean-Paul called her every day. They shared three more wonderful visits in 2009 together: the first in Washington for their birthdays in July, the second during Sean-Paul's work travel to Everett in August, and the third in September during Julianna's visit to San Diego with her sisters.

Even though Sean-Paul and Julianna were apart during their first Christmas, they joyfully thanked the Lord for the wonderful gift of finding each other in 2009.
 
This is the first part of my love story. We're getting married in 3 1/2 months. :)