Catching Up - Part 1 - Spring

Hello from Naomi! We thought we should sort of tell at the beginning of our blog some of how we met just to give you a little backround so all of our current posts make sense -

Aaron moved to Warroad in November of '07 and then we met in January of '08 at a funeral. We saw each other around a few times over the next year, but it wasn't until Feburary of '09 that God really began to work in both of our hearts - in mine preparing me for this change and in his directing him toward me.

Aaron began kind of hanging around - he would drop over, sometimes he would come to afternoon services at my church and we went to some special meetings at his church, we also would "just happen" to run into each other places...and so we visited some and got to observe each other's character in different settings.

The picture above is one time this spring when Aaron was over helping out on the farm - we had some other friends over and were cooking out on a campfire. The picture below is from when he went sucker fishing with my Dad and brothers.

I wasn't sure what to think - Aaron was nice to me and all, but he's nice to everybody...so sometimes I thought he was interested in me, and other times I thought that maybe he just enjoyed the farm :) Either way, I had a real peace about him.


The picture of me above and the picture of Aaron below are from a trip my family took to the Mennonite Village Museum in Stienbach, MB - Through a rather interesting "chance", we invited Aaron to come along - it was a lot of fun, and also a good time to visit.

I've always held that I didn't want to get into any relationship unless there was a commitment toward marriage, and Aaron knew that, so during the first couple weeks of June, when I was in ND, he talked to my dad. When I say talked, I mean talked! I had a list of things that were important to me in a husband and they went over that - and other things.

Then the morning after I got home, Dad broke the news. He had enough information to answer the questions I had and after a couple days of thinking and praying, I knew that this was God's will for my life and so we were "betrothed" on June 15 - and thus began our lifelong adventure of learning to love each other more every day! God is good!

Catching Up - Part 2 - Summer

Our relationship officially started in June, but the next couple months were very busy for both of us - I spent several weeks in ND working with Child Evangelism Fellowship, and Aaron was busy as well with VBS, Camp, and a missions trip to Puerto Rico with some of his family. We saw each other as much as we could on weekends though and wrote letters during the week - then starting in August, we were both home and from then on we've seen each other almost everyday! It's wonderful!

This picture is of Aaron and I on our first "official" date -

My cousin Hannah is a photographer and on 4th of July she took some pictures for us.

This one was just for fun! I really don't drive tractor very often, even though I do live on a farm...

I don't think this picture needs any explanation - it's just to document the many hours we've spent talking :)

We canned 3 different kinds of jam together - peach, raspberry, and blueberry lime, (and picked the blueberries together) - there ought to be enough peach jam here to last us at least our first year of married life! (or two...or three...) We work well in the kitchen together and it's a great way to spend time with each other and also get something done :)

My family, the Krahns, had a corn maze this year and we spent a lot of hours over there - some with preparation work and then when I would work there in the evenings, Aaron would come over and hang out or help -

Aaron and I are teaching his children's Sunday school class and here we're writing out the verse on balloons and also making up a new attendance chart - we've both been going to each other's church services some when the times are different, so we get in lots of church on Sunday!

Our Engagement :)

We were engaged on September 10, 2009 at Zippel Bay State Park. Isn't it aboslutely beautiful!?

Aaron, with my Dad's help, planned the proposal to be a surprise, so they lined up a family picnic for Zippel Bay and while we were talking about it around home - I ended up calling Aaron to invite him....he thought he could probably come :)

I won't tell you what we all said...but basically, he asked me to marry him and I said I would be honored!

Aaron took this picture of the two of us before we walked back to join the family -

"Someone" had an idea of what was going on and drew this in the sand :)

I have always wanted a heart-shaped ring - and that's what Aaron got! It's a lot prettier in person than on this picture...
My cheeks hurt that evening from smiling :)

Catching Up - Part 3 - Fall-Winter

Our time of engagement has gone so fast! It's been busy with wedding plans, and other preparations, as well as the usual work. It's also been exciting as our relationship has grown!

Aaron stopped by one evening after he got back from the base - it was the first time I got to see him in his uniform and I liked it :)

We've been watching a series of videos on finances, and someone caught us smiling at each other...

We went to a Christmas party for pastors and their wives - I know we weren't married, but they let me come anyway - AND they had a surprise shower for us. It was great!

Aaron and I at his church -

We did some Christmas baking together :) Chocolate chip cookies with red-and-green-M-n-M's and peanut butter fudge - we gave most of it away...but we ate some of it as well! The aprons we're wearing were a gift from Aaron's Aunt Nelda - John Deere for him, and Christmas for me.

We went ice skating on a pond near my parent's home -

Caroling and Christmas Cards

Hello from Naomi! Aaron had some Christmas cards he needed to send out, and since I enjoy that kind of thing, we did it together...Next year the cards will be from both of us :)


The Family church went caroling on Sunday afternoon and we went along - it was a little cold, but it went well - we went to the new Senior Living Center in Warroad, along with the homes of several elderly people in the area.



We brought fruit baskets and/or boxes of Christmas cookies to the different people and sang several traditional carols, ending with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". There was quite a group of us (of course Aaron and I managed to end up in the same vehicle...) and we had a great time!