Our Story

It all started in September of 1996. I was a sophomore at University of Mobile. Each year, UM has several mission trips that it sponsors. I was in chapel that semester, so I heard the announcement about the trips for the next year. One of the trips was to Argentina for their mission meeting. I felt that I had to go on that trip. Around April '97 I started writing my letter to send out to friends and family letting them know where I was going and what we would be doing. I also sent a letter out telling people how to donate toward my trip if they felt led to. Our trip was set for December 28, 1997 until January 11, 1998.

I met Clayton on December 30. His parents are missionaries in Argentina and he was using his one free trip back to see them. He volunteered to work with the small group of us that had flown down. We ended up working together with the preschoolers, teaching them Bible stories during the day and playing with them at night. We spent most of our free time sitting outside talking. We spent a total of 8 days together at the camp the missionaries were at for their meetings. My group spent the next 2 days in Buenos Aires.

Clayton and I emailed each other until he got back to SC. He called me a few times and in March (yes, March!) we started talking about marriage. He used part of his spring break to come see me in Mobile. He met my parents. My parents weren't the least bit surprised that I thought he was the one I was going to marry. I came up to SC at the end of July that year. He came down to my best friend's wedding in November. I came to see him in March on my spring break. He came down for my college graduation. Two weeks before our wedding, I came up here to set up our house. The week before the wedding, we drove down to Florida. We spent a total of about 6 weeks in each other's presence. That's including the time in Argentina. Most of our relationship was on the phone and instant messages. We've been married for 6 years now. God has truly blessed us.