Wedding Date Has Been Set!

We have joyfully set a wedding date of May 25, 2008 at 3:00pm.

We also found our location! We will hold the event at Greystone Manor, which God led us to and is blessing us with! It is in Leola, Lancaster County, PA. http://www.barnatgreystonemanor.blogspot.com/

Casual, laid back, and full of love for Jesus and each other!

Our Wedding Party

Maid of Honor: Gretchen Warner - Sister, confidante, and best friend of Jenny

Bridesmaid: Christine Limon - Best friend from high school of Jenny. AKA: Girl who knows WAY too much!

Bridesmaid: Allison Hess - Friend, Encourager, Challenger, and Giggle Buddy of Jenny

Bridesmaid: Erin Weaver - Former Roommate, Friend, Girl who loves Jenny's singing on road trips...

Best Man: Sheldon Hoover - My awesome brother whom I admire very much and has taught me a lot as well as shared some pretty cool times together.
Groomsman: Curtis Burkholder - Cool brother-in-law that has challenged me, listened to me, and helped me through some tough times in my life.

Groomsman: Jeremy Hess - Friend, "Brother", "Connector Extraordinaire" of both of us.

Groomsman: Luke Mason - Solid friend, instigator of much laughter, and the man who coined "unofficially official" for us before we were dating. Thanks for putting up with us...

Our Story

January 2007 – Met at Ruby Tuesday’s after Jenny had gone square dancing with friends. Nate showed up with some other friends. Remember meeting, but not much else.
January 2007 – Nate went to Jenny’s house with some friends to watch football.
January – February 2007 – Jenny traveled to India and Kenya
February 2007 – Nate was invited to Jenny’s house through some friends for dinner. Nate and Jenny ended up talking before the other friends showed up for almost an hour. They were intrigued by how much they had in common and would cite this as “the beginning of finding each other to be interesting...”
February 2007 – Nate attends Jenny’s birthday party with friends. Jenny is excited that he brought a present for her.
March 2007 – Nate attends a going away get together for Jenny with some friends before she travels to Bolivia.
Upon her return, Nate stops by a friend’s house on the way home from his sister’s wedding. Jenny is glad he showed up.

April 2007 – Jenny and Nate plan friend’s birthday parties together, phone calls are frequent as they “plan”.
May 2007 – Jenny travels to Canada and Nate emails her daily. They also chat on the phone a couple of times.
Nate and Jenny plan a Memorial Day camping trip for the group of friends. At this point, they realize they like planning things together (and we still do!)
Jenny realizes Nate is a great and handy guy to have around. Spiritually strong and very capable. Nate and Jenny have some time at the end of the weekend to catch a couple hours talking together.
June 2007 – Jenny travels to California to her best friend from high school’s wedding. Nate calls and emails often. He even drove her to the airport at 4:00am... Hmm... Jenny tells her best friend that she really likes this guy, but doesn’t think he’s interested.
July 2007 – Jenny and Nate plan a trip to the beach for the Fourth of July for their friends. During the day, they spend a couple of hours flying a kite together on the beach (something that still gets them picked on by their friends...)
They plan another day-trip to the beach for friends later in July.
August 2007 – They plan another trip to the beach, this time a camping trip, with friends. At this point, they are certainly growing closer... They stay up chatting late into the night. Jenny continues to remain in awe of his skills. Ha.
From May to August, the emails, phone calls, and times together increase significantly (riding horses, kayaking and canoeing, hiking, making meals together, etc.). Jenny is fairly certain Nate might like her, but she knows one thing: she REALLY likes him!
In late August, Jenny, Nate, and some friends travel to Mississippi to work on hurricane reconstruction with MDS. Nate and Jenny sneak out to walk on the beach at night, and in the morning, watch the sun rise over the ocean. Nate even conveniently comes up with a way to hold Jenny’s hand walking on the railings of the pier. Very smooth.
August 25, 2007 – Upon returning from the trip, Nate asks Jenny if she would like to go on a hike to “talk about our relationship”. She agrees and has a very hard time sleeping that night.

August 26, 2007 – Nate takes Jenny to Money Rocks where he asks her to begin a relationship with him. Jenny happily agrees. Special Note: Nate was wearing a Mount Hood, Oregon t-shirt September through November is all a blur as they spend increasing amounts of time together.
Christmas 2007 – Nate tells Jenny he loves her for the first time. Jenny is elated.
January 2008 – Jenny travels to Ethiopia and India. Nate decides he is going to marry her while she is gone and drops many hints in emails and phone calls. I guess "distance does make the heart grow fonder".
February 2008 – Jenny travels to Oregon with Nate for a work trip, and to visit some of her family. She is fairly certain he will propose while in Oregon.
February 11, 2008 – Nate proposes to Jenny on Mount Hood! She says “YES!” and they share their first kiss. Sweet!

Our Engagement Story - Nate's version

Wow! I am very blessed and honored to announce that Jenny and I are engaged to be married. This is an incredible honor for me because she is such a beautiful and amazing young woman. God has blessed us and we are in awe of how he has drawn us closer to each other and closer to him. This is one more step in our commitment to each other as we prepare for the rest of our lives together. On Monday Jenny quickly accepted my offer of marriage on the side of Mount Hood in Oregon. I'll give some more details below.

Last week was the Mennonite Disaster Service Annual Meetings. Jenny and I traveled out with some of my coworkers on Wednesday. On thursday I was in a meeting all day and Jenny joined me on Friday through the end at noon on saturday. I was proud to introduce Jenny to my coworkers and the others. Someone actually asked if we were married or engaged and I had to respond that we weren't. I wanted to say we were. These meetings were a great time to reconnect with some of the folks I have come to know in the organization. I was also given a renewed vision for my job and the organization as a whole. This is a ministry and I feel called to use it as a ministry and to keep Him the focus of our organization. The focus of the meetings was 1 Peter 4:11"If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ." My goal is to keep this in mind in my day to day activities on the job.

On Saturday afternoon Jenny and I rented a car for our trip to Salem to spend the next several days with her grandparents. On our way we traveled a scenic route through the Silver Springs State Park to see some waterfalls. Meeting Jenny's grandparents for the first time was an honor. As we entered the house Grandpa checked Jenny's hand for a ring but was disappointed that she didn't have one yet. We immediately connected well with them and my love for them grew as I learned more about them. Grandma prepared a great meal for us and we had dinner with them and Steven, Jenny's cousin.

Sunday was a relaxing day as we went to the coast. The coast in Oregon is so much different than here. The waves were large and seeing and feeling them breaking on the rocks made us thank God for his splendor and majesty. We were awestruck by the beauty of his creation. In Newport we climbed up in a light house and walked along the rocks taking pictures and video of the waves on the rocks. It was a great adventure with my favorite person. What a blessing! In the afternoon we met Steven's son and again spent the evening with grandma and grandpa.

Monday started with a bit of uncertainty. We had planned to go skiing for the entire day but Jenny was feeling really weak and tired from fighting with this parasite. After some prayer and seeking God for direction we decided to give it a try. I am so glad she did. I didn't have a backup plan. I could have done it at the coast but wanted to do it on the mountain. I was praying that we could and that the weather would cooperate. It was a blessed day. After buying chains for our rental car (the only way the department of transportation would allow us to approach the mountain) we drove two hours to the Timberline Ski Lodge. The drive to the mountain was one of the most beautiful drives in my life. The pine trees and snow (measured in 10's of feet) were like nothing I have ever seen before. They don't grow mountains like that on the east coast. As we got closer the walls of snow grew to about 12 feet. I was told that the mountain had 40 feet of snow so far this year. It was one of the best years on record.Jenny and I rented ski's and then hit the slopes. We skied down from the Lodge and then took a lift up a bit beyond the lodge.

Jenny was feeling weak so I decided to take her to the lodge for a break. On the way to the lodge I asked her if she wanted to take a break and sit in the snow and look out over the valley for a while. We took off our ski's and walked into the trees. I cut out a love-seat in a snowdrift protected by the wind and we talked.........well I did. I shared my heart and how much I adore her and want to walk together with her for the rest of our lives. I shared that the mountain was significant for us as we begin this new life together. I shared that I want to be founded on God's word and his purposes for our lives. I also shared that I want to be a strong, safe, protected, firm, secure, place of peace for her to come to. My life verse is: 1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." I believe this can be a verse we can stand on together as we serve and honor him together.

I asked her to marry me and she quickly responded with a "yes" and we had our much anticipated first kiss. I took the ring out of my glasses case and put it on her finger. She was so blessed. I thank God for leading me to the perfect ring for her. It was a custom ring I created with my love to match her unique personality. In the past she told me that she told me she didn't want a ring or didn't want a big ring. I was also told this by others as well. I prayed about it and felt peace about creating this ring. It was fun. I wanted to bless her and I did. At the same time she was praying that I wouldn't listen to what she and others had told me. I believe God led me. I pray that I can always be open to how God wants to bless her through me.I took Jenny back to the lodge and then skied one more run. I quickly skied to the bottom of the hill whooping and hollering on my way down. There weren't many people there so I could go crazy. She said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After returning our ski's and talking to our parents we walked out of the lodge and stepped out into the most beautiful view ever. The sun, which was behind the clouds all day, finally came out and was setting in the west. I immediately thought that this was God smiling on us............our mountain top experience. It was truly the best day of my life! I am the most blessed man alive. You can see pictures of this day by visiting my web albums.Thank you all for your prayers and ask you to keep us in your prayers as we prepare for our lives together. This is so much fun and we have an incredible peace about it. The confirmations we are receiving are amazing. God is Good!