Time

It seems Father has proven to take my life in his hands once again. Just before the June 2011 Gibb family reunion I received an email (due to my phone not working) from a friend and Walmart co-worker, Eli Combs, from when I worked overnight shifts, asking if I would go on a date with him. Though slightly stunned at his request, because he'd recently been divorced and didn't think he'd taken much interest into me, I was rather interested as to what may come of it. So, in my dedication to finding a spiritually qualified spouse I sent this oh so forward response, "Two questions: Do you have a current temple recommend? Do you attend regularly? If your answer is yes to both of these, than so is mine." His was a yes, so now I'm stuck ;)

Our first date, June 23 2011, was full of adventure seeing as we were both trying all new things in one night. We ate at a place neither of us had been to before, we were going to a club in Salt Lake that we'd never been to, to hear his friend, Buzzy, play whom he's never heard before. It didn't help his nervousness finding out my kind of music was on the opposite spectrum of what we were going to be hearing that night, but I assured him I was up for the adventure. The food was good, the club was iffy, and all except Buzzy's band the music was pretty hard core and strange, but due to the nature of the people playing, entertaining at the same time. Thanks to Buzzy playing Eli's wing man the night wasn't so terribly awkward and we even managed to dance a little at the end. All in all, for being a first date and especially something he hadn't done in several years, it was a good first date that ended with a good hug.

Believe it or not, our second date came the next Monday (though we'd seen each other between then) when I invited him to mom's for homemade doughnuts. We had been getting to know each other via text (the worst way possible, I agree, but due to his working nights and my freaky day shift schedule, texting was the only thing that worked with what spare time was left in-between) asking random questions almost constantly with a few serious ones in-between. We really had become quite comfortable with each other in person, even though we had gotten to know one another that way. Anyway, he agreed to homemade doughnuts knowing full my siblings as well as 2 of dad's sisters would be there which would likely invite opportunity for interrogation. I, however, did not know grandma and grandpa would be there and so he got introduced to quite a bit of my family in one night. I quite enjoyed watching him figure the situation out, and well, be a bit nervous :D

He tried kissing me that night before he left for work, but I gave him my cheek instead. Understanding that I had left him a little confused, I pulled away and explained why I wouldn't let him kiss me. Simply, "I don't want this to become a lustful relationship." It was already moving very quickly and I wanted to make sure that we liked each other and created a relationship for who we were and not for the lustful desires that could be fulfilled.
Thursday, June 30 2011, he came swimming with me and 2 cousins from the Perrin side before I had to go to work, lol so he got a good piece of each family in one week. He also took me to a movie that night and enjoyed a midnight stroll through Walmart since he picked me up from work. He got to see my tired-hyper side. Fun stuff. Well, we kept texting after I got home and that night's texting brought on the last of our random questioning and instilled the front of hitting the wall of avoided questions. I suggested knock it down in person.
So Friday, July 1 2011, we meet at the American Fork Amphitheater and talk for a good 4-ish hours. And now... all things are out in the open. Oh, and guess what? Chelsea kisses Eli. Eli takes Chelsea out for lunch at Panda before she has to go to work (which was happening anyway before I kissed him. Just fyi :) ).

So, the 4th of July we become officially exclusive and my life has never been this stress free! Go figure right? He's 31, has a 17mo. old girl named Lily, and recently divorced after being married for 7 years. (Funny story, mom had to clear that elephant out of the room with dad before we showed up for doughnuts that Monday. His response resembled something like this, "Good. This could be good for Chelsea." So far, so true.) He has a great relationship with his Father in heaven, and continues to work on improving himself everyday. He loves who I am, how I am, and allows me to be myself completely and feel good about myself. There's also this balance in our characteristics that allows us to flow and move so well together. I mean, this relationship has progressed so quickly, but so smoothly and at the right pace for us. We've been dating for barely a month and yet it feels like several to us. It's wonderful how well things can work out when you put the Lord at the helm of your life. And we really do. Through His help, we have helped each other heal and grow and open ourselves to all things possible.

I'm sure more updates are soon to come :) This is truly the good stuff.