Andy & Jessica

1. Strong Christian
2. His personality
3. Good communicator
4. Smart – even about stuff I’m not smart at (e.g., technology)
5. Funny – makes me laugh
6. Sweet – makes my heart melt when he looks at me
7. He loves/adores me
8. He teaches me stuff that has drawn me closer to God
9. We get along so well
10. Not much dating history
11. Cute
12. Same values
13. Similar ideas about marriage
14. Keeps a blog
15. Has cool friends
16. He entertains me
17. Affectionate
18. Understanding about my work
19. Helpful
20. He would be easy to cook for since he pretty much only likes hamburgers and pizza and has been cooking for himself since he was three
21. He wears the coolest necklace that tells the salvation story (fish that is gold, a bent iron nail with silver cross in the middle, where the gold stands for deity (God the Father), silver for blood shed/price paid by Jesus (God the Son) and the iron stands for our sin and corruption that will be forgiven when we decide to put our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross (i.e., we can’t buy our way into heaven with good deeds or lack of bad deeds) and make Jesus the Lord of our life)
22. He prays with me
23. He comes up with good ideas of stuff for us to do together
24. His laugh
25. His smile
26. His winks
27. His ability to figure stuff out
28. He is good at planning stuff
29. He is a happy person
30. He can read me and says, �Out with it Forbes!� when he knows there is something on my mind
31. He does his best to make me happy when I�m sad or stressed
32. He has well-thought-out opinions on political, spiritual and other issues
33. I can be my freaky self around him

I was born on August 5, 1976 in Hutchinson, MN. My mom’s name is Dee and my dad’s name is John. I have an older brother named Mike and a younger sister named Katie. I lived in Hutchinson, MN for a year before my family moved to Litchfield, MN to run an auto parts store. While growing up, I helped my parents at their “store”, which grew from an auto parts store into a gigantic automotive exhaust factory. I had a happy childhood. As a girl, I enjoyed going on routes with my dad to deliver mufflers, exhaust pipes and other miscellaneous items to muffler shops in Minnesota. I felt special because I knew my dad wanted my company and it was fun to help out unloading stuff from the truck. I was a tomboy for years and my brother was nice enough to let me tag along with him and his friends. We rode bike in the “dirt hills” behind our house, had water balloon fights, and played with GI Joe guys, He-Man, tinker toys, lincoln logs, and match box cars. We also traded baseball cards, which is something I knew nothing about, so I’m sure my brother was good at taking advantage of that.
Continue reading “A Little About Jessica”

Born: Saturday, November 5, 1977 in Owatonna, MN
I lived in Owatonna until I was 6 years old, when my family moved to the Twin Cities. We lived in Coon Rapids for less than a year before moving to Anoka. I was in first grade when we moved to Anoka. When I was in the sixth grade, my parents built a new house in Andover, where they have lived ever since. I attended Washington Elementary while living in Anoka, and finished my 6th grade year at Andover Elementary. I then moved on to Fred Moore Junior High in Anoka, where I went for two years before entering High School. After graduating from Anoka High School, I went on to North Dakota State University in Fargo, where I got my Bachelor of Architecture degree in May of 2001. I currently live in St. Cloud, MN and work at Miller Architects & Builders as an intern Architect (my business card says my title is “Project Designer”).
Continue reading “A Little About Andy”

One thing that has been so nice and reaffirming about my relationship with Andy is how much my immediate and extended family loves Andy. I’m not at all surprised, I’m just happy. Andy fits right in with my family since he is able to both give and take jokes. When Andy and I were leaving my parents’ house this weekend after helping put in the boat lift and dock, Andy thanked my parents for having him out. My dad smiled and told Andy that he was welcome anytime we are putting in the lift and dock. But, we all know that Andy is welcome anytime because everybody loves Andy.

I don’t do well with poetry. Not that I dislike it, I’m not good at writing it. Since I don’t feel I can write it, I thought I’d do the next best thing, find a poem that fits what I want to say.

I Thank God He Sent You to Me
by Celina

I thank God he sent you to me,
   For you and I were meant to be.
We have a bond too strong to break,
   We have a love no one can take.

In you, I have found a love so true,
   My heart is filled with love for you.
Every time I see you, my heart skips a beat,
   You make my life whole, you make my life complete.

My love for you grows more with each passing day,
   The thought of your gorgeous face takes my breath away:
Those brown eyes fill my soul with happiness,
   Those luscious lips I love to kiss.

The day when [you] become [my] wife,
   Will be the happiest day of my life.
Even thinking of that day makes me smile,
   I can’t wait ’till [you] walk down that aisle.

I dream of that day when we’ll both say, “I do”
   For always and forever… I will love you.

A few days after I met Andy, he mentioned during a telephone conversation that he had a website. He gave me the address (aolson.net – formerly aolson.us). I was snooping around his website when I discovered a category called “blog.” I had no clue what a “blog” was. It turns out that “blog” is short for “web log.” A blog is basically an online journal. Andy started his blog in October 2003. I took a long lunch the next day and poured through all of the entries. I got to know Andy pretty well just by reading his entries. What I didn’t know was that Andy had a hit counter (white hit counter on a white background so that it was invisible on the screen and to unsuspecting snoopers like me) and he was able to figure out that I had spent hours reading his blog. He asked me later that night with a laugh if I was “a little bored at work today.” I was so embarrassed.

Despite the fact that this does not appear to be the first post to our site, we are creating the site today. Rather than write about what’s already happened under the current date, we decided to post it under the date that things actually happened.