Seven Years Ago, Today

Here is what I posted on The Knot 7 years ago so that everyone could get the details of our big day.... and what led to it:

MARCH 30, 2003

Newlyweds for 2557 days!ABOUT CARRIECarrie Blackmer - a girl from Skaneateles, NY who left to investigate the south a bit. She traveled to Nashville to go to school and loved it so much that she spent 8 years of her life there. It was in this time that she really began to grow in the Lord and really understand what it meant to have a relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ. She was challenged in many ways, one major area being that of trust. Trusting people, trusting the Lord's timing... just plain trusting the Lord in every area of her life. In this time, the Lord proved to be the ultimate provider, comforter, faithful friend and yet continued to challenge her. How amazing that the Lord loves us so much that He will continue to challenge us so we can grow continually close to Him, trusting Him with every move we make. We serve an amazing God and what an honor it is to be called for such a time as this!! Carrie felt many doors closing in Nashville and felt the Lord may be preparing her for another move. She was prepared to go anywhere... except New York, that is. When she finally let go and agreed to go to New york if that is where the Lord would have her go, guess what?!? That is exactly where the Lord wanted her to go. So she packed her bags, left her belongings in storage and drove to New York. It was a struggle. The economy there is very poor and finding work was close to impossible. However, the Lord is good! As much as she disliked it, she was blessed with a job working retail at the mall. While there, another job just kind of fell into her lap. There was a festival in the works there in Syracuse, and it turns out they were in need of some office help. Carrie was given the honor of working at Syracuse Festival with Luis Palau (beginning in April) for about 5 months which finished out the festival. There were about 75K people in Clinton Square over 2 days and hundreds of people made decisions for the Lord! What an amazing experience that was! During that time, Carrie had the privilege of traveling to Myrtle Beach for the festival that was happening there. These festivals happen all over the world, with 2-3 in the states each year. when she flew in to Myrtle Beach, Mark Johnson was assigned to pick me up at the airport....ABOUT MARKMark Johnson was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Over the past few years he has been active in Campus Crusade for Christ and Athletes in Action, traveling all over the world spreading the good news of Jesus Christ! Each time he left Florida he was ready to go, but also ready to come back to his old stomping grounds. A little over a year ago, he was called back to the area to work at Beachfest with Luis Palau. He has been working at Beachfest as a Church Relations Coordinator for the festival. He began working at Beachfest in March of 2002. He traveled to Myrtle Beach to experience a festival in process. He was scheduled to pick Carrie up at the airport when she flew in....HOW WE METSo the airport in Myrtle Beach is where the happy couple met. It turns out that, although they were only there a short period of time, they were scheduled to work the entire weekend together. They worked together, ate together, had great conversation and enjoyed each others company. All of a sudden both went in different directions, realizing how much time they had been spending together. They always seemed to end up back in the same place, however. At the end of the festival, both went to their respective cities and continued on with life as they knew it. A couple of weeks later, Carrie received an e-mail from Mark. It was very nice, cordial, and very unexpected. Then she got a call on her birthday! How in the world had he remembered her birthday?!? Carrie was caught off guard, but still not grasping what all was going on. Mark, as he says it, did cartwheels, back flips, you name it! It took Carrie a while to notice. Carrie made a trip to Florida in October for a football game (Canes vs. FSU), and on the way home she really realized that this was a special guy. Ever since then, she knew there was something special there. She was still struggling with her walls and they went up almost as soon as they came down. But as Mark continued to challenge her, she became more and more comfortable and they began to slowly come down and staying down. Mark came to New York for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the day after Christmas he drove Carrie down to Fort Lauderdale to work at the festival there...WHEN WE GOT ENGAGED March 28, 2003HOW IT HAPPENEDMark caught Carrie totally off guard for the engagement. He talked someone at the office into letting me go early on Friday, even though we were in crunch time for getting the data entry in. The Lord is good and we were able to get it 90% done and they told Carrie to go home and enjoy the weekend. Knowing better than to ask twice, she said thanks and left. They went to Target to run some errands and then Mark asked if she wanted to go to dinner. Since they hadn't been in such a long time, she agreed. That would be a nice finish to a long couple of weeks. He asked how Houston's on the water sounded and she thought that would be great! So they went to Carrie's house so she could change, went to Mark's so he could change, and then they went to the beach to just relax a bit before dinner. Then they drove to Houston's, walked in, and they said it would be a few minutes. Carrie went to the restroom without thinking about the fact that Houston's doesn't take reservations and it was Friday night. There was apparently a 2 hour wait and by the time Carrie got back, Mark had already been seated... at the best table on the deck! Carrie, still clueless, was excited about ordering because she was starving! When she sat down, Mark said that he really wanted chocolate, so they would have to save room for dessert. She laughed and said okay. When their appetizer came out they ate that, and then Mark moved the chips and said, "I am going to move these so we don't keep eating them. I want to make sure we have room for dessert... I really want chocolate!" Although she had never seen Mark that excited about chocolate, she was still clueless. As they continued talking, he told Carrie that he had tried to get in touch with her mom, but was not able to do so. This was the one "old fashioned" piece Carrie had always wanted. the man she was to marry would ask her mom's permission. He picked up the phone and tried again right at the table. She answered the phone!! When Mark asked, Carrie saw him start to tear and she KNEW that her mom was crying on the other end. Was a sweet and special moment. Then half way through dinner Mark says, "I think I am going to have her box the rest of this because I want to make sure I have room for dessert." The waitress came out to clear the table and said, "can I interest you in any dessert? We have a wonderful brownie sundae with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce on top, key lime pie, anything?" Mark just looked at me. I mean the boy DID want chocolate, so why was he all of a sudden quiet? Still clueless I said, "Well he really wants chocolate, so we'll have the brownie." She said she'd be right out with it. She came out, placed it between them, and reached around Carrie to grab her glass to refill it, or so she thought. It turns out it was the camera she grabbed. Mark has his camera everywhere, so that was nothing new. Before the dessert had come out, Mark had moved the candle in front of the post and had rearranged some things on the table. That was nothing new for him either. Carrie took a bite of the sundae, while Mark took a little tiny bit of the VANILLA ice cream. She looked at him and said, "Are you going to eat the chocolate you have been so excited about?" His response was yes, yet he continued to eat the vanilla ice cream. As he pulled the spoon over the top of the ice cream, she saw something poking out. She said, "Mark, what are you doing!?" He pulled out the ring, sucked all the ice cream off it, got down on one knee, and proposed. He said, "Carrie Louise Blackmer, I have waited a long time for this. I want you to be by my side, to share my life, to serve the Lord together........ will you marry me?" (Yes there was much more in there and it was beautiful, but Carrie can't remember it all now. She was crying and in shock!) Carrie said yes and the camera began flashing. Carrie was crying, Mark was crying, some of the wait staff was crying.... Behind her she could hear the wait staff lined up at the bar and clapping. Then they brought out a dozen red roses which he had someone bring earlier in the day. Okay, here is how he set it up... Mark called a friend and asked him to pick up the roses, go down to Houston's tell them what was going to happen and have them save a table right on the water. They agreed to do it, and when Mark and Carrie got there and Carrie went to the restroom, Mark asked who would be waiting on them and gave the girl the ring to put n the dessert. They were instructed to bring out the roses after the proposal. What a thoughtful guy! :o)WHEN & WHERE March 30, 2003
Fort Lauderdale, FLABOUT THE BIG DAYThey had planned to do a little ceremony on the beach at sunrise on March 30, 2003. Yes, it was a planned elope. They didn't tell their families because they knew that Carrie's family would not be able to make it. So, they had the pastor, a video guy, a camera guy and her roommate. It was absolutely perfect! After planning a huge festival which had taken place the weekend before, the last thing they wanted to do was plan another event. They began pulling things together on the Tuesday before they were to get married. Carrie found her dress in about 5 minutes during her lunch hour!!! Totally the Lord. They were going to go get the marriage license on Friday, but Mark felt they should go on Thursday instead. They went to get their marriage license on Thursday, and found there was a three day wait in the state of Florida. The license said that they could get married on March 30, 2003 or later! Another God moment. Praise the Lord for His guidance! Friday morning Carrie went next door to the office in search of peach roses. They had every color but peach, but he said he could have them that afternoon. He asked how many and she told him she was getting married on Sunday morning. He asked if she needed a bouquet and she said yes, but nothing big because everything about the ceremony is simple. He said he would have it by noon the next day, complete with a boutonniere. It was beautiful!!! Carrie went off to get her nails and toes done and her roommate popped in and paid for it! And brought a little gift too. Then came the ceremony on Sunday morning at sunrise.... 6:30 a.m. Everything was perfect and the sunrise matched the flowers! Another God moment! After the ceremony they changed, went to church, had communion, went to his parents' house and told them, went to his little sister's house for a baby shower, told the rest of the family there and then headed out of town. They went to Orlando for a few days.... God totally prepared the way for that as well. 4 days/3 nights at an upgraded condo for $99, discounted tickets to a Cirque show, year passes to Sea World for less than a day's ticket...... Great deals everywhere!! Now the happy couple currently resides in Plantation, Florida and are seeking the Lord's direction as to new career paths.
Here is an update, 7 years later (but I am going to write it in the first person)....
About a year after being married, we relocated to Chicago where we worked for a few years at the same church. Our offices were right next to each other. During our time in Chicago, we were blessed with two beautiful girls, Abigail (now 3 1/2) and Amanda (now almost 2). Five weeks after Amanda was born, we relocated back to the south Florida area where Mark began getting ready to launch his our company. We are enjoying the sunny south and the girls are loving the fact that they can be outdoors almost every day of the year. Today, 7 years after the big day, it is breezy and in the mid 70's. Not a cloud in the sky. Abigail wrote her first letter by herself without any prompting (the letter A) and she was SOOO excited! She wrote it and screamed, "Mommy! I wrote the letter A!!!" And she sure did. She also learned how to actually pedal her tricycle by herself! Her legs are finally long enough to reach the pedals. Amanda is a little ham and continues to keep us laughing, along with antagonizing her big sister. What a joy to have them. We feel so blessed as God continues to provide and guide our every move. I am so very blessed to be able to share this life with Mark and the girls!!