It all began with lasagna…. at least that’s the way we like to tell it…

Colie:
My family was serving at a counseling training center in Indianapolis, Indiana when Brenda and her brother Brandon came for a training conference. My Mom (Kathy) was in charge of the kitchen and Brandon was helping out there.

When pressed for time preparing one of the meals, Brandon mentioned that his mom never cooked lasagna noodles before baking the lasagna. With some skepticism Kathy called Johnette (Brenda’s Mom) to verify this new method of lasgna cooking. They were fast friends. One night when the ‘Kitchen Crew’ was watching one of Brandon’s home movies we noticed that the Harstad’s roof had some blue tarps covering the back section.

[Couple with Rose]Since my family was in the roofing business, we offered to travel out to California to help them re-roof it. Our family drove to California to stay with them and do their roof. Even though we had never met any of their family except for Brandon and Brenda, our families felt like we had always known each other in just a few short days. Joel (Brenda’s younger brother) and I became the best of buds. Joel came to Texas several times to work for a month or more at a time. Joel and Katrina (my second sister) would always joke about “Colie and Brenda getting married”. A repulsive idea for both Brenda and I at the time. We were friends and that was it. We had fun being around each other just because the rest of the family was around… All 3,000 of us as Gary would say!!!

When Joel was on a ministry trip to Australia, the Harstad’s decided to go visit him and see some of the sites while down there. They kindly invited me to come along for the trip. It was on that awesome trip in March of 2001 that I first had the thought “Brenda would make someone a good wife” The thought gave me somewhat of a shock seeing as I was in no way interested in marriage at the time.

Brenda:
As he was thinking “Brenda would make a good wife” I was getting the feeling that he liked me.

Colie:
It wasn’t until Joel’s wedding in June of 2003 that I realized that Brenda might make a good wife for me. After much prayer and seeking of counsel, I began emailing Brenda every once in a while. We also discovered that awesome thing called ‘Instant Messaging’. After much sharing I realized that I needed to talk to Gary about the possibility of marrying Brenda. During this busy time I was searching for a house to begin working on. I wanted to use my talents to finish an unfinished house or fix up a burned house. God worked all things out for a house in Startzville,Texas, located near Canyon Lake.

The closing was delayed a week from scheduled. During that week I realized that either having a house or, not having house did not change the love God had given me for Brenda. So after more thought and prayer I called Gary on October 4th. We started “courting” October 5th. That night we spent almost three hours on the phone.

I realized after watching two sisters get engaged to guys far away that I would need to take care of the logistics of getting to know Brenda without costing either of us a fortune. ‘Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile minutes’ was the answer. My family and friends now refer to my T-mobile phone as my “Brenda Phone” or “the California Phone”.

[Couple Looking]Kalyn (my third sister) and I flew out to California in November to have a great time seeing Brenda and the rest of the Harstads. Brenda traveled to Texas in December arriving the 15th. I took her to see the house that I had bought in October. Seeing her excitement confirmed my decision to ask for her hand in marriage. On the 17th of December, Brenda and I went down to the Riverwalk. We ate at the ‘Texas Land and Cattle Company’, then took a leisurely stroll around the area. Brenda did not know that Katrina had purchased 9 dozen roses for me, arranged them, and headed down to the Riverwalk with Stan and Krystal to place them in a predetermined place. I was extremely nervous as the flowers were slightly delayed by some wrong turns.

Brenda:
I knew that this would be the night. I didn’t know how though… since he didn’t have 9 dozen roses, like he wanted. One of the signs was all the little ones saying “you will want to take your camara with you!”

Colie:
Taking a rest break down at some waterfalls under the Convention Center, I saw that Katrina had placed the flowers on a wall. I grabbed Brenda and her purse and said “Let’s go”. Brenda seemed somewhat shocked until she saw the roses….. After a little bit of overflowing eyecleaners, I asked Brenda to be my wife. She didn’t say yes… she said something even better..

After that we had the fun of calling Stan, Krystal, and Trina back to take some pictures and go with us on the riverboat cruise. The joy of calling all the family, floating down the San Antonio River, watching the Christmas lights, and enjoying being newly engaged made for a thrilling night.

The time since then has been a few months of full hearts, much work on wedding plans,working our jobs, working on the house to get it finished before the wedding, and being drawn closer to Christ and to each other.

We want to thank each one of you who have helped us on our walk through life here on earth, giving us an example of how to live for Christ.