Michael and April first met on Jan 12, 2005 at approximately 7:26 p.m., when she was in St. Louis for fundraising. She came to our housechurch meeting that Wednesday night, at the Herrenkohls house at 841 Wild Cherry Lane in University City, MO. She was friends with Jen and Cliff Sodergren, who had been on InterVarsity staff in her region.
When April walked in, she told herself, "I'm not sitting next to any boys." She sat next to the guitarist, but where the neck of his guitar needed to be, so she had to move. She sat in the chair next to me. I introduced myself. We talked for about four minutes about theater, communications, general subjects, and InterVarsity. She thought to herself, "He sounds like my list [of the man she wanted to marry], some of it." She thought I seemed kind of shy. She remembered me as sensitive and intellectual.
When we thought the meeting was beginning, we stopped talking. There was an awkward silence. She thought she would talk more with me after the meeting, but before she could, I ran out the door to get back to my grandmother, because my uncle was waiting to go out for the evening.
The next day, April thought, "It's been a long time since I had met someone who interested me." She noticed that during the meeting, we had nodded at all the same things. She decided she would wait for me to ask Jen about her. Of course, I was oblivious to all this.
Three months later, after church, Jen Sodergren gave me April's email address. She told me that I shouldn't feel obligated to contact April, but she had noticed that we were nodding at the same things at housechurch, and knew that April didn't have many people to talk to.
On April 17, 2005, at 1:17pm, I sent my first email to April. By the end of May, I had sent her 31 messages, and she was becoming sure that I was the one for her. I called her for the first time the night of May 23, 2005. She giggled a lot. We began talking virtually every night. I used up one prepaid calling card before going back to Texas for a visit, when I borrowed my father's cellphone for "unlimited nights and weekends". During the van trip back to St. Louis with my father and the Lorees, we agreed to "fast" from each other until June 14. Then I continued borrowing my father's cellphone every night, calling April about 10:30 pm after she finished running.
After the van left to return to Texas, I was alone with my grandmother for two days before my aunt Frances came to visit for a week. April and I had already agreed that I would spend that week in Galesburg to visit her, which I did. We put boundaries on our relationship which involved very minimal touching. I told April that shaking hands might be all I could handle. It was a wonderful week for both of us, filled with surprises. I had a bad case of poison ivy.
On Wednesday, June 22, I met April at her home on 343 E. Water St. #3 in Galesburg. We listened to live music at Cafe in the Park with her friends Summer and Christine and checked out her ankle at Prompt Care. I went to Ray and Agnes Kimbell's house while April prepared dinner for the Moscow team at the home of Doug Schneider, her IVCF supervisor. We went to Faith Baptist that evening.
On Thursday, June 23, we walked and talked, and cooked Indian food. We looked at April's baby pictures, and went to Galeburg's Railroad Days. I had my first Lemon Shakeup.
On Friday, June 24, I went to Prompt Care for my poison ivy. April backed into a car in the supermarket parking lot after I got my prescription. We had a picnic at Bateman Park, then drove to Argyle State Park for a retreat of silence. I slept under a bush. We went on to Macomb, where we ate with Tim Ballard, IVCF staff at Western Illinois University, where April worked with internationals. That evening we went with Tim to Macomb Heritage Days and spent the night with him.
On Saturday, June 25, we went to Gee Min and Russ's wedding at First Baptist Macomb, followed by their reception. Beforehand, we helped set up for the reception at the VFW Hall. I hung Chinese paper lanterns. That evening we heard Tim preach at First Baptist Macomb.
On Sunday after church, we worked on April's photo albums and visited the trainyard. I drove back to St. Louis that day.
The next month, April took a week of vacation and came to visit me in St. Louis on July 22. We had dinner that night at Boston Market with my uncle James and Grandma. April stayed with Emily Potter for most of her vacation.
On Saturday, July 23, I surprised April by taking her to the Festival of Nations at Tower Grove Park. It was the first time we had Eritrean food.
On Sunday, we went to church at New City Fellowship with Emily Potter, James and Grandma, then took James to the airport. We had lunch at Fitz's Root Beer. We went shopping with Grandma at Value City, but April's 1995 Chevy Corsica broke down, so I went home on foot to get my car and rescue the ladies. Replacing the battery fixed it.
But April had gotten overheated, and on Monday I comforted her and sent her to bed for a while. That night, we had dinner at Fitz's Root Beer again and that evening we watched April's role in a video of the musical Carousel.
On Tuesday, after quiet time with the Lord, April and I went to the St. Louis Art Museum. We had lunch at Vietnam Star Restaurant and enjoyed the creatures in the fish tanks. That afternoon we made salad for dinner that night at Cliff and Jen Sodergren's apartment.
On Wednesday morning, we met Janet Atkins, IVCF's international student worker at Washington University. Because of a power outage, we couldn't get into the St. Louis Bread Company, so we met her outside and walked to campus. We discussed student ministry there, and had lunch at the student union. That night we went to South St. Louis to deliver food and other items to Liberian refugees. April wasn't used to big cities, but she hit it off well with the Liberians.
On Thursday, July 28, after our quiet time with the Lord, we went to Six Flags. I had to stop at Covenant Seminary to ask what freeway it was on (I-44). Just before the exit, the freeway was shut down. The police told all the cars to turn around and drive the wrong way back to the exit. We weren't sure how to get to Six Flags now. We passed a wildlife preserve and had our picnic lunch there. Then we stopped at a middle school to ask directions. The staff were certain that we needed to go back toward the freeway. Before we left, we heard one of them say that the buffet leftovers (from a meeting) were going to be thrown out, and they invited us to take some food. So we gathered up desserts, chicken cordon bleu, and pasta.
We drove back to the freeway access road, only to be told by the policeman that we had been on the right track after all. So we turned around again, back past the school, the preserve, and through two little towns, including Gray Summit before we finally got back around to Six Flags. Our first ride was the Mr. Freeze rollercoast, which I pronounced as "more than necessary." That afternoon we picnicked on the parking lot, eating the leftover gourmet food from the middle school.
On Friday, we drove to Columbia, MO to meet with Craig Colbert, IVCF area director for international student ministry. He was positive toward April working with him. When we returned to University City, April and I went to the St. Louis Art Museum again, and sat quietly and romantically by the fountain.
I telephoned my father to inform him that our relationship was moving fast. He and my mother decided to drive back from their vacation in Colorado to meet us in Galesburg. I arranged to hire caregivers for my grandmother for the weekend, and April and I drove back to Galesburg on Saturday.
Sunday morning, April sang "Can't Live A Day" at First Baptist Church Galesburg and afterwards presented a session on resolving cultural differences for their Nicaragua team. We ate lunch with my parents at Papa John's Pizza and had dinner with them at the Landmark.
On Monday, August 1, my parents went with us to Standish Park to see the different specimens of trees, and we also visited Old Main at Knox College. I went with April to work with Max the dog, and we all had lunch at Coconuts in Monmouth, IL. April and I stopped by her rental office, informing them that I was probably going to ask April to marry me, and could she give tentative notice on her apartment. The lady at the office was agreeable, and approved of our engagement. That afternoon we went fishing with the Kimbells. We had dinner that night at the Landmark.
On Tuesday morning, we had fish for breakfast at the Kimbells. April and I went to visit Max again. At noon we went to the Knox County Fair with my parents and watched harness racing. At 5:30 we ate at the Rib Shack with my parents and the Kimbells.
We were engaged at Ray and Agnes Kimbell's house in Galesburg about 11:00pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2005. I knelt down beside their couch. April said, "Yes. Yes, Michael." Afterwards, we rejoiced and talked until after midnight.
You can see pictures of our shower, wedding and honeymoon online at http://biographiks.com/ We have the wedding program online too, at http://biographiks.com/program.htm