I would love to start this story off with a romantic one-liner my husband used on me the first time we met when he brushed into me at a local coffee shop one warm, springy day. However, it’s the 21st century and dating apps have been in full force for quite some time. So instead, let’s get straight to it. February 2021 I messaged him on Bumble (the dating app where women have to message the men first) with a, “Hey Alex, how’s your day going?” Later that afternoon, I got a message back (cue happy dance!) We messaged on the Bumble app for several days–getting right into the difficult, challenging questions that most people ignore from the get-go. That’s one of the reasons we connected so quickly because we asked each other things like: your profile is listed as ‘Christian,’ what does that look like for you? What is a non-negotiable when it comes to being in a committed relationship with someone? What values are you looking for in a husband/wife? Upfront and authentic questions like these were so valuable to ask before meeting each other in person. Who wants to get their time wasted when you don’t align on some core values?
So we obviously set a date to meet in person and go out to dinner with one another. But here’s one detail I won’t leave out in our love story…his name isn’t Alex!! He told me his real name the day or two before we met; which is Gennadiy (Gen-ah-dee). Apparently, his reasoning for listing a pseudonym on his profile was because he was tired of having to explain over and over again how to pronounce his name. Looking back on it, it does make sense now–but we still laugh about it to this day!
Moving on in our story…we started dating about a month after our first date, March 2021. I already stated that our timeline of things was accelerated, so just buckle up sister. When we started dating, we also said “I love you” to one another (I said it first). By the end of April the next month, we went and looked at engagement rings together. We had already been talking about marriage and what our life would be like together since we began dating, so looking at rings together was logically the next step.
Side note: We only started dating each other because we BOTH knew the end result would be marriage if there weren’t any red flags that popped up with one another. And lastly, we both agreed we were abstaining from sex until marriage (that question was addressed when we were messaging on Bumble! But revisited again when we began dating to be sure we were both still on the same page).
June 26, 2021 was when Gennadiy proposed to me. We were fishing together at a little spot we’d been to before when he popped the question. Then, we decided by the following day that we wanted the wedding to be next month! In the four short weeks leading up to the wedding, I was able to get a wedding dress and get it altered, have a bridal brunch with several of my close friends at the time, pick a smaller location for the wedding, set up our wedding officiant through the church we go to, go to premarital counseling with the same ordaining pastor, and get together all the wedding decor and food catering set up. It truly was a whirlwind by the end of it! But how awesome that all of that was able to happen–praise be to God! I guess I should mention, if you didn’t already know, that I was a school teacher during this time, so I had summer break off. Another reason why we chose to make the wedding (and honeymoon) happen when it did since I had no other obligations during that summer period.
July 25, 2021 was the day we said “I do!” Both of our families are local, so it wasn’t a problem setting that date and making sure they could be there. We chose for it to be a small, family-only wedding. To be honest, I never really had that “fairy-tale” dream of a big, expensive wedding with hundreds of guests. Instead, we savored the minimal approach with a smaller venue and reception space combined. Even with just our families, the head count was fifty! The day will always be a memorable one. My view is that the wedding is for a day, but marriage is for a lifetime.
June 27-August 1, 2021 we enjoyed a sweet, all inclusive honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico. Another memory of mine that was savored as newlyweds! When we got back from that trip, we had a week of staying back in town, and then headed down to Florida for a family vacation with Gennadiy’s side of the family. Once we got back from the trip, and the week I started back to school, was the week that our first baby girl was conceived. I got my first positive pregnancy test on September 2, 2021–another life-changing day where I praised God to the heavens! So if you’re still with me, you’ve figured out that I started dating my husband, got engaged, got married, and then got pregnant with our first child all within seven months—talk about FAST!
This isn’t your average timeline by any means, but because my husband and I have put God first in our relationship from the very beginning, He has blessed us immensely because of it. I know Gennadiy was put in my life at just the right time, and our relationship progressed the way it did because of the plans the Lord had for us.
Our first baby girl, Eva, was born in May of 2022. I talk about my natural hospital birth experience here. We waited to find out the gender until I gave birth, so that’s another awesome thing we got to experience. Once Eva was three months old I ended up getting my cycle back. I told Gennadiy that I wanted to try again for another baby as soon as we could. We prayed about it, and I asked the Lord if it was in His will for me to get pregnant again soon that we would. I had negative tests for the next two months, but then at six months postpartum we conceived again! Nine months later in August of 2023 we had our second baby girl, Valerie. The girls are fifteen months apart and they are the reason I started Making Motherhood.
Thanks for reading and learning more About Me–mamas, sisters, and friends! Leave a comment if anything relates to you or you have any questions for me.
