Dave & Tammy: Our Story

Hi friends, Dave here... Okay, this is actually "my" version of "our" story (and, yes, there are few updates here as of January 2010). Hopefully soon, Tammy and I will have some time to collaborate our stories together and share it as one complete "novel" of how we met and wound up married (I even thought it would be cool to create an actual book so the kids can read it one day), but until then you'll have to put up with just my side of the story (hehehe)... Don't worry though, Tammy has read this too and smiles in agreement. This page contains the "short" version of our story -- in case you just don't have time to read the entire version. Yes, believe it or not, this really is the short version of my story (I see you guys sneaking out the back door because this is already too long - haha). My bud Sean tells me this is still too long, but hopefully I can get to the point before y'all fall asleep reading. ;) I guess all this explanation about how "short" this is wasn't really unnecessary eh? (hehe)

I met Tammy online while playing the popular video game World of Warcraft! Yep, it's true. Some people thought it was a little strange, made jokes (and even I thought it was a little funny), but that's how it all started for me. That was nearly two years ago now and Tammy and I (as we continued to write, call and webcam each other over the months) established an incredible friendship and really grew to love each other deeply. Oh yeah, important little detail here: she lives in Austrailia on the other side of the world. I live in Washington state (the area of the country known as the Great Northwest). Say what you will about the problem of video game addiction (go ahead, say it - haha); all I know is that I never would have met my wonderful sweetie if I hadn't tried playing that crazy game. ;) My own sister, Karla, told me once, "You know little brother, you're never gonna meet anyone playing that stupid game?" Little did she know at the time that I had already met Tammy... and my brother-in-law, Mark, was actually playing the game at that moment and laughing in the other room (hehe).

Tammy spent virtually all of the money she had flying here to see me. It was the first time we met in person (this was in October of 2008). I knew our love was real the moment we were together in person. To have had the benefit of first spending a year really getting to know each other, heart to heart, through conversation and writing letters, set the perfect stage for finally meeting her face to face and squeezing her in my arms. I can't remember ever being so happy when that moment finally arrived. I am glad the long distance element of the relationship happened first, because we were able to build a strong bond together; a relationship centered in true love, before having the benefit (or distraction, depending on how you look at it - hehe) of any physical embrace or affection. God brought us together in just the right fashion! :)

She was here for 2 months. They were the best months of my life. I also found out that cuddling with your sweetie is way better than going on dungeon raids through Zul'Farak in the Tanaris desert (sorry... a little WoW humor there). I asked her to marry me, and she said yes. I gave her the best ring I could afford. Even at the risk of not having enough money to pay for my World of Warcraft account (hehe). I can't remember ever being happier when Tammy said 'yes.' Not even when I made it to level 65 in the game (sorry... more WoW humor). She announced the happy news to her fam (who responded with happiness as well) and returned to her home.

Meahwhile, circumstances came about which required me to have to move out of my home over the Christmas holiday! The notice came as a huge surprise and, probably needless to say, this considerably increased my financial burden. Still, God provided so that my obligations were all met, but the price involved me not being able to drive home to be with family for the first time ever. I also originally had plans to spend most of my Christmas bonus to drive Tammy to Disneyland for a special treat, but had to cancel the trip and use the money to pay off my bills, get a storage unit to store all my things, and start looking for a new place to live.

Still, despite these little bumps along the road, we made the best of it and had a wonderful month together. And, despite my sorrow that the time was quickly approaching that Tammy would soon have to return home to Australia, I was able to get moved (thanks to the help of my former roommate Matt who donated his moving company services), meet all my obligations and find a temporary place to stay. Some good friends of mine (who are really more like family to me) took me in and have allowed me to rent their spare room. It's cool how things work out for the best, but it was still a long road ahead.

My little room

So to make a long story short-er (see, I can do that... sort of): some of these circumstances, along with my regular financial obligations, made it a little less than an optimal month (financially-speaking). I worked hard to get back on top of things and stay on top and, though there have been challenge, I remain very optimistic. With God's help and some hard work, I was able to come up with enough money to get my plane ticket to Australia, a passport, have 4 suits tailored for the wedding (for me and my groomsmen), pay off two credit cards (still working on this one), help my fiancee with the wedding plans and finances (not to mention the maintenance of a hefty phone bill) and save up enough to have a little spending money for my time there as well as enough for some kind of honeymoon, however small (though, I confess, Tammy covered most of that from her end). There are still obligations to be met as we go through the process of enabling her to get here (to the States) permanently, but most of the big stuff is out of the way and things are rolling along well.

As you can imagine, the cost of meeting these goals easily totaled up to thousands of dollars. As I said before, I was living with friends of mine to save money for the trip to Australia. For a little more than a year I stayed in a tiny bedroom, working hard to make ends meet with bills... all so I could get to Australia to marry my beautiful Tammy and prepare a home for us for when she comes back with me. Unfortunately, because of the immigration details, she won't actually be able to come back with me for several more months. The government sure makes you jump through a lot of hoops but so far so good. The good is that it gives Tammy and I a little extra time to make preparations and save up for all that's yet ahead of us. Tammy and I have both given up much for this wedding and I know sacrifices will likely have to be made still but we're both totally up for the adventure! This is a bit of a humbling place to be sometimes, but I have great hope that good things will still happen and Tammy is such an encouragement to me and I have nothing but great anticipation for what's ahead for us.

I'm so glad for the advent of Internet whereby we can share like this with our friends, family and acquaintences and include you in our story. From the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU everyone for your love, thoughts, prayers and even financial help you have given! We both appreciate all of you so much and send big hugs and smiles your way. In truth, we couldn't have made it this far if it weren't for the amazing support of family and friends emotionally, spiritually, physically and financially. YOU'RE THE BEST!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

We don't have a wedding gift registry set up right now, but if you'd like to contribute to our wedding "virtual money tree", CLICK HERE.