There are stories in life that are easy to tell, and many that are difficult to tell, shared only with close friends.  Then there is of course another class of stories that are so precious that you feel the need to treasure them, holding them close, yet knowing that they are too great to keep to yourself.  Such is my own love story.  To be sure, everyone should think their own love story is the greatest, so mine may not be as unique as it feels to me.  Nevertheless, when I was flooded with friends, loved ones, and complete strangers who ask me to tell my story, I decided that I would  write it down once and for all.  For their sake, for my sake, and perhaps someday for the sake of my children and their children.  One reason is that I had little to do with my love story.  The true composer of this symphony is God, and I’ve learned to give Him as much credit as my voice will allow, knowing that it will never be as much as He deserves.

Chapter One; An Awakening of Sorts

   I, like many young men, always imagined that I would end up with the perfect woman for me.  Unfortunately, I had no idea what that was supposed to look like.  It’s a dreadful temptation to look for the female version of yourself, which would not only be a redundant addition to my life, but more than likely a horrible fit. For most of my teenage to adult life, I found myself looking but never quite finding what I was looking for.  This became so routine, that I became pretty oblivious to any sort of signals by a member of the fairer gender.  Many of my friends knew stories of my complete ineptitude to recognize when I was being flirted with, and I was quite happy to be oblivious.

   As someone who traveled from time to time to speak in different places, I learned to turn off the side of me that would be thinking of young women as potential mates, and just focus on why I was there.  After all, I didn’t want to be “that guy” that floated into a city, flirted with the girls, messed with some hearts, and then left a mess behind.  When I would travel, I would at times be a little too cordial in an attempt to not “give the wrong impression”.  Until June.

  I was asked to speak at a youth conference near Spokane, Washington in the early summer of 2009.  I had spoken at this event the year before and was excited to return.  Something felt different this time.  There were parts of my heart that had been asleep for a while that began to feel awake, as if something was coming.  Those that knew me best felt it too, and began to leave subtle hints that they didn’t believe it would be long before I would find myself face to face with the girl of my dreams.  Still, I pushed the feelings away as mere fantasy and moved ahead with my task.

   The year before, I had met a beautiful, kind girl named Tiah outside of the chapel where I would speak.  She asked me about where I was from and the ministry I was involved in.  I treated her with the usual conversational cordiality without becoming too attached and moved on.  Little did I know that the next year, God would work on her heart leading up to summer conference as well.  In fact, had I known what she saw in me when I stepped onto the stage, I might have been too embarrassed to speak.

  Tiah had come to the point in her life where she had grown tired of the compromise so prevalent in Christianity and had decided that to settle for anything less than what God wanted for her was a waste of time.  You can imagine her confusion when God began to open her eyes to see the guest speaker in a new light.  Not as a guest speaker, but as someone she would someday marry.  She did her best to continue on as she would normally do, not betraying her true feelings, treasuring them in her heart.

  It is not odd for a young, single, guest speaker to be faced with people trying to set you up with the various eligible young ladies from their church, some going so far as to tell you that they believed it was the will of God.  So I was not surprised when one or two people came up to me, convinced that I was going to marry someone at this conference.  However, when several people say the same thing without conspiring, your ears do tend to prick up.  I pleaded with these people not to tell me the name of the girl they referred to, attempting to avoid the awkward situation of having to respond at that moment, but I secretly knew exactly who they spoke of.  Five minutes before I left for the airport, one last kind lady asked to speak to me.  I obliged, and she proceeded to tell me that she believed that I was to marry Tiah, being sure not to pressure me to react, but simply to tell me to seek the Lord about it.

   Seek the Lord was exactly what I did.  Normally, when a girl would come into my life with the potential to be more than a friend, I was in the habit of praying about it, and would usually find that in prayer the person got fainter in my heart.  Thus, I would let go of the idea of pursuing the relationship.  Something was different this time.  As I prayed in the following days, Tiah did not grow fainter, but rather stronger in my heart and mind.  Not only that, but those that were close to me began to ask me, “did you meet someone in Washington?”, saying they, “had a sense”.

    After my father died, there have been a couple of men that have been an immense blessing in my life as a source of wisdom, encouragement, and counsel.  One such man, David McGrew, pastors a church in British Columbia and had made himself available whenever I needed advice.  This was one of those times.  I phoned him as I arrived back in Lloydminster and explained the situation to him.  He encouraged me to pray and seek the Lord and then continued to check on me almost every day, refusing to let me passively watch this opportunity slip by.

   I knew that I was returning to Spokane in October, and had originally planned to strike up a conversation with Tiah then and see where it went.  Very quickly, it became apparent that this was not the right solution.  I unsuccessfully tried to find Tiah on one of the many social networking sites on the internet in an attempt to make a somewhat casual connection which may someday lead to something more.  Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found.  Not on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, or any other web site on the entire world wide web!  Frustrated, I enlisted the help of a friend in Spokane to find out her e-mail address, as uncomfortable as the thought made me.  All this time, Dave and a couple of other friends were encouraging me to “just call the girl”.  That I would not do.  How creepy would that be?  If some guy that you’ve talked to a few times at a conference called you up out of the blue, wouldn’t you be just a little suspicious as to his intentions, and possibly creeped out?  No, I decided I would wait for the e-mail address.  It never came.

  After the conference, Tiah was all the more sure that her future lay in Canada, and that our paths would meet someday.  You must know, this is not her personality.  She is not flaky.  She is not a flirt.  She is certainly not the type to wish for pipe dreams.  Yet she knew that God had put this young minister on her heart and she couldn’t let it go.  The question would arise, “how will it ever happen?  He’s hundreds of miles away, and barely knows I exist.”  If I had known that, I may not have been so nervous about that dreaded phone call.


  I had great faith in my “secret agents” who were still at work trying to get Tiah’s e-mail address when the moment of truth came.  She had no e-mail address.  Here I stood at the crossroads.  I was faced with either doing what I had repeatedly said I would not do, or stand by and do nothing, perhaps letting this opportunity slip by.  It was at this point that I was keenly aware of the scripture found in Hebrews; “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart”.  I made my decision. I made the phone call.

Chapter Two; "If You Hear His Voice..."

 Mustering up the courage to make this call took everything within me.  If only had known that in a way, my call was expected.  When I had finally sorted out what I was going to say, I dialed the number that had been given to me.  The phone rang several times until it was answered...by Tiah’s voice mail.  I refrained from tossing my phone across the room, and instead left my best imitation of a witty voice message. In less than an hour, I got a call back from Tiah and my heart skipped several beats. We talked for over an hour that first conversation, and continued developing a friendship through text messages and phone calls from that moment.

  It wasn’t long until I realized that this was becoming more than a friendship.  It had been over a month since that first call, and I knew that to continue as if we were just pals would be slightly dishonest.  I knew Tiah was interested in me, and I was certainly interested in her.  I made up my mind to speak with her father and seek his approval to pursue a long distance relationship with his lovely daughter.  His only daughter, might I add.  Though I was going to be in Spokane a month later, I knew that this deserved a special trip.  Tiah deserved that much, as did her parents in my mind.  I once again mustered up my courage and dialed the phone number for Tiah’s parents’ house.  When I asked to speak to her father, her mother informed me that he was unavailable.  Upon her request that I leave a message, I informed her that I was Jonathan Bounds.  This brought an instant change in her voice, and she said, “This is Jonathan?  The young man who makes my daughter smile!”  I instantly resolved two things.  First, I liked Tiah’s mother.  Second, that if I could be known as the man who makes her daughter smile for the rest of my life, I would be satisfied.  After a great conversation with Mrs. Orcutt, I received a return call from Tiah’s father, David.  He seemed very wise and kind and informed me that he would love to meet me and get to know me.

  All of this led to me planning the most important trip of my life to this point.  Tiah’s parents were on board.  Tiah would not know I was coming, and after meeting with her father, I would surprise her and take her out to dinner.  Tiah’s pastor and his wife had offered to let me stay at their house, and they seemed delighted to be part of the plan.

Chapter Three; A Graduation

  On September 29th, 2009, Tiah accompanied her parents to the beautiful and historic Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane.  She was under the impression that they were there to meet some relatives for dinner.  I had put on a suit after seeing how nice the hotel was online, and now pulled my rental car into the valet parking.  Tiah and I had always sent text messages when we were about to do something fun, inviting the other one to join, despite the five hundred miles of distance between us, and I planned to use this to my advantage.  I sent her a text message that said, “I’m going to a great restaurant tonight.  Wanna come?”  It seemed like an eternity before she responded, “Sure!  Where are we going?”  To this I responded simply, “You’ll see.”  At just that moment, I rounded the corner, entering the main lobby of the Davenport in my suit where Tiah and her parents were waiting.

  When Tiah first looked at me, she didn’t fully recognize me, and when she did, I had a hard time reading the expression on her face.  She was not squealing with delight, or even really smiling!  She just kept asking, “What are you doing here?”  She later explained to me that she couldn’t believe I was there for her, and at times thought she was dreaming.  After her parents left us with well wishes, it took quite a few minutes for it to finally settle on Tiah that this was real, and I was here for her.  After we both shared our sides of our story and what God had been saying to us, we decided that it was time to take the leap and pursue this new and exciting relationship.

  We went from The Davenport to a nice restaurant that I had scouted out where Tiah ate barely a bite of her food, too excited to eat. From there, we took a beautiful walk in the park, talking about the past present and future.  The next morning, I flew home, and was still in the clouds long after the plane landed.

  We fell in love, constantly amazed at the wonderful things we were discovering about each other that only God could plan.  She even was able to come and visit me in Canada the week after Christmas, when my home town was at it’s coldest.  She went with me to my church in Loon Lake and Lloydminster and instantly fell in love with the people.  We had our own delayed Christmas under the tree at my house where she gave me a beautiful book that she had lovingly created, highlighting the wonderful times and aspects of our relationship, among many other wonderful gifts.  I treasured these gifts, and I gave her some of my own, including a record player with a vinyl record already placed on it that contained a song that I had written and recorded for her.

  Our relationship grew and progressed, despite the distance, until I became convinced that this was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  Once again, I set my mind to planning a surprise that Tiah would never forget. This time, enlisting the aid of friends in Spokane, particularly her friends Jon and Naomi, I began to formulate a plan to propose to Tiah.

Chapter Four; Four Roses

   I flew to Spokane on Valentine’s Day, taking Tiah to one of our favorite restaurants in Spokane.  Two days later, we set out to relive that wonderful day when I surprised her in September, with a few twists that I had secretly planned.  As Tiah left her house, she stooped down to find a rose with a note attached which read, “On Monday, August 24th, 2009, we talked on the phone for the first time.  I have delighted in the sound of your voice ever since”  Upon arriving at the Davenport, we toured the building, venturing up to the beautiful Hall of Doges which was empty, save for one pedestal in the center of the room that held a single rose.  There was also a note attached to this one which read, “On Tuesday, September 29th, 2009, we went on our first date.  I’ve been chasing your smile from that moment on.”

  We then departed for the Latah Bistro, where I had taken Tiah on our first date.  On the  table sat another rose with the following note, “On Tuesday, October 6th, 2009, I first told you that I love you.  I will never grow tired of saying those words.”  After a delicious meal, we made our way to our final location on our journey for the evening, Riverfront Park.  I did my best to keep Tiah warm, as she was fiercely shivering, even after I placed my overcoat over her shoulders, convincing her that we should at least walk to the clock tower.  Upon arriving at the clock tower, we encountered the wooden door on the side of the tower with it’s iron barred gate in front, upon which was placed one more rose which simply read, “On Tuesday, February 16th, 2010, I asked for your hand in marriage...”  When she looked up from the note, she found me on my knee with a ring in my hand asking if she would marry me.  My heart seemed to stop for an eternity before I heard that beautiful answer; “Yes!”

  Though the evening seemed to have climaxed, there was one more surprise awaiting us.  We strolled for a bit until we came under the bridge where there stood a small crowd of friends and musicians who immediately began to serenade us with a song that had become special to the two of us.  The night could not have gotten better, and I knew that I would never be the same.

  Although there is much more to the story behind us that I could ever write, there is a much more beautiful story ahead of us.  We are thrilled that you are a part of this story and a witness to the goodness of God in our lives and the covenant we will soon make with each other.  I have fallen in love with the damsel in this story, as well as the author, who knows far more about us, and has more love for us than we ever could imagine.  God is that writer, and I can’t wait to see the next chapter!

                               Sincerely,
                                                Jonathan Bounds