A lengthy blog, perhaps, but it was noted that folks might be interested in hearing how these two met, so as the story goes, once upon a time....
10,000 sweaty runners-with-a-cause flooded the streets of Clarksville as Oak Grove Abbey dwellers (which is to say, Connor, Jason, and Sean) and their neighbors lined the sidewalks rattling their obnoxious noise makers, clapping, and cheering them on. Actually, I don't imagine that Jason and Sean were quite so raucous, but Connor was characteristically festive.
Next door, standing on their balcony, a single Mama named Tinamarie and her son, Chandler, being the faithful Austinites that they are, were contributing their own rackety sounds from above. After about an hour or so, Chandler got bored with the monotonousness of the view and asked if they could walk to the local bookstore, seeing how the endless stream of sweat-makers prevented them from pulling their car out of the driveway to get to some further destination. So off they went, and who should stop them along their way, but Connor.
"What's yewr name?" he asked, and "Can you come and pyay with me?"
Once the adults had introduced themselves, Tinamarie started to wonder about this house and its curious dwellers. 'So,' she thought to herself, 'This guy named Jason isn't Connor's dad, and this Sean guy isn't either, but they all live here together?' "So," she found herself saying aloud, "are you guys like an intentional community or something?"
"Actually," Jason modestly replied, "we're kind-of an abbey."
Surprised by his response, Tinamarie enthusiastically asked, "Are you OAK GROVE Abbey?"
"Yeah. You've heard of us?"
"Yes! I've wanted to know WHERE you guys are for months since I first heard about you through close friends in a community called Mosaic."
"Cool," he said. "You guys should come over and have dinner with us sometime."
Thus, boy next door... meets girl next door.
Fast forward about a month later:
Tinamarie and Chandler gradually became a regular part of the Oak Grove Community, and discussions and prayer about their moving into the Abbey evolved into a unanimous yes from mother, child, and the abbey crew. They were thrilled to be moving in within a few weeks, until the unexpected happened...
Jason and Tinamarie fell in love, which sort of put a bit of a hitch into the whole move-in plan.
So, let's see... months of love, mushy stuff, and more love....
Fast forward to late July when Jason and Tinamarie were on a beautiful campsite in a forest, north of Memphis, Tennessee. The sun had just begun to rise at the pedestals of the towering cypress and oak trees, and its refulgent beams were streaming towards them in the undeniable shape of a cross, inviting them into a timeless silence filled with awe and gratitude.
In the sacredness of these moments and as they were gazing up through the high-rising, now sun-lit, tree tops into the sky, Jason asked Tinamarie to marry him... and she said yes.
When Tinamarie called Chandler to tell him the happy news, and before she could get out more than "Hello, Punkin' Unkin'," Chandler said, "Mom, has he asked you to marry him yet?" She told him that Jason had indeed proposed and asked Chandler what had inspired him to ask such a question. Chandler told her that he'd been thinking a lot about wanting them to get married, that he'd had a feeling that Jason was going to propose while they were on their trip, and that he'd really hope that he would!
So, come late September of this year, the happy couple will become husband and wife! John Lyly once wrote that marriages are made in heaven and consummated on earth. With God's grace, with the prayers and support of their friends and their families, and with lots and lots of love, may their union reflect the glory of God who brought them together. So be it.
