A Very Brief History of the Stillers

We interupt our normally scheduled program to give you a brief history of Danny and Laura as a couple.

Fall 2002 - Laura came to lunch at Susan Lee's with her roommates and Danny thought to himself, "I gotta check out this new girl." But Laura was busy as a bee and buzzed right in and out of that lunch, giving Danny little "get to know you time."

Later in the Fall of 2002 - Laura saw Danny on campus in his corp uniform and senior boots and immiately grew weak at the knees. She was going to go over and say "hi," but in the time it took for her to walk past the library three people had already stopped him to talk. Intimidated by his popularity, the little transfer student just walked on by and went to class thinking, "he'll never remember who I am anyways."

Spring 2003 - Danny and Laura both applied to lead the inner city ministry team at Central Baptist Church. Danny was going to revamp the entire program; Laura just wanted to hang out with kids in Bryan.

April 2003 - After being selected as co-leaders of the inner city ministry, Danny and Laura met at the Dartmouth Dollhouse where Danny proceeded to unload all 589 of his ideas on Laura in a very incoherent and haphazard conversation. He left feeling great about the next year , and Laura unloaded all her 589 NEW concerns about this whole partnership to Lauren and Clint (who just laughed at the ridiculously bad communication that had just occured in the kitchen).

Summer 2003 - Danny and Laura worked different sessions at KAA and took a picture together during work week. That was pretty much the extent of their talking that summer. Laura still has that picture.

August 2003 - Danny and Laura, brand new partners, made a presentation to the deacons at Shiloh Baptist Church (remember this church) requesting use of their facilities for weekly Bible studies. After the meeting, Danny took Laura to Messina Hof Winery (remember this winery) because it was nearby and because she had never been. While walking around the vineyards, both Danny and Laura thought how fun it would be to come here with a significant other, but both kept those thoughts to themselves.

Fall 2003 - The partnership began and looked something like this:

• Danny would unload his grandeous ideas, and Laura would become extremely overwhelmed.
• Danny would plunge right ahead with his vision, and Laura would sit back in amazement at the way people followed this crazy guy's insane ideas.
• Danny would stand up in weekly leadership meetings and talk and talk and talk, and Laura would quietly explain what he meant to everyone later when they asked questions and looked confused.
• Laura cried to Karley that she just couldn't keep up with Danny and get everything done that he started. Karley encouraged open communication, and it worked!
• Laura saw amazing changes occur and learned alot about ministry because of Danny's passion, vision, leadership and improving communication skills.

February 2004 - Danny told Laura that they needed to talk, and in her car in the driveway at the Auburn Angels he told her that he liked her. Dating was strictly forbidden between ministry team partners, so Danny decided they needed to tell the college minister, Kyle. Kyle promptly looked at Danny and said, "Why did you tell her that?"

May 7, 2004 - Laura picked Danny up from the Houston Hobby airport after he visited Don in Florida. After dinner at Beni Hana, at the Water Wall in Houston, Danny asked Laura to be his girlfriend.

May 9, 2005 - Danny picked Laura up for their one-year dating anniversary. He took her all over Bryan/College Station to places where they had made memories together. After a nervous dinner at Olive Garden, where Danny hurriedly called friends to meet that night from the bathroom, Danny took Laura to Messina Hof Winery (oh - remember this winery?). There, in the back of the vineyards, with his heart pounding out of his chest (Laura knows because she felt it when she hugged him), he got down on one knee and proposed.

May 10, 2005 - Danny moved to Austin, Texas and Laura stayed in College Station to work and plan a wedding.

August 2005 - Danny tells Laura they need to move to South Carolina. With only two weeks to the wedding, Laura says, "Fine, whatever, what color napkins do you want at the reception?"

August 27, 2005 - Danny and Laura say "I do" at Shiloh Baptist Church (remember this church?) surrounded by family, friends and TruLife kids.

August 28, 2005 - Danny and Laura leave to spend five delightful days in the Dominican Republic.

September 2, 2005 - Danny and Laura pack up a U-haul and makes stops in Dallas and College Station before trekking across the country to their new home in Greenville, SC.

Fall 2005 - Laura cries alot for alot of reasons, and Danny puts his strong shoulders to good use (holding her).

April 2006 - Danny changes jobs from Humana to BlueCross BlueShield of SC, and they pack up their second U-haul to move from Greenville to Columbia, SC.

January 2007 - Danny and Laura have paid off their student loans with gazelle-like intensity, Laura is still fuming at Dave Ramsey for being so darn right about paying off debt. Danny decides he wants to go to seminary, so they pack up their third U-haul and move to a different apartment complex in Columbia, SC in order to save money for DTS.

July 2007 - With boxes still smartly packed from the move in January, Danny and Laura load up the fourth U-haul that they've rented as a married couple and move from Columbia, SC to Dallas, TX. Four years of seminary sounds blissful to Laura if it means staying in one place for that long.

Fall 2007 - Danny works nights at UPS and goes to school full-time while Laura tries to learn the ropes of PR/Marketing at Voice of Hope.

Spring 2008 - Danny works early mornings at UPS while going to school full-time while Laura is now learning all about the financial world at Bessemer Trust.

Summer 2008 - Danny and Laura travel all over the place to see family and friends and just spend time together.

August 2008 - Danny and Laura celebrate three years of marriage with an amazing trip to Michigan.

August 27, 2008 - Danny gets home from UPS early and for the first time in nine months gets to spend the morning with Laura before she goes off to work. They were so excited to see each other before 5:30 pm that they splurged on ice lattes and free chicken biscuits at McDonalds.

Three years never felt so good as it did this morning.