Our Not-So-Ordinary Love Story Pt. 2

Welcome to part two of the mini blog series about mine and Micah's love story. If you're just now jumping in or missed last week's post, you can catch up with us here! Last week we ended on the first time Micah and I actually met. Once I finished grilling him with all the questions I had about his year at Hillsong we sat in silence until it was awkward. After that day Micah was around the church a lot helping out with videos whenever he could and within a couple weeks we "accepted" him into "our group". When I say "our group" I mean the only 8 college aged kids at the church who just so happen to work in the creative department and hang out until the wee hours of the morning playing ping pong, having wheel chair races and watching YouTube videos. Seriously though, we were very involved whether it was producing Sunday services, leading worship, creating set designs and helping out with youth whenever we had the chance. The first time Micah "joined" us for a festive night "working" late at the church was around time for planning the Christmas services. We had a full night of brainstorming sets, thinking of songs, and all things to make Christmas services happen. Micah walked in to hang out with us and our close friend Dylan walked right up to him, hugged him and squeezed his butt saying "Hey man! I like you!". Ever since then, he loved us (but mostly Dylan). Our group was inseparable. We worked together, did bible studies together, failed miserably at fasting together, made dinner together, Facebook/Instagrammed/Pathed about being together, I mean we were flippin' tiiight. Weirdly enough Micah and I never grew that close. I had great brotherly relationships with the other guys in the group but for some reason I never had that with Micah. I mean looking back now I can own up to the fact that I didn't want a brotherly relationship with Micah, but there was always that apparent wall between Micah and I. Not intentional but apparent.

Micah is the reserved type. Being around the crazy guys in the group always brought out the side of Micah you don't see everyday. He's also very profound in his words. When Micah spoke up in the group, at bible study or in a creative decision at the church, everyone tuned in to hear what he had to say. Micah also spoke very highly of his relationship, which I honestly thought was amazing. He would talk about his girlfriend like she was a princess and I think by this point no one had even met her because she was 4 hours away at college. But trust me, we knew about her. Every chance he got the opportunity he would include her in conversation. His integrity in that relationship is still to this day something I've admired most about Micah. Not in a selfish way but in a "I want someone to talk about me like that" way. It's crazy because I remember going home from these late nights with the group and talking to my mom about how awesome it is to be friends with such amazing people. She asked about every single one of them. She had met Micah once but it was a quick hi&bye probably while we were all passing through to eat on our way to our next crazy adventure. I remember the first time she said "so tell me about Micah" I would go on about how amazing his relationship was from the way he made it sound to all of us and that "I want someone with integrity like Micah" when I meet my future husband in Australia (ha!). Then we would move on to the next person in the group. I was privileged that year to have such amazing friends and still so honored to be friends with them to this day.

It was a few days before Christmas (2011) that I had finally made the decision to apply to Hillsong and commit to raising money. I sent out support letters and knew without a doubt that somehow I was going. Not having a CLUE how I was going to pay for it but I just knew that I was going. Christmas passed and the new year came. Still all of us were friends growing closer and closer. We all had dreams of planting churches, going to college, moving to Nashville, touring with big time bands and we supported each other in every decision and helped each other navigate where to go next. It was Micah's birthday and him, most of the guys from the group and obviously Micah's friends from high school went camping. The girls, Brandon and I were up at the church hanging out when I got on Facebook (naturally) to do that subconscious scroll through your newsfeed. I remember scrolling through and seeing "Micah Lee Bearden is single". I scrolled past it because I thought my eyes were deceiving me. So I told everyone to get on Facebook and check to make sure I was seeing it right. But yep, everyone confirmed that Facebook wasn't lying. Micah was indeed single.

The rest of the story will continue next week :) STAY TUNED!