a long time coming...

I think fall is my favorite season. I love it when the leaves change colors, I love the cool weather, I love the crispness in the air, I love breaking out my sweaters and socks.

And this particular fall has given me a whole new reason to love this season.

This blog post is kind of tricky to write. I have so very much to say but I'm not quite sure where to begin.

I guess it all begins with Andrew Peterson and a prophetess named Charlotte. I think it may have been two-and-a-half or maybe even three years ago already when our group went out to Upstream one Saturday night after church. Luke was talking to this guy Matt, who was relatively new to our group, about music. Luke asked him who his favorite musical artist was, and this guy answered Andrew Peterson. Charlotte piped up with, "Nicole loves Andrew Peterson, too!". In the car afterwards, Charlotte made some comment along the lines of, "I think you and Matt are going to end up together... I mean, you both love Andrew Peterson." I was NOT interested (no offense, Matt!). I hardly knew the guy! I said to Charlotte, "A shared love for Andrew Peterson does not a successful relationship make," and, in my mind, dropped it right there and then.

Charlotte, however, did not. For the next year, if not longer, Charlotte would periodically tease me about this hunch she had about me and Matt. I, quite frankly, got a little annoyed by this. I thought Charlotte was just being plain silly. I hardly knew the guy. He was in a separate life group at church and I rarely was around him. But then in January of 2007 our life groups merged and as a whole this group of friends of mine got a whole lot closer. And as a result, about a year ago or so, I started to think that maybe Charlotte's prophesy wasn't so silly after all. In fact, I eventually came to think that it might be spot-on, at least as far as I was concerned.

So, fast forward to the end of this September and our group's second annual fall camping trip. It was Saturday morning, and Beth's alarm clock went off. At 6:30. I hadn't gone to bed until 1:00, so I was not a happy camper (ha!) when I heard that sound. I was even less of a happy camper when Beth insisted that I get up with her. I realized I couldn't ignore my need to use the bathroom forever so begrudingly got up to walk Beth to the facilities. And when we returned, that's when everything changed. Matt asked me to take a walk with him and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's a little strange writing about all of this in the blogosphere. We are now in week 3 of our relationship, and it's still surreal to me that any of this is actually happening in the first place. Here is a picture of us at Annie and Mike's wedding last weekend:


So, there you have it. I have a boyfriend. Charlotte is a prophetess. And we owe it all to Andrew Peterson. Seriously. In the past few years, I think Matt and I have been to at least five or six Andrew Peterson concerts together and now two Sara Groves concerts together.

Last Thursday night Ann came to town to join me and Matt for the "Art - Music - Justice Tour" featuring Sara Groves, Charlie Peacock, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken and Brandon Heath. It was a beautiful, moving and challenging night of music and stories that again reaffirmed the truth of all that I believe in. It was a great evening. After the show, we decided to stick around in hopes of meeting Sara Groves. Ann and I were pretty ridiculous about it, hemming and hawing for quite some time as to whether we should stay and what we would say if we did. Just when we were ready to call it a night and head out the door, into the lobby she came. We said hello and chatted for a few minutes (well, Ann did most of the talking as I kinda froze!) and then had Matt take our picture with her. I told her that my blog was named after one of her songs, so therefore I need to post a picture with her. She was very gracious to us considering we were such geeks.


And so that is the answer to the "what's new?" question in my life these days. I'm dating Matt, Ann and I met Sara Groves, and I'm loving the fall.