My name is Anne, my husband's name is Matt, and this is our story of moving to Spain while Matt pursues a career as a professional basketball player.
Our Story
Matt and I went to the same high school in Birmingham, AL. He is two years younger than me and I knew him because he was one of my younger brother's best friends. When I was a sophomore at Alabama and he was a senior in high school, he started to pursue me. After calling me for awhile, he asked me out on a date. I told him nothing serious could come from it, since I was in college and he was in high school, and I wasn't ready for a serious relationship. He replied that that was fine, and he would love to have the honor of taking me out on a date anyway...and the rest is history! He proposed on Alabama's campus at one of our special places complete with a white limo, a diamond ring, and both our families surprising us at dinner afterwards - it was so romantic! We dated for a little over two years, were engaged for a year and 3 months (way too long!), and we got married on July 25, 2009. We moved to Orlando, FL and have lived there for 3 years while Matt played basketball at Rollins College. We love being married and these have easily been the most fun and best two years of my life (I think he would say the same... ;) ).
Our Passion
First and foremost, we are both passionate about the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that we are sinful man, and we cannot stand before a Holy God with our sin. God redeemed us by sending His only Son, Jesus, into the world. Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, and then was crucified even though He did not deserve death in order to take the sins of the world upon Him so that we might be free of sin, of guilt, of death and have eternal life. How amazing! And all God requires is that we believe this with our hearts and confess that He is God and Jesus is Lord with our mouths. Because He saved me, I owe my life to Him. Matt and I are far from perfect but try to honor Christ with the way we live and what we choose to do with what he has given us, including our talents.
That said, Matt has always had the dream of playing professional basketball. I tell him all the time that I don't think God gave him this talent and made him 6'8" for nothing. My dream has always been to be the best wife and mother I can be (no kids yet, so I'll just focus on the wife part for now :) ). We want to pursue a career for Matt in basketball together, and we also want to use this platform for bringing glory to God. It will be interesting to see what plans God has for us and where we are even one year from today. I am starting to realize that choosing this lifestyle will give us many opportunities to depend on God like we never have before. I know it will draw us closer to Him and to each other, and I can't wait to see what happens!