My first date with Shawn Newby.

A few days after returning from Indiana, Shawn and I were walking in Chicago in the freezing cold (as usual) and ended up at the two-story McDonald's on Ohio Street. We sat in a booth across from each other as Shawn tried to satisfy his insatiable hunger (which hasn't changed since I met him 4 years ago). :)

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

I saw in his eyes he had been thinking this through.

"Can I take you out to dinner tomorrow night?"

I turned bright red almost instantly, but told him that yes, he could. He made me promise I wouldn't try to pay. I promised.

The next evening, I met him at the appointed time. He hailed a cab outside my dorm, even though the restaurant was easily walkable. In the cab, he handed me a card.

When I opened it and saw the front, I was confused. It was a "thank you" card. But I hadn't even gone to dinner with him yet! When I opened it, it read like this: (I still have it)

Whitney Tunney! I can't believe this! I'm actually taking Whitney Tunney out for dinner! I am one lucky guy! I don't deserve you or your time so thank you very very much for tonight. You are AMAZING! We're gonna have so much fun!! - Shawn

He just had to melt me before the date even began. We ate a delicious meal at Weber Grill (a now historic restaurant in our book... little did we know). He held my hand, purposefully and openly this time.

The next few days after our first date, I felt like I was living on a cloud. Deep down, I thought he might be the one. I might marry this guy. Not because he wrote me a thank you note on our first date or treated me so well or was passionate about the Lord like few I'd ever met. It was a deep sense of peace that I know now the Lord had given me that everything about our relationship felt right.

It felt joyful. I loved that.

It felt pure. I loved that even more.

Later that same week, Shawn found me tucked in a corner in the library, writing a paper. He sat down beside me and had a notebook in his hand. It looked like a journal. He looked eager to tell me something really important, so he whispered to me like he'd had a revelation, "You're exactly what I've been praying for in a wife!" He showed me some characteristics that he had prayed since high school for a wife and then told me how I fit each one.

Now if any other guy had come in the library to tell me this, I think I would've gotten up and left right away. But hearing it from Shawn - and feeling the peace I already did - it made sense to me. It felt so right. And let me just tell you, my heart was over the moon.