How I Met Your Father :: Our Family Began on Facebook

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Father tying shoes

Dear Son,

You are one of the friendliest kids I know. When we are in public, you smile and announce, “Hello!” to strangers. Every child you meet is a new friend. Sometimes, you even yell, “Bye, friends!” when we leave kids behind on one grocery aisle to head to the next one. You like people. And so I am going to have a challenge ahead of me, attempting to teach you to be cautious of strangers. Most of them are good, kind people, but there are enough weirdos in the world to make the job of training you in discernment completely worthwhile. However, I have to admit, I am like you. As a fully grown adult, I like people. I talk to people I don’t know like they are friends. This usually works out just fine for me. In fact, if I wasn’t open to being friends with strangers, you wouldn’t exist. So, give me a minute to explain how I met your father.

It was a Friday night when I got the request. I was at a family birthday party. We were sitting around the kitchen table, and I was breaking all the rules, checking social media on my phone. And there it was, a Facebook friend request from someone I didn’t know, someone named Jake Turner. I lifted my head from my phone, and asked the family, “Do we know anyone named Jake Turner?” We conferred for a few minutes, and we decided that, no, we did not know him. But, I was intrigued. I could see that he was the worship pastor at a church not far from the church where I worked as a children’s pastor. We had exactly one mutual friend, a singer-songwriter that not everyone would know about. So I took a chance. I sent him a message.

I’m sorry, Jake Turner, do I know you?

He sent one back. He was honest with his answer. He acknowledged that he didn’t know me at all. And then he led me through the steps through which he found me online. The one singer-songwriter friend we had in common was going to be in the DFW area playing a concert. He had created a Facebook event for the show, and he had invited lots of us from the area. Being a huge fan, I had almost immediately confirmed that I would be attending. Your dad was looking through the list of confirmed attendees on that particular Friday night. He saw my picture. He clicked on my profile. He did as much digging as my Facebook profile settings would allow. He decided to take a chance and ask me to be his friend. I took a chance and accepted his friend request.

I have to admit, it was a questionable thing to do. But since he worked at a church, I felt like he was more credible than the average person. And I was right. We talked a little bit back and forth via Facebook message. We had so much in common. We liked the same music. We were both musicians and singers. We even frequented some of the same music venues. He seemed to love Jesus with the same sincerity that I did. Within 24 hours, we met face to face at one of those venues. I liked him. He liked me.

And then we got married three months later.

I wouldn’t recommend that for just anyone. In fact, if you try to repeat this timeline for yourself when you are older, I will give you the stink eye and probably a lecture. But for us, it worked. We were both older, hovering around age 30. We had some life experience under our belts. We weren’t kids.

Our Family Began on FacebookYou will likely hear this story a thousand times during the course of your childhood. We like to tell it. And maybe in a few years, Facebook will be a thing of the past, and we will have to explain what Facebook was in order for this story to make sense. We will add in the details of our first real date, which included a 12-hour drive to Nashville, Tennessee in tornado weather and a fake guitar. We like to do things a little differently, your dad and I. You will probably roll your eyes when we tell you about the day we decided that we wanted to get married and as we reminisce about our wedding day. You will get tired of these stories, no doubt.

But, this is where it all began. Just a Facebook friend request from a perfect stranger. And out of that came our family. Your dad became a husband. I became a wife. Then came you, and very soon, your baby sister will round out our family.

Your dad has grown into an excellent father. He is patient and thoughtful. He has taught you how to be tidy. He is funny, and he loves to sing ridiculous children’s songs to you first thing in the morning. He plays guitar with you. On Sunday mornings when he is rehearsing music at church, he allows you to walk around the stage with a pretend microphone and sing along with him. He packs a diaper bag better than most. He is kind and consistent, and I hope you grow up to admire and appreciate who he is. Our family is blessed to have him. But it all started because one Friday night your dad took a chance and talked to a stranger. And I talked back.

So for us, it turned out well. Our family began on Facebook. So keep being friendly. Keep charming the cashiers at the grocery store. That’s your job. Your openness and kindness to others is a blessing. My job is to teach you to be wise and discerning. I have a few years to get the job done. We’ll work on it together.

Love,

Mom

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Julie
Julie is a Texas-born missionary kid that grew up in New Zealand and finally found her way back to Lone Star state, by way of Missouri and Tennessee. Back in the DFW area, she met her worship pastor husband, Jake, in 2011. In 2013, Julie gave birth to a feisty little boy named Jude. In the summer of 2016, Ella Jene was born and balanced out the family. Julie loves good coffee, thrift stores, and occasionally faking a New Zealand accent. She is also a teacher, a singer, a songwriter, an Alabama fan, a traveler, and a Jesus follower. She considers herself to be an expert in food, music, and mistakes. Julie tells stories about her life and the people in it over at The Potluck Diaries.

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