Kelly Irvin – Real Life Romance – Part 1 of 3

Shannon here: Amish Romance author, Kelly Irvin shares how she met her husband, plus a chance to win a copy of her latest release, To Love and to Cherish. Every time you comment on any post dated Feb 13 – 17, your name goes in the drawing for a copy. Deadline: Feb 25, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Kelly:

How I Met My Husband 
In 1987, I moved from Laredo to El Paso, Texas, to work for the El Paso Times, as a news feature writer. I didn’t know a soul in town. I lived in an apartment alone and I found myself lonely after leaving a job and a town where I had a whole colony of news folks to keep me company. Fortunately, my job kept me busy. I worked a lot of hours, and I spent some time getting to know my new co-workers who were the typical rowdy bunch I’d come to expect from journalists. My thirtieth birthday was fast approaching, and I had plenty of time to do soul searching about my solitary life. I’d prayed and prayed for a man—not a man, but the man—and nothing had happened. So, I gave it up to God and told Him I would be content to be a single person for the rest of my life if He intended for that to be my future. I couldn’t understand it, but I would be content in knowing He had a plan for me. 
The next month my editor assigned me to go to Tucson, Arizona, on a Chamber of Commerce sponsored media trip to cover the Chili Cook-off of the World contest. (No, I’m not making this up.) Nervous about my first Page One feature assignment in a new job, I packed my bag and squeezed on to a van full of journalists I didn’t know for a three-day trip.
On the bus was a TV news photographer named Tim Irvin who cracked a lot of jokes and kept up a steady stream of commentary over the van driver’s music, which turned out to be a steady diet of Stevie Ray Vaughn—he only had one non-Spanish cassette tape for the entire drive. Tim seemed to know everyone and to have a comeback for every comment. He was about my height, skinny, with long legs, and long hair he wore in a pony tail. I found myself watching him, as I often do, because I’m fascinated by extroverts, not being one myself. At one of the rest stops, I sat in a booth with a reporter from a Spanish language radio station and Tim. Tim was trying to get this reporter to go on a date with him. She didn’t speak much English, but enough to give him the brush-off so he turned to me and said, “What about you? Would you go out with me?”
Startled and unsure whether he was serious, I managed to stammer, “I’d think about it.”
Not long after we returned from the trip, he called me and asked me to go with him on a date to his station’s Christmas party. I learned later that his best friend (later our best man) was standing next to him telling him what to say and giving him encouragement. Even extroverts get nervous when asking someone out for the first time, it seems. Of course, I bought a new outfit, did up my hair, and put on my best face. He picked me up in his Camaro and we drove off to the party—only to find that snow and ice on the road had made it impossible for us to get to the top of the hill to the restaurant where the party was being held. Instead, we went to Denny’s, had a hamburger, and talked for several hours.
Yes, I’m resorting to cliché when I say the rest is history. We met right after Thanksgiving. We married on Valentine’s Day. We’d know each other three months. Tim told me he prayed to God that He would send him the woman he was meant to spend his life with and God had sent him me. Guys, I’m telling you, that’s a powerful pickup line! We’ve been married 24 years on Feb. 14 so I’d say God knew what He was doing.
About Kelly: Kelly Irvin is the author of To Love and to Cherish, an Amish romance due to be released by Harvest House Publishing in February. The follow-up in the Bliss Creek Amish series, A Heart Made New, is slated for release in September. She has also penned two romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine, published in 2010 and 2011 by Five Star Gale. A former newspaper reporter, she is a public relations professional. She and her husband live in Texas along with two semi-adult children, three cats, and a tank full of fish. Find out more at www.kellyirvin.com.
About the book: To Love and to Cherish 
How Do You Forgive When Your Heart Is Broken? 
It’s been four years since Carl left. Four years since he left the safety of the small Amish community for the Englisch world. And in four years, Emma’s heart has only begun to heal. 
Now, with the unexpected death of her parents, Emma is plunged back into a world of despair and confusion. It’s a confusion only compounded by Carl’s return. She’s supposed to be in love with him…so why can’t she keep her mind off Thomas, the strong, quiet widower who always seems to be underfoot? Could the man she knew only as a friend be the one to help her to heal?   
In a world that seems to be changing no matter how tightly she clings to the past, one woman must see beyond her pain, find strength in God, and open her heart to trust once again. Find out more at www.amishreader.com.