McShane Memorable Moments: 10/5/08

Each year before the Relief Society General Broadcast session our Stake puts on a special dinner for all the women in our Stake. It has become quite a big thing for the women here! Considering we were still recovering from hurricane Ike we decided to do a service project instead. Our incredible Stake Relief Society president came up with the fabulous idea of thanking the first responders in our area. We gathered all the women in our stake and made 50 "Sunshine" Baskets and then the next day sisters from all over the stake took these baskets to various locations to express appreciation for all that they had done and continue to do. It was an amazing event! We are constantly trying to find ways to bridge the community with the church and this was perfect! Baskets were delivered to various fire stations, police stations, hospitals, red cross shelters, the Houston and Galveston Mayors. The outpouring of love put into each basket could be felt in the room as they were assembled because each one of us there had been affected by the hurricane one way or another and are so grateful for those who put their lives on hold to go out and help others in need.

(I know this is late, but I could not not write about this special day in my life.)

On September 21st, 1990 Darin and I Were married in the Dallas Texas LDS Temple. What a wonderful day it was! It was so wonderful to have family and friends with us there to share this special day. But that was only the beginning! 18 years have gone by since that beautiful day and words cannot express the feelings I have for this wonderful man in my life. My life has been greatly blessed by having him in my life. He is more than a husband. He is my best friend. He is my strength. He is everything to me. I look at my life and the love we have for each other and especially the love that I feel from him daily and it is sometimes hard to believe that I could be so blessed. We have had our rough spots over the years, but together we have been strengthened and made stronger for those times. My favorite time of day is when he comes home from work and just holds me in his arms. I love those moments!
Our story:
My first memory of Darin is seeing him in Sunday School class at church. I had come home from BYU for Christmas and saw him sitting by his mom. He had just recently moved to Midland. We had a young single adult activity during the break and played volleyball. (Darin hates this memory!) Well, we were all playing volleyball and my brother Tom went up and spiked the ball, right in Darin's face! Needless to say, I laughed. :)
My next memories of Darin is the next summer after a semester at school. Darin was the young single adult rep. for our ward. I talked to him occasionally, thought he was weird. I started dating a guy I worked with, but I really didn't tell anyone about this guy. Well, Darin started calling me and reminding me of different activities happening. I was never at home so he and my mom started talking quite a bit. He found out I sang and wanted to sing a duet with me. I said, "Sure", but I never did anything more about it. He kept coming around and I just wanted him to leave me alone. But, I didn't say it. He asked me out and I actually stood up the guy I had been dating to go out with Darin. (Ouch!) We had fun, but I still didn't want anything to do with him. He kept coming around and even showed up where I worked one day. Yes, the other guy was there too! Talk about uncomfortable! I recorded in my journal at that time that I didn't know why, but I just couldn't tell him I was dating this other guy. Well, during this time I was serving as the temporary Primary secretary in our ward for the summer and Darin was a primary teacher. One Sunday as I was sitting in the back of the primary room I had one of the most profound spiritual experiences of my life. I sat there crying during the experience and knew that I had to break up with this other guy. I knew that my future children depended on that. It was a moment I will never forget. A few weeks later I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting about what I was doing now to prepare for my future family. I hadn't shared this experience with anyone and decided to share it. After the meeting Darin came up to me and asked if he could talk to me for a minute. I was like, OH great. Now what. We walked over to be alone and he asked me if the experience I had shared really happened. YES. Did it happen at this specific time on this date. YES. "Well, that's interesting. Because at that specific time I had the same experience myself." I just looked at him and said. "That's nice. Talk to you later." and left. I went out to my car where Delisa (my best buddy) was waiting. I got in the car and just started screaming! I told Delisa what had happened and she just started laughing! I wasn't happy. Well, the next Sunday was the last Sunday of the summer before heading back to BYU and after church as Delisa and I were in my car ready to leave she rolled down the window and called Darin over. I was like WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! She then asked him for his address so that we could write to him. UGH!! Well, a month later I finally did decide to write to him. I wrote to him and apologized for the way I had acted and told him that I had been dating another guy all summer and just didn't know how to tell him. From that point on we began to write each other and occasionally talk on the phone. I went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and spent time with him during each trip. I was confused and scared of this whole relationship. I had been hurt by a few guys and honestly didn't trust my own feelings. It was funny because my roommates would always tell me if you don't like the guy just tell him to get lost. I couldn't. On April 1st he called and I decided to play an April fools joke on him. Let's just say that over the years I have played too many of these jokes on him and they always backfire on me!! Well, I told him I was dating this guy and that it was really serious and I felt like he was the one. He was really quiet on the phone. He then told me "That's interesting. Because theres this girl here that has been really interested in me and we just spent some time at the beach together. (He was in Mississippi at the time) I was shocked! I then told him April Fools. Silence on the phone. Of course his wasn't a joke. I can't really explain what happened at that moment, but everything changed within me. I was still scared, but it was different. Yes, I was jealous, but I finally realized just how much he meant to me. Over the next few weeks our conversations changed and we started talking about our future together. I went to the temple during that time and was praying and truly felt in my heart that Yes, he was the one for me. On the night before my first final (not a good idea!) Darin got down on one knee in a telephone booth in Mississippi and proposed to me. I wouldn't answer him over the phone, but we both knew what my answer was! (Let's just say I didn't do too well on that final the next day!) A month later I drove to see Darin in Mississippi and we became officially engaged. Our engagement was a long distance relationship. The amazing thing about our relationship is that we truly became friends first.
Each day I thank my Heavenly Father for bringing this man into my life. I love him with all my heart and I truly do look forward to spending Time and all Eternity with him by my side.

This picture was one of our engagement pictures.

While we were engaged Darin was going through technical training in the Air Force. We were fortunate that a few weeks after we were engaged he went to Wichita Falls Texas for further training. I was able to go and visit him on some weekends and he even was able to come to Midland some too. This picture was taking on a weekend that Delisa and I went there to go to an Air Force banquet. (I have the funniest story about Delisa from that weekend!)

We were married in the Dallas Texas Temple. While we were in the Temple it had begun to drizzle rain but right before we came out the clouds cleared and it was a beautiful breezy day!