About Us

We thought and thought about what to put in this section. What about us do we really need put out there? We simply just want to show everyone how Keith and I became "us", how we are living, what we are doing, and that we miss you while we are gone. It seems pretty simple.

A while back we entered into a competition for our wedding. We wanted to win a free videographer! Well, we lost, we didn't even place (probably because its too long!) But in the process we wrote "Our Story" and were told by many people that it was a blessing to them. So if there is anywhere to begin, lets begin at the beginning! :) Here we go.

OUR STORY

It all began in the fall, August of 2006. I had just transferred to the University of Texas-San Antonio to play basketball for my last two collegiate years. As a psychology major, I was in the core of my study so my class schedule was loaded with various psychology classes. There was one in particular that I enjoyed the most, the one that started off my day, and the one where I would meet my soul mate.

Developmental Psychology with Professor Hill, took place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10am- 10:50am. It was a nice size class, with roughly one hundred students. I began to notice this young lady who would always arrive to class 5 to 10 minutes late everyday. Although she was tardy she would walk down the long flight of stairs just to sit in the front row. She always came to class wearing sunglasses, carrying a laptop computer, and bearing a smile that lit up the entire campus. Every time I saw her I was drawn to her long, dark curly hair, which reminded me of my best friend Mark Hall’s girlfriend. So I always thought of him when I saw her. One afternoon in the hallway, she walked past my teammate and I. At that moment, I told him that one-day she and I would be in a relationship that would clearly be on another level above the rest. He asked if I knew her, and I told him that we had never met and never spoken to one another but it was just something that I felt in my spirit. It was my soul recognizing its match.

September 2006 A month had passed and I had yet to introduce myself to this young lady. In the mean time, I received a phone call that changed my life. Mark Hall, my best friend, was killed in a car accident. Who would have ever known, at 20 years of age, that it would be his time to go? Talk about devastation; my heart was in pain. He was not only my best friend of 4 years, but we were roommates at a previous college I attended. The last year of his life was spent with me in a small town in Kansas. I took this really hard and I didn’t know if I would ever be as happy as I once was. Life was no longer enjoyable for me.

November 1, 2006 It was around noon and I was exiting one of my classes. As soon as I stepped foot out of the classroom, there she was; the young lady who had reminded me of my best friend, even before his passing away. Without hesitation I said, “Hey, you weren’t in class today, is everything alright?” She replied, “Yea, I just had a long night celebrating Halloween”. It felt so right having conversation with her, and I wanted to know more. So we made arrangements to look at my notes from the class she missed. A few weeks later, Professor Hill pulled Natasha aside after class and asked her if she would tutor me. Dr. Hill was a huge basketball fan and she was impressed by my performance on the court, and she wanted to make sure that I was on top of my schoolwork. My grades started to slip since the loss of my beloved friend, and my professor had noticed. In the midst of all this, I began to have flashbacks of a conversation that Mark and I had back in Kansas. Like kids do, we sat in our room and discussed how we would meet our wives. I expressed to him that I would meet my wife in class. We would start off as friends, just studying with one another and things would spark from there.

So Natasha Lopez and I were study buddies. We would study about once or twice a week. After every study session we would spend hours talking, just getting to know one another. We had so much in common! We were even able to connect and talk about each other’s only siblings, who are both younger and on the autism spectrum. I was still having a rough time with the loss of Mark but she helped me through that. Natasha had lost both of her parents just a year earlier. Seeing her strength and courage truly blessed me and helped me gain closure. I was beginning to feel that God had sent me an angel.

December 31, 2006 Natasha and I made our relationship official. Things were starting to move fast but it felt right. Days felt like minutes, weeks felt like days, and months felt like weeks. I was on cloud nine with the woman of my dreams. We were having fun; partying and enjoying one another’s company, but it had gotten to the point when God wanted something else. He had bigger and better plans for our lives, and now was the time he revealed them. We were both raised in the church. Since being in San Antonio we both had somewhat slacked on building our relationships with God. We were so focused on one another and having fun that we forgot to pay homage to our Heavenly Father, but soon that would all change.

March 2007 For spring break my parents and Natasha surprised me with a new car. They had expressed how proud they were of my progress and accomplishments. They were proud of the life that I was living and this was just a token of their love and appreciation. It made me feel good, but little did they know the lifestyle I was living was not pure and of God. Those things in the dark would come to light right before my eyes.

Later that month, one of my good friends from California was flying in to visit. We were so excited to party and have a good time when he arrived. We made plans to drive out to Houston for the weekend to begin our partying. I told Natasha about the arrangements we were making and she was completely against them. She came to me crying, telling me not to go; that she felt something bad was going to happen. She expressed to me that she felt something was going to happen to my new car. She even offered to drive us to avoid anything from happening. I was being stubborn and naïve to what she was telling me. I packed up my things and headed out to Houston the same evening my friend arrived. That night, we were in the downtown area when a car backed right into me. I was furious. I felt like an idiot for not listening to what Natasha was saying. It was obvious that the Lord instilled that into her spirit, but I chose to ignore it. The weekend was ruined, so that same night I drove all the way back to San Antonio. I was beginning to think that God really put her in my life for a reason. He had sent me an angel to protect and watch out for me. I was beginning to understand but I wasn’t quite there yet, so God chose to really wake me up.

Exactly 4 days later My friend and I were leaving the store from purchasing alcohol for the night. As I pulled out of the parking lot, a vehicle came out of nowhere and crashed right into me. I got out of the car in tears, asking myself; why is this happening to me? I have never been in an accident my entire life, but in a span of 4 days I have been in two. I didn’t understand why I was going through this. That night I met up with Natasha and we had a heart felt conversation about all that was occurring. I told her that I felt that the Lord is trying to get my attention. He is not pleased with some of the choices that I make and the lifestyle that I am living. He is merely using my car as a way to get my attention. He knows that it was a car accident that took the life of my dear friend, and he also knew how happy I was to have received a new car as a reward. Even through all that, I was not sold out. The night before my friend was to leave back to California, we decided to go out to a club and enjoy ourselves one last time. As we walked out of my apartment, dressed and ready for our night out, my phone rang. It was Natasha, and now SHE had just gotten into a pretty bad car accident on the freeway. All this in one week!! God was telling me “I gave you this car as a blessing, this beautiful young lady as a blessing, but you still have not come to follow Me.” It became obvious to me that God is in control of ALL things, and in an instant they can be taken away. Everyone reacts differently to things and He used this because he knew it would work, and sure enough it did.

From that day forward Natasha and I have been actively involved in church and living a lifestyle which reflects the words and commandments of God. Since that day we have given up partying, drinking and engaging in sex until marriage. The closer that we get to God, the stronger and closer our relationship becomes with one another. We are totally committed.

Exactly one year later I was getting ready to head home to Dallas for spring break 2008. Natasha had to work the weekend prior to spring break so she was going to meet me out in Dallas once she got off. The night prior to my departure I could not sleep. I spent the entire night thinking, reflecting and praying. I felt the Lord place in my spirit that it was time to take my relationship with Natasha to the next level; it was time to ask her to marry me. So when I arose that morning I hit the road and headed to Dallas. The four-hour drive gave me ample time to organize a speech to tell my parents the news. As I approached the Dallas area, I received a phone call from my mother telling me to meet her at the mall. When I arrived at the mall I asked her what the purpose was for us meeting here. She said that there was no reason in particular. So as soon as we walked into the mall I noticed her heading toward the jewelry store. My heart was ready to jump out of my chest at that moment. She walks into the jewelry store and tells the jeweler that I am looking for an engagement ring. Hold up, is this a dream? I pulled my mother aside and I expressed to her that I was coming out here to discuss this whole ordeal with them. She looked me in the eyes and said, “There is nothing to discuss, the Lord spoke to me and told me that it is time for you to do this.” So I purchased the ring, and proposed to her a few weeks later at a place called Enchanted Rock.

Currently, I am overseas in Holland playing professional basketball. Unfortunately, Natasha was unable to come live with me this year due to the team policy but I know that it is all a part of Gods divine plan. Instead, she is working with special needs children at local school district. We feel that God didn’t want us to have the luxury of living with one another before marriage. The separation has just made me miss her and love her even more. Our wedding date is set for June 7, 2009. Our entire theme of our wedding is modeled after Christ. The ceremony will be held in a garden, which correlates with the Garden of Eden where the first man and women were bonded together as one, and also correlates with the Garden of Gethsemane, where our Lord and Savior interceded on our behalf. The colors are tan and burgundy, which represent the body and blood that Jesus shed for our salvation. The wedding date, along with the number of groomsmen/bridesmaids is 7, which biblically stands for completion. She and I make the number eight and biblically, 8 stands for new beginning; over and above God's perfect completion.

These past few years that we have known one another have been awesome. It would be such a blessing to get to share this story, through video, with all of our friends and family, many of who cannot make it out to the wedding. As I reflect, I see God’s hand in it all. He strategically put us in a position to meet and grow as one with God. So we owe it all to Him, and we place Him as our centerpiece.