Merry Christmas...An Early Christmas present

Good morning! You are soundly sleeping in  the next room this morning as I am typing this from your bedroom. I might have stood at the door and listened to you breathing  as you slept... Maybe... Okay fine I did it. I can't help it. It is the closest  you have been to me in three months. 

Thank you for being the best Christmas present a girl could ask for. My world is complete. We are together again and all I need is to hold your hand and feel you near me. That is it.

I love you so much and can't wait to start our lives together. Now hurry up and wake up... Just kidding!!!!!! 

Love,
Melody 

My most wonderful fiancé,

Today I am thankful. I am thankful that you are taking time out of your days to go and find the perfect house for us to live in. I am thankful that you are searching for a house that will meet our needs as a newly married couple. I am thankful that God chose you to be my husband. I am thankful that God brought me to Kenya for three months. I am thankful that God allowed me to see everything I have seen. I am thankful for each and every child He brought into my path for me to love.

I love you. I love you more than you can possibly know. I do know this much. My love for you is growing deeper day by day. An absolute answer to prayer.

As the days go by, I get more and more excited about becoming Mrs. James Stone Cooper. It is hard for me to believe sometimes that in just a few short weeks, it will be our wedding day.

I love you with all my heart!
Melody

Happy Three Months and One Day

To my most wonderful fiancé,

The 13th of every month can't help but bring a smile to my face. I pause and remember how absolutely nervous I was on July 13th, how much I was beginning to love you on August 13th, how incredibly blessed I was that you asked me to be your wife on September 13th, how much I miss you and how much more I love you on October 13th! It has been a crazy whirlwind of a relationship and I could not be more thankful for it!

My love for you grows every day. I am looking forward to our life together. It is going to be the adventure of a lifetime learning to be your wife and a missionary and a teacher and a mom and so many other things all while living most of the time in a foreign country. I am so glad that God has called me to this life. I am so glad that God chose you for me. You complete me (Yeah I know that was rather cheesy movie line reference). You make my heart beat in new ways. You have already given me some of the most precious gifts I could ever imagine. You have allowed me operate in the giftings God has blessed me with. You have encouraged me to step out and try new things. You have been my biggest cheerleader and my greatest defender. You are an amazing man of God. You are going to be the best husband and father I could ever ask for.

Tonight, I pray so many things for you. I pray that you have supernatural protection over your health. I pray that your time is productive and that you get everything taken care of that needs to be done before we go back to Kenya in March. I pray that we continue to grow closer to each other during the remaining time we have to be apart. I pray that your teaching touches the children in fresh and new ways every time you teach them. I pray that our wedding is a reflection of us and our testimonies. I pray that through our testimonies others find hope and that some come to know Christ as their personal Savior.

I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!

Love,
Your soon to be Wife
Melody Ann

Dear Jim,

Yesterday, I wasn't able to tell you everything I had in my heart. I was just having too hard of a time controlling my emotions. However, as I am sitting here in Dubai I feel like it is time to tell you everything I couldn't last night.

First of all, thank you for choosing me to be your wife. This has been a lifelong dream and I can see it coming true right before my eyes. 

Thank you for such an amazing three months. You introduced me to an amazing group of kids. I am so blessed to call them my own and to know that many of them see me a mom as well.  I was just so sad to see it coming to an end. 

Some of my most precious memories have taken place in the last three months. From celebrating my birthday with 400 or so kids, to date nights, kissing under the stars, learning that intimate time with a man is safe and enjoyable, countless nap times curled up next to you on the couch, visiting children's homes, the start of a relationship, and an engagement,  I don't even have the words to tell you how much all of these things have changed my life entirely.

I am sitting here writing this on the airplane with just a little over two hours left before we finally arrive in Houston. I am so ready to be done with traveling for a bit. I am ready for a bed and a pillow and people that are at least friendly towards me. However, as much as I am ready to be on the ground, I miss you terribly. I miss the sound of your laugh when I come up with some dorky idea or the other. I miss the feeling of your hand holding mine. I miss cuddling up next to you. I miss you kissing my forehead. I miss kissing you! Yeah to put it simply I miss you. I do really well most of he time and then I think of something that I would like to tell you or ask you and the emotions well up heavily. 

I am getting a bit anxious now about meeting Charlotte, Scott, Addison,and Caroline. Don't get me wrong I am super excited but too many failed interactions with people make me nervous about meeting people that I don't know. Silly I know, but still, it is the honest truth about how I feel right now. I am sitting here just thinking and realizing that you can see God's handprints all over this! Your mom has totally stepped up to go do something that should have been done by my parents... Or at least my mom... And it's all I can do to not be overwhelmed with emotion. 

When you get back to Kitale, tell my kids that I love them and miss them. I suppose I have written about all that I can for right now. I need to get my emotions back under control and go get changed. I am sick of these travel clothes already. I love you so much! I will talk with you soon. Perhaps we can try to Skype this weekend at some point. 

Love you,

Melody

Aka the future Mrs. Cooper

Love from Your Fiance!

Jim,

Well I know that today has been a most remarkable day for me. I am sure that you are feeling the exact same way. However, before I can settle in for the night, I knew that I had to get what was in my head and in my heart out on paper. 

Today, you have changed my life entirely. Today was a milestone that at times I was almost certain I was never going to reach. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Today I went from single girl who had a boyfriend to bride.. fiance.. Today I am beginning to see the dreams I thought would remain a dream come true. 

You are the answer to my prayers. You are the man of my dreams. "I have found the one whom my soul loves." 

I am so thankful that God chose this time in our lives for us to find each other and fall in love. I couldn't imagine a love story being any more perfectly written than ours, and through this love story there is going to be opportunities for amazing ministry. God wouldn't have brought us to this place with such a unique story and not give us chances to share about the whole thing. Or well that's my opinion anyway! 

Every time I look at my left hand, my heart jumps just a little bit more. I get just a little bit more excited. I feel my heart growing with love for you! 

All in all this has been the most memorable day of my life with the exception of just a couple of experiences. I believe I have shared most of them with you: the day I was saved, the night I watched as my dad took his last breath on Earth and took his first one in Heaven, the night I played in the Air Force band and sat first chair for the songs we played with them... Not too many nights will EVER compare with this one... Well our wedding night will surpass this night I am sure but that's still five months and 9 days away. Anyway, I think that I have written all that I needed to write. Know that I love you more than my words can say, and I can't wait for the day that my name changes from Melody Ann MacWhirter to Melody Ann Cooper. 

Love,

Melody

Two Month Anniversary :)

Jim,

How can it be that two months have passed by since our first date and the start of this crazy amazing relationship? It seems like it has just been days and yet at other times an entire lifetime. In two months' time, I have learned so much, not just about you but about myself.

I started out being so scared and feeling so alone here in Kenya. Not because of anything you did or didn't do, but because of my own insecurities coming to the surface. I was scared to death that I wasn't going to be what you were looking for and that my time here was going to be so strange and uncomfortable. I knew that I was completely safe with you , but there was still that hint of doubt because while I had spent much time chatting with you on Facebook and just a little bit of time with you in person, I still didn't feel like I knew you at all. How quickly things changed! I am so glad that we had a few days between teams to get settled in together and to have some time to feel like we could get to know each other. First date... yep that night was a night to remember for all time! The elated feeling of knowing that I belonged to someone was unlike anything I had felt before in such an intense way. Fast forward to that night coming home from Eldoret after we took Kevin to the airport... Remember it? I had the best time with you eating Chinese food and then riding back home. I can remember it like it was yesterday. You finally holding my hand made all of these butterflies fly around inside and I couldn't imagine feeling any more special or wanted that I felt at that very moment. In case you didn't quite know it yet, feeling like I belong is a big deal to me... Feeling as though I am not wanted or an outsider is a tough experience for me.. I will have to explain that another day. Again another night to remember filled with amazing experiences. I have loved every hand holding minute I have had with you to this day since then.. Again it just adds to the feelings of being wanted and desired. It's a big deal. Fast forward again to the one month anniversary date, which I am still so sorry that I forgot the exact date, our first kiss... You might as well have melted me into a puddle right then and there... I feel the same way every time we kiss. It is a great feeling! Fast forward again... now here we are making wedding plans on two continents, trying to find housing for when we return as husband and wife, making a budget and oh so much more... So much has happened in the last two months and it is just amazing to see the hand of God in the middle of it all. 

Without Him in the middle,I am sure that this wouldn't be happening so quickly. I am sure that things would NOT be going along so well. I anxiously look forward to the future. Our love story is just beginning and I can't wait to watch as God writes the rest of it on the pages of our lives. It is going to be the best story to share with others in ministry! What a testimony to have to share with other single adults that are in the same situation we found ourselves in... and then the blessings of waiting and following God's leadership in this area. It is going to make for some amazing opportunities I am sure. 

I can't wait for the day that my name changes from Miss Melody Ann MacWhirter to Mrs. Melody Ann Cooper. (Yeah I am getting rid of the MacWhirter... that's a lot of last name to write...) I can't wait until I have a permanently sleeping buddy who NEVER has to go home because his home is with me. I can't wait to be our own family. That is probably one thing that I have hoped and waited for for so long. My own family... Going to be an amazing feeling... I can already imagine it because in those times when I am cooking supper for you or baking or just sitting with you, I can feel what it is going to be like to be a family with you... and it is just the best feeling. Again it is a warm feeling that brings with it a sense of belonging and being desired. I am wanted... for the first time since my parents died. Someone really wants me to be a part of their lives. I can't ask for more than that... Yet somehow I get more than that every day! I am looking forward to spending the next 18 days with you and making the most of each one. I am not looking forward to that LONG plane trip without you at all. The only thing that makes it tolerable is knowing that I am going to be spending the time at home making the preparations for our wedding and then I don't have to be apart from you. I think I got a little bit wordy, but there is much to be expressed from my heart. 

Know this... I love you more than you can imagine and that love grows daily. 

Love,
Melody

Jim,

This morning I am sitting here listening to the birds chirping, watching the sun gleam through the dew on the windows, and thinking about you, and I want you to know that I love you. That's all I've got this morning... Well that and the fact that I just can't wait for it to be time for us to be married. That's what's on my heart today.

Love you

Melody

My heart is full to overflowing..

Dear Jim,

I know I say it a lot, but I love you. Tonight as I am sitting here reflecting on the last couple of months, I am just amazed. God has been so good to both of us. He has chosen to allow us to be together for such an amazing experience. I can't think of another person on this earth that I would like to share this time in my life with other than you.  

You are unlike anyone I have ever known before. You understand me in a way that no one else does. You get it, I mean really get it, when I talk about what i am experiencing here. Whether it be overwhelming sadness or anger or happiness, you understand what I am going through because I believe you have felt it yourself at one time or another. You understand what I mean when i am talking about Texas not feeling like my home anymore. You understand how I feel about these kids, and how easily they capture a piece of your heart and remain there for the rest of their lives. You understand my slightly random thought process and even kind of get my creativity. You could see the passion in my heart when I was certain it was long gone and destroyed because of the strains of being a teacher in the United States. You see greater things in myself that I can even comprehend. How do I know these things? Because I listen to what you say to me and I watch your face when you say it.

I see so many things in you. You are the most caring person I have ever met. I mean it. I can see it in your eyes when you are talking with the kids. I can see it on your face when one of them comes over to greet you. I can see it in your eyes when we are talking or I am telling you about some crazy dream I have had or some outrageous idea i have come up with. I can hear it in your words when you are calmly reassuring me that I am safe and protected and loved. I can feel it radiating from you when you are close to me. You are a gifted teacher. Sometimes I don't think you realize what a great teacher you are. Don't let the test scores make you believe that you aren't doing a great job. You are doing a great job. Test scores are just a one dimensional look at what a child is capable of doing. Interacting with them shows that they are learning from you and what you are teaching. It is more important to make an impact on their lives in an eternal sense rather than just worrying about their earthly education. You are going to be an amazing husband and father one day. How do I know this? I told you, I see these things in you. It doesn't escape my attention the ways that you interact with the children. I can see how much you love and care for them and I know that one day whether the children are yours biologically or they are adopted or whatever, those children will be loved and cared for in ways that they can't even comprehend at this point. I know that you are going to be an amazing husband one day. How? Well for starters, let's talk about how you go out of your way to make sure that i am taken care of, well taken care of. You make sure that i know that I am safe and protected. You make sure that I know that I am loved. That's just the short list. You know that there is so much more to it than just these few things I have listed here. 

You make me feel like the most special woman on the planet. I am truly blessed by having you in my life. For the first time, in a long time, I feel as though I matter to someone enough for them to take the time to invest in a relationship with me. I feel like this must be a dream, but then pinch myself and realize that this is reality. For the first time, reality is finally better than my dreams. You are the reason this is true. 

I love you and can't wait to see where this journey lead us. 

Love with all my heart,

Melody

A Journey to Finding LOVE!

Our Love Story

(A Journey to finding Love... and Oh what a Journey it has been!)

August 6, 2012-- friend request sent on Facebook... my reaction... Who on earth is Jim Cooper and why is he sending me a friend request... Thankfully I listened to my friends and accepted the request. 

January 31. 2013-- first "date" after church... You did an amazing job presenting what is going on with the ministry in Kenya. I don't know if I would be in Kenya this summer if it wasn't for your mom asking me outright when I was going to come to Kenya. If it wasn't for that conversation, I wouldn't have prayed what I did on the way home from the restaurant that night. 

February 1, 2013-- I began the task of preparing to go on an overseas mission trip and started fund raising. I had no idea how God was going to show off during this time in my life. He most certainly did show off. He blessed me incredibly as I was preparing for this trip.

June 30, 2013-- I arrived in Nairobi and was overwhelmed with what I had experienced just in getting to Kenya.The things I would see and experience in the coming days, will change my life forever. I had no idea what was waiting for me when I finally got to Kitale. 

July 5, 2013-- Happy Birthday to me! From coming to the airport(if you can call it that really) to meet the team when we arrived, to a special birthday celebration at the school, an even more special celebration with the kids at the orphanage, and ending with a celebratory dinner and cake at Karibuni, you did more to make my birthday a special day than I know how to say thank you for. 

July 13, 2013-- Our first REAL date together in Kenya. It was such an amazing time together! I was so nervous. I was so elated to be able to tell EVERYONE that we were an official couple. 

The rest of July and beginning of August were a blur of activity with teams coming and going. 

August 13, 2013-- One month together officially... What an amazing journey it has been getting to know more and more about each other. Learning to take care of each other, watching interactions happen and relationships being built on a variety of levels... I love to watch the ways you interact with the children. They absolutely love you, even when you torment them. You can still see the love in their eyes. I love to watch you when you don't notice that I am looking. I love to watch when you are thinking and would desperately love to know what you are thinking about. 

My heart grows with love for you, the children, and the entire nation of Kenya every day. That's just the plain and simple truth of the matter. I am looking forward to adding to this journey as time goes on. Who knows where the journey will take us, but I am looking forward to the discovering the location as the days go by. 

I love you!