Real People in Love: Kassi & Dan

I'm so excited to be able to share Kassi's answers with you. She is the woman behind BacWoods Fern and her blog is a wonderful look at a happy family. She and Dan also have the three cutest kids you could ask for and having a mother and wife answer these questions are even more insightful.

How old are you and Daniel?

Daniel and I are both 29. He will be 30 in march and I will be 30 in April!

What are your occupations?

Dan is an enterprise account manager (sales rep) for an IT company here in Orange County. I am a stay at home mom and trying to make enough pretty things to open up an etsy store by April.

How did you meet?

Dan and I were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend... turns out he had dated that mutual friend... haha. We met in a neighboring town and had our first date at a restaurant followed by some gambling at our local casino-it was so fun. On our first date he said to me "If I ask you out on a second date then you'll most likely end up being my wife" and he was right!

How did you get engaged?

Dan proposed to me six months after our first date. He did a scavenger hunt using cards and roses at some different places (his apartment, car, Starbucks, a friends house) when I got to the final location he and his friends had decorated the whole house with 100's of tea light candles, rose petals and white Christmas lights. He played me a song he had written, washed my feet and gave me a wonderful spiel of how he would love, honor and serve me the rest of my days. We then walked down to the beach in the rain where he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. We then celebrated with champagne. It was magic.

Tell us about your wedding day (not necessarily elements but feelings too)

Our wedding day was great. Casual elegance in a picture perfect vineyard. I was super nervous but not about marrying Daniel...I was nervous about walking down the aisle in front of 300 guests. We hammed it up and barely listened to our pastors marrying us. So bad... but it was fun. I don't remember much except the feeling of being so excited to marry my best friend and the man that I knew God had planned for me.

Define Love:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

What's the toughest part of being in a committed relationship?

The toughest part is getting used to sharing everything. For me, it is money and not having my own money anymore...it took me over a year to combine our bank accounts! I'm also pretty stubborn so it can get hard for me to not be selfish and demand my way in things. ;-) marriage is about sacrifice and selfishness seems to get the best of us at times.

What is the best part?

The best part is having my best friend to share my life with...the joys, the sorrows, waking up every day to him and kissing him goodnight every night. raising our three children together is wonderful too!

What is the best day you and Daniel have had together?

Gosh, that's hard. We've been together a while and have had a lot of great days. Our wedding was wonderful. The day that Dan adopted Tyler (I had him before he and I were married) was amazing. The birth of our two daughters was amazing. But most recently we went up to Big Sur to celebrate our sixth anniversary-we stayed at the most intimate cabin amongst the redwoods and it was pure bliss. We laughed, ate good food, surfed (he did, I laid out...sharky water scares me) and I enjoyed him playing his guitar around our bon fire. A wonderful place and our most favorite anniversary so far.

What makes you different from other couples?

We are so much alike! People always say I am the girl version of Dan...I would say our sense of humor makes us different than other couples. We laugh a lot and can say/do some pretty off the wall things-our friends think we're nuts. We also tell each other pretty much everything. There is no holding back with us!

What is the most essential element of making it?

Knowing that love is a choice and choosing to love one another even when we may not 'like' each other. Also, we choose to put God first in our marriage and for us, that is key.

What is your favorite thing to do together?

We enjoy just talking at night...sounds boring but it's true. We love alone time... going to the beach, camping...even if it's watching a movie...we just really enjoy being with one another. We're BFF's as my daughter would say. :-)

Do you have a song?

We have many songs-David Gray songs...Arcade Fire songs...Postal Service songs...We haven't narrowed it down to just one.

What are your hopes for the future?

Right now, my hope is to get Dan healthy (he's had a lot of health issues over the last year) and to grow more in love with one another daily and to be good examples to our children. Personal hopes...we want to somehow be able to bring in 10 grand monthly without having to work...haha and to just laze around the beach all day long.

Anything else the world needs to know about love?

I really just think that people need to know that love is not a feeling alone...you'll have those butterflies in the beginning but that fades...after a while love needs to become a choice that you and your spouse make on a daily basis. Otherwise, it will fail. I believe that is why so many marriages end up in divorce...people are simply giving up. Do not give up!