Tampa for two years

Since March of 2008, I've been living and working as a full time designer at Generations Christian Church. Cheritt and I have been enduring a long distance relationship for almost two years since my move.

This past summer, we went on vacation with his family to the West Coast of Oregon (where his dad is originally from). It was on our 2 year anniversary that Cheritt got down on his knee, this time on a different beach, and proposed with a custom made ring he had created for me through a relative (thanks Darren and Janelle!). It fit perfectly and was a ring that I had seen online and loved, but didn't think he would go to the extent to have it hand made for me through his family connection. Oregon was a beautiful; met all of his father's side of the family, visited a mountain,

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Beach Bound

I worked at Cape Christian Fellowship for 3 months and was laid off due to the beginning fall of the economy. It wasn't easy to deal with, but I had support from the Gingerich's whom I fell at the mercy of completely. A relationship with Cheritt bloomed one month after I moved there. Our first date was on the beach of Fort Myers.. a nice dinner at a seafood restaurant and a walk along the Pier. Friday the 13th... of July. From that point on, all those months of me wondering what it would be like to be around him, came true. He became my best friend, and I wondered how we had gone through all this time, without really knowing one another, yet... somehow being so much alike.

I depended on him in many aspects during that time. I was forced to look for work again, but this time, had to move up the coast to Tampa 5 months later.

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And Life Changed for Sure

God answered my question. Pretty clearly. But it wasn't understood for a few months. Two weeks after I prayed for God's direction, I lost my job at my full time position. It wasn't an easy loss for me. It pressured me to rebuild my portfolio and resume and immediately get myself back out there. I still had my Resident Assistant job, but that wasn't going to pay my bills. I spent a few months going through unemployment hassles and weaved through job application after job application. Soon, an opportunity arose at a church for a full time graphic designer in Manhattan.

I worked there for about 4 months and soon there after, I received a call from Cape Christian Fellowship, asking if I'd be interested in a position down there at their church. It took me 4 weeks to get down there.

And the rest, well is history. I moved my entire life in New York, all 28 years of it to the coast of SW Florida. Talk about a cultural shock. But I was ready, so I thought.

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A Vacation That Changed My Life

I visited Sarah and had a blast. Got to meet her fiance (at the time) and go to Disney World. It seemed so small than when I had last been there. I flew down to Fort Myers and Linda picked me up at the airport. I spent a great deal of time with Charissa who was home for a few days on break from her grad school program. Cheritt lived 6 houses down the street with his friend Brett. The first time I saw Cheritt, I remember thinking... I am in trouble, and for many reasons. You see, I had this minor... so very minor crush on him after seeing his photo on his dad's church's website.

Meeting him in person, I played it cool, but inside I was like.. man this stinks - only because I realized this guy not only was good looking, but humorous and well balanced. It happened that he dubbed my sarcasm and sense of humor to a tee. I wouldn't have known this from an photo on the internet. Plus, I didn't have crushes on guys, I was in my late twenties - that was a thing for well, middle school, right?

I left Florida feeling a high of comfort. I was really sad to go back to NY. I remember feeling content with my life in NYC, but had remembered originally mentally giving myself a make believe 5-year plan - but wondered what God had in store for me next. I had met my degree goals. I had a couple decent jobs that kept me financially afloat.

So one night when I was walking home to my apartment along the East River, I remember telling God that if he had a different plan for me, other than NYC, to please let me know. To just give me some sort of sign. Because I wouldn't know any differently. I didn't plan on settling in NYC. But if I were to go or move or work somewhere else, I hadn't a clue what that would be. I asked God to just let me know.

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The Relationship Before Ours....

The relationship before ours... and I'm not talking about our previous dating relationships here...
Let me try to summarize over 35 years of history we have between us in a few short paragraphs... It began simply, before we were even born. And if you're that interested, our history book is below.

Both my father (Bob Teno) and Cheritt's mother (Linda Gingerich) met during their teenage years in Youngstown, Ohio. Fred Augsburger, Linda's dad, pastored a church where my father began attending during his long-haired, bell bottomed hippy years around the age of 17. Fred and Carolyn Augsburger somewhat took my father under their wing and mentored him with his relationship with Christ as he participated in their youth group. My dad graduated from highschool and the Augsburgers encouraged him to go to a Christian college nearbye. Through that relationship and the social crowd my dad hung out with, he met a girl whom he dated and moved to Buffalo to be with... but later met my mom (Darlene) and they married in the mid 70's and stayed in Clarence, New York.

Linda went onto college in Virginia where she met and married Dennis Gingerich (Cheritt's dad). Dennis began pastoring a church after seminary which was in Elmira, New York - about a 3 hour drive from our house. Being that my parents were in Buffalo, our families connected here and there, often taking long weekend trip to visit and spend time together. That being said, Linda and Dennis had Chad and my parents had Kari, who were both within 6 months of similar age. Then came the middle children, Cheritt who was 6 months older than myself. Within the next 9 years, both families had their third and last child, Charissa Gingerich and Kristine Teno.

So there you have it. Cheritt and I met when our parents plopped us down next to one another at the kid's dinner table and made us share our toys... and much later, decades of memories.

Let's fast forward to 1986-ish. The Gingerich's felt God was leading them to Cape Coral, Florida where they moved to begin a new church plant - Cape Christian Fellowhip (sound familiar?).
My parents remained in Clarence, New York where I grew up my entire life.

In 1989, my parents surprised Kari and I with a trip to Disney World. Kristine (Teenie) my younger sister, was just a little over 1 year, so they opted to visit the Gingerich's first and have them watch Kristine for a few days while the four of us vacationed with Mickey. It was the summer between my 3rd and 4th grade year. I remember being nervous to see the Gingerich family. It had been a few years since I last remembered seeing them. A lot had changed since I was 6 years old. Now, I was a grown 3rd grade graduate!

I remember having this awkward crush on Cheritt when we visited that summer, but I recalled the kids back at school always saying that boys had 'cooties' and to all I knew, this meant some type of contagious germ or severe grossness. Definitely not someone to spend the rest of your life with... yet.

Those feelings were pushed into the wee depths of my mind, for about 16 years. And I grew up really just recalling the early family memories of my first and only trip to Disney World, and would remember them every so often when they'd send a Gingerich family photo after the holidays, which we'd post on our mantle or near the phone in our kitchen.

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City Girl | Country Boy

So I grew up in a normal family environment, lucky to have both my parents still alive and married. I played soccer for 12 years, banked on drama club and chorus in high school and learned that I wanted to take a career drive towards advertising and design. I studied and earned my undergraduate degree in Multi-Media Arts from SUNY Fredonia. Throughout college I participated greatly in Residence Life as an RA. I worked one year as Hall Director at SUNY Cortland, just north of Elmira, New York. Shortly after I bolted independently to New York City to achieve a Masters in Digital Imaging and Design at NYU.

I remained in the city for several years after graduating from NYU, trying to see if I could make it in New York, I guess they say - you can make it anywhere. I worked at one point, 4 jobs at the same time, consisting of a Post Production designer, a Resident Assistant for the French Culinary Institute, A part time nanny and a Barnes and Noble clerk.

Cheritt grew up helping out his parents with ministry at Cape Christian Fellowship. He loved gadgets and movies and was intrigued by magic (the good kind). Cheritt studied part of his degree in Psychology and enjoyed Drama classes at Hesston College in the fields of Kansas and finished his Bachelors at Eastern Mennonite University (where Dennis had also went to college) in the hills of Virgina. After college, he returned back to the beach of SW Florida where he began a career in Mental Health.

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How We Met: AGAIN

So there I was in NYC. I had completed my career, lived on my own on Roosevelt Island while working and being housed by the French Culinary Institute. I was working also full time at a Post Production facility. After college, it was harder to meet new people in a city of 23 million. I wasn't attending a church, most of them were huge and a bit more conservative than what I was used to.

I was speaking with my mom one day on the phone in January of 2006. We talked about how it would be nice for me to find a young adults group at a church. It was a cold Saturday in January. About an hour later she called me back. She told me that Dennis Gingerich had just called my parents house. I asked her how they were all doing. She said Dennis referenced them to a church for me there in Manhattan, named Mosaic Manhattan. I looked up the website and attended the next day. It became the first church home I had since moving to the city 5 years prior.

I asked my mom if I could get Dennis and Linda's contact information so I could send them an email to tell them that the church they referenced, ended up being a good fit for me. I became involved there and volunteered regularly in the tech booth. I didn't know church could be so contemporary or artistically driven. They needed some help with design, and I was able to help out with my gifts. I emailed Dennis and Linda and the gave me their own church's website information. There on the site, was a short bio about Dennis and a family photograph. It was then, for the first time, I had seen Cheritt. And I couldn't stop looking at that photo. I told my mom how hot I thought he was, and she said to me "You know... Cheritt is single." And I responded... "WHY??"

I had earned vacation time at my post production job. And I decided to visit a friend from undergrad, Sarah Brown, whom I hadn't seen since we graduated. She had moved down to Daytona, Florida where her parents moved to retire. I planned this trip in February and decided to touch base with Linda and Dennis since this would be my first time visiting Florida, since 1989 and that first trip to Disney World. They were the only other people I happened to know down there. I planned half my trip with Sarah and half my trip to visit the Gingerichs.

So in the months between February and August, I corresponded with the Gingerich family prior to coming to visit. I hadn't seen them in nearly 16 years, I guess I had a lot to catch up with. I also wanted to get to know them a little through email prior to just plopping myself at their house for 3 days. I got their kids email addresses, now though, we were all adults.

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