Our Story

In the summer of 1999, Brady was surfing around on the internet, wanting
to meet other people who were about to embark on a new venture in life, college!  He came across a Yahoo Group called College Christian Fellowship and decided to join, hoping to connect with others he could relate with. As he was looking through the various
content on the group, he came across a member photo area and decided to browse it
out of curiosity.  One of the first pictures he saw was that of Katie (the actual picture is to the right), and it caught his eye.

After seeing her picture, he thought to send a simple email to Katie, hoping to start a friendship.

From: Brady Holt
To: Katie Tankersley
Subject: College Christian Fellowship
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 09:32:36

Hi, I’m a member of College Christian Fellowship (Yahoo Club) too! I’m just trying to meet some other Christian college students to talk with.

So tell me what University you attend! Do you live in California and also go to school there? I live in Texas and I will be a freshman at the University of Texas.

Well, thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope to hear from you!

Brady

We don’t have Katie’s first e-mail anymore where she answered Brady’s questions,
but we do have her second e-mail which was written the same day as the one above…

From: Katie Tankersley
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 1999 8:36 PM
To: Brady Holt
Subject: Hello again from California!

Brady–

So, tell me about yourself! What are you planning to major in and what is God calling
you to do with your life (don’t feel intimidated if you have no clue, ‘cuz I haven’t
the faintest).

What do you do with your free time? Do you work? How and when did you become a Christian?
(I always love to hear people’s stories!) What is your family like? Do you have
siblings or pets? What has God been teaching you lately? Don’t feel like you have
to answer all of these questions in one e-mail, but I would really like to know!

Talk to you soon!

Katie

Even though they both knew it was silly, Brady and Katie quickly developed romantic
feelings for each other. After a few months of wishing that they lived closer, they
finally had a serious talk and decided their relationship needed to be entirely focused on encouraging each other in walking with God and that they could not be in contact if they continued to focus on wanting to be together. From that point, they put ridiculous thoughts of being together far from their minds and were able to move on.

This was the beginning of a great friendship that would last for years.  Brady and Katie would talk on the phone at least once a week and saw their friendship grow deeper and deeper as time went on. They continued to encourage each other in their walks with the Lord, gave each other plenty of relationship advise (Brady was a bit more needy in this regard), and just enjoyed their friendship.

In October of 2002, Brady had planned a trip to the area to look for jobs as he was nearing graduation from college. Since he was going to be fairly close to Katie’s hometown, he figured he would plan to visit and meet her in person for the first time. Katie’s work place (Beardsley’s Book & Bible) served as the venue for this much anticipated meeting. Brady drove to Beardsley’s and decided to sneak into the back of the store while Katie helped customers. His plan was to catch Katie off guard and surprise her. He did just that and they were pleasantly surprised to find that relating to each other in person was no different than via e-mail and the telephone. They had a wonderful weekend and Brady enjoyed being able to see the people and places Katie had talked about for years. On this trip, Katie, along with her boyfriend (at the time) Joel and two good friends Janelle & Greg, took Brady to San Francisco to explore the city (picture of the group is to the left).

Katie had been in a long-term relationship for over 3 years and in August of 2004,
it came to an end. Although Brady had been in some serious relationships through
the years, at this point he was only casually dating. Although only intending to be a supportive friend to Katie through her difficult break-up, their more frequent contact stirred up suppressed feelings for both of them. When Brady realized this he was compelled to let Katie know and sent her an e-mail, fully expecting her to discount it.

Little did he know, Katie had been talking with her good friend Janelle just days prior and had admitted that she saw potential for the relationship to progress (in the distant future). Because her break-up had been so recent she resolved not to entertain those thoughts and be careful not to form emotional attachments.

On October 12, 2004, Brady and Katie had a talk on the phone and decided to try
to take their relationship to the next level. This marked the beginning of the next
chapter in Brady and Katie’s lives.

Both Brady and Katie knew that because they had known each other so long, their relationship couldn’t progress unless they lived in the same area.  It made more sense for Katie to make the move to Houston because Brady was a bit more settled there, although he was willing to move to California.  Before making the move, Katie flew out to Houston in early December of 2004 to get a feel for the city she would be living in (and to accompany Brady to his company’s Christmas party; see picture to the right). Later that month, Brady flew out to California to spend Christmas with the Tankersley’s and then drove her back to Texas.

Brady and Katie had been planning a trip back to Modesto, CA to visit her parents the weekend of April 9, 2005. Little did Katie know, this is when Brady was planning to ask her father permission to marry her. Although a bit nervous, he did just that and recounts his words as “I know without a doubt I want to marry Katie. I know I can take care of her and I want to take care of her”. After some discussion and a few questions, Katie’s dad gave Brady his (and Katie’s mom’s) blessing for their marriage.

The following weekend (April 16, 2005), Katie was woken up at 4:30AM to the sound of Brady’s voice saying “Wake up! I’ve got a surprise for you!” He then explained that he had some plans and she needed to get ready and pack an overnight bag. They
drove to the airport and boarded a plane. All along Katie had many questions but Brady wouldn’t budge on the details and kept her in suspense. She didn’t know where they were going until she saw “New York City” printed at the airport terminal.

They arrived in New York City, the place they had been 5 months previous, when Brady was running in the New York City Marathon. This was the place where they first saw each other since deciding to start a relationship together in October of 2004.  This was the place where they had their first “date” and first kiss, in Central Park.

After checking into their hotel rooms (Hotel Benjamin) and relaxing a bit, they got ready for the planned evening. Brady would not reveal his plans, but only gave Katie enough information so she knew she needed to dress nice and be ready by a certain time. They left the hotel, hailed a taxi, and headed to Tavern
On The Green in Central Park, where Brady had made dinner reservations.  After an enjoyable dinner (see picture to the right) and taking several pictures
together, they  boarded a horse carriage for a nice ride around the park. Curiously,
the carriage went to a particular spot in the park and dropped the two off, leaving
Katie with a good deal of curiosity.

They had been dropped off in the same area where they had their first date and kiss in the park. Katie realized this and was on to Brady. She was all but sure he was about to pop the question and knowing this, Brady tried to make her think otherwise.  He remembers saying, “If we are thinking about getting married, we better go look at rings pretty soon!” (he had previously told Katie a man ought not propose without a ring in hand). After walking around for a bit, trying to locate the exact spot where they first kissed, they found it! It was on the sidewalk, next to a pond, overlooking the building skyline to the South.

Brady suggested they sit down on a nearby bench and recount the past 6 years of their relationship. Katie agreed and they spent the next 45 minutes or so talking about their feelings about each other over the years. The conversation included
questions such as, “What were you thinking the first time I called you?”, “What would it have been like if we grew up together in the same city?”, and “How can we be so perfect for each other?”

Then, Brady led Katie to the spot on the sidewalk where they had first kissed and ”said a lot of sappy stuff” (as he puts it). It was all true, of course, and Katie was very happy to hear it all. He then proceeded to get down on one knee, pulled a ring out of his coat pocket, and asked Katie, “Will you marry me?” She said yes, and rather than crying or screaming, she started jumping up and down in excitement.  Brady was the happiest guy in New York City that night.