\n\n our story
 
Our Story:how we met, where we are from,our families,etc
 
 
The Family (corey’s side)  Located in Southwestern IL Jim and Cathy have been married 32 yrs.Jim has worked at Avis Rent-a-car at the St. Louis Airport for 28 yrs. He is the most amazing father, teaching me honesty and a Godly example with a never complaining attitude. He may be a man of few words, but he has a heart of gold. Cathy works at her church preschool.She clearly has found a new love in her life(her first grandbaby). She has taught me how to love God and love people, she is such an amazing mom. Jeremy is two years older than me. He always keeps me in line as a big brother should. He has taught me many things including how to beat him in every sport. Him and his wonderful wife Staci are also one of my best friends, Staci is a bank teller and Jeremy is a Christian school principle in Memphis,TN. God has blessed me with such a close loving family (brianne’s side)  Located in Ontario, Canada.Dale has been a police officer about 30 years and also farms Wilson farms with his Brother Gary. He is an amazing guy that would do anything for anybody and loves his 4 girls more than life itself. Debbie cleans homes and businesses and loves her 3 children and her new grandbaby. She is a honest, loving mother and grandmother and friend. Angela, Tammy and Sherry are Brianne’s older sisters and all sweet and we love seeing and being with them. Tammy, her oldest sister, has a beautiful daughter named Amber. Sherry recently got married to a great guy named Mike and is now a Burto! Angela is married to Marty and has two adorable little girls, Avery and Faith. Angela is my best friend in whom I can go to for anything. Andrew is the little brother(14). He enjoys hockey and friends. He is a lot of fun. Our Life  Brianne and Corey enjoy camping and watching movies. Brianne’s talent is hairstyling and Corey’s talent is growing hair. Our life is totally changed with our new bundle of joy Daylan. Ephesians 3:20 Name: Corey, Brianne, Daylan Birthday: 11/10/82,04/26/82,08/26/06 College: Pensacola Christian College/Marvel Beauty School Major: Youth Ministries-Bible/Elementary Ed.-Hair stylist Favorite Vacation: Honeymooning in Hawaii Favorite Book: Bible, I’m not but I know ‘I AM’ “VELVET ELVIS” Favorite Movie: Napoleon Dynomite, Braveheart, Gladiator, Sound of Music (Brianne) Favorite Quote: It’s not the have to, but it’s the want to! Let Go and Let God! Brianne and I have a fascinating story of how we met and ended up together It all starts about 4 years ago in sunny Pensacola, FL while we were both attending Pensacola Christian College. I was a Junior and she was a transfer student who was classified as a freshman. I will never forget the first time I saw my wife. I was just coming out of class and I was walking through a crowd of people on my way out of the building and she was on the way in, she had stopped to chat with someone and literally I would give my right arm to see the look on my face and what I did next. I stopped as well, I don’t remember if I stopped and acted like I was tying my shoes or what, but I acted like I was doing something just so I could catch a glimpse of this girl. I cannot even begin to explain what I was seeing or thinking. It was so weird, I cannot describe the feeling that I had as I walked away, I can honestly say that I have never felt like that before. I walked away with the thought, I don’t know who that girl is, or what she’s like, but I know for a fact that I am going to marry that girl. OUr Story-how god brought us together! I walked to the place where all my friends were hanging out and I ran up to them telling them that I just saw my wife, explaining that I was going to marry this girl. So eagerly one or two of them said, “oh who is it”? “what is her name”? and I said I don’t have a clue but I am going to find out. They just said “whatever and continued with what they were doing. They didn’t care so I ran up to my room and I call my mom to tell her. I said “mom I just found my wife”. She thought I was nuts, but I was determined. To make a long story short, everywhere I went she was there, on a huge campus with thousands of people this was not normal. Literally I saw her several times a day, it was almost haunting because every time I was telling my friends about how every time I talk or think about her she shows up and literally I would look two tables over at the dinning hall, or two bleachers over at the soccer game and she was there. Never in my life have I been nervous to talk to anyone, but I couldn’t go talk to her, I was scared to death which was so odd. I chickened out my Junior Year. All summer long I kicked myself knowing that I didn’t meet or talk to her. I had the mindset for so long that only God can lead me to the woman that he wanted me to marry, but I also knew that I had to have the guts to go talk to her. I prayed so hard that as I graduate next year, I knew God wanted me to be a youth pastor at a church, but I knew he didn’t want me to be single and in the ministry. I began to pray and say God you are going to have to pull a miracle if you want my wife to come soon. So I waited patiently all summer knowing that fall approached and this challenge of meeting Brianne was about to come. I couldn’t wait to meet my wife. My friends didn’t refer to Brianne as Brianne before we met, she was referred to as “Corey’s Wife”. Fall of my Senior year came and it was time for God to bring Brianne and I together. Crazy circumstances, God’s Providence and a mutual friend we met and began to talk. She was “CANADIAN” and her dad was police officer was what our first conversation was about. At first she loved me for my Big Red Jacked up Mudd’n truck that was so huge and Red-Neckish...ha ha! We actually hit it off pretty well. So I asked her to go on a date with some of our mutual friends. I was expecting sparks to fly...they didn’t, things just didn’t go that great, I really liked her. I liked her personality and who she was, there was just something missing. She wasn’t too sure about me either, she didn’t know b/c I was totally opposite of her in temperment, I was hyper-crazy loud, and she was sweet, calm, and collected. I think that made her nervous. I was kinda discouraged about it b/c I had thought about this girl for so long, and prayed and I knew that this was the girl that God had made for me. Luckily we tried it again, again, again and eventually I convinced her that I was an ok guy. You see she was way out of my league, and I knew it...God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or imagine and he did. Brianne and I began to pray to see if this is for real. We both came to the conclusion that we had to give this relationship to God at the beginning therefore he could bless us and lead us. God literally crossed our paths one day as we were walking with a crowd of about 6 thousand. We were walking nowhere near each other after church one day as about 6 thousand people were walking out of church and I walked by myself that day and I asked God for two things. I asked God for a sign that we were or weren’t supposed to be together and I asked that God would bring my road of following God and her road of following God together, and if it wasn’t meant to be then we would not stray from the path that God had given us(metaphorically). Next thing I knew is that as I am walking in the midst of all these people and without changing our pace or our path walking down this road through all those people we look just beside each other and there we were walking together miraculously next to each other. God answered both requests that moment, he brought us together with an amazing sign of assurance. We fell in love and helped each other grow closer to Christ as we met every morning to pray and read our Bible. It didn’t take long but we both knew soon enough that is was meant to be. We both have been in relationships before, but nothing as deep and real as what God had now brought us. Days turned into months and our love grew stronger as I approached graduation. Brianne had earned a degree in Hairstyling before she came to PCC, but she came to PCC to study elementary education, although we tease her that she came to get her MRS. degree. She visited my hometown in IL that Christmas and I visited hers in Canada and we fell in love with each others family as well. Spring approached and we began to talk about the big “M” word....Money!!! Just kidding, we talked about marriage and our dreams and goals of serving the Lord and starting a family. We had the same dreams, goals and aspirations. I asked her father and Mother if I could marry their daughter, they said yes and I began to save my $ for a ring. I had planned out the perfect proposal. Her family came down from Canada and mine from IL for my graduation. I wanted our families to have a part in this big event. If you have ever been to Destin, FL you will know that it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I Graduated on May 5 and on May 6 we all went to Destin to “Celebrate. Our lives were about to change. We spent the day doing stuff with our family and just enjoying ourselves. I rented a pontoon boat to go out into the bay and view the clear blue water and maybe see some dolphins. The weather was perfect. We went out with our family for a few hours and then we returned. It was never allowed but with some coaxing they let me take the boat out for a sunset ride, and no one would be out there. I had Brianne’s favorite meal ordered to go from a restaurant and nice china taken from our condo and packed up for our private sunset ride. Our parents brought this big bag down to the boat and I explained to Brianne the surprise that I had been working on for a while. I even had a CD made of our favorite music and Al Greens greatest hits courtesy of the boat rental place. Brianne was a little confused but very excited as we went out. As we got out in the bay, we anchored and I blindfolded Brianne and set her at the end of the boat while I set the table on this perfect boat with picture perfect scenery and moments. As I unblindfolded her she flipped b/c of the rose petals leading to the candle lit dinner. We had the greatest time as I was so nervous that the ring-box in my pants pocket would be too noticeable to her and she would ask what it was. We stood on the edge of the boat and I got down on one knee and asked Brianne to marry me. She tackled me on the floor and I almost dropped the ring as she yelled something. Later I found out that it was a “YES”. As we pulled back into the Dock the restaurant had all these people waiting up there to hear if she said yes b/c the boat rental people must have told them. One guy yelled”did she say yes”...i yelled “we’re gettin’ married”!! They all started cheering for us, and the rest is history. We were married on October 2, 2004 in Ontario, Canada with all of our friends and family present. It was a perfect day and an indescribable event for Brianne and I. We headed off to Hawaii for our Honeymoon the next day and as a wedding gift we got to enjoy the world’s most beautiful place. We moved to Memphis, TN and began our ministry working with youth at Macon Road Baptist Church and School. God blessed us with a home in Memphis and we moved in.
 
Memphis brought great memories of how we began our lives together as newlyweds. It brought many challenges; financially trying to make it with a youth pastor salary and her cutting hair only by donation; physically as I gained 25 lovely pounds b/c my wife was such a good cook; emotionally as we saw the real in each other(poor Brianne); spiritually as we saw many youth accept Christ and have a passion for God and His word (www.two-20.blogspot.com Memphis church youth website). God really blessed us. One of my favorite memories is Christmas morning of 04...when I awoke to the news of my best friend SUMO!!! Brianne had bought me my life long dream of getting a puppy pug. He was the greatest thing since pancakes, ask Brianne, she loved that dog :) God began to lead a different direction in my heart as far as my ministry goes. We loved Memphis for the fact that my brother Jeremy and his wife Staci lived there. Despite being so close to them God lead me elsewhere. My best friend and roommate from college had passed away in October of 05 and b/c of his funeral I found myself in NY for the weekend and that is when God brought me and Lakewood Baptist Church together. He began to show me through that tragedy that there is a purpose in everything. Although his Kevin’s death had many echoes of purpose, for me that was it. Needless to say my life was different b/c of him. (www.kevingrape.memory-of.com his memorial website) God led us to Lakewood, NY in January 06. We moved there fell in love with the church, the area, and people. We love it here and are here to stay, our church is alive and God is moving. I saved the best for last. Brianne and I wanted to start a family and one week later she became pregnant with the greatest blessing of our life. Other than being born again and marrying Brianne, Daylan James’ birth on August 26, 2006 was the greatest thing that has ever happened to us. There are many more details about Brianne’s labor and birth of Daylan on the website. Our Theme verse is Ephesians 3:20...”Now unto God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or imagine.” And he has, God is so good to us. We give God all the glory and praise for what we have and what we’ve been able to do. ...corey http://www.two-20.blogspot.comhttp://www.kevingrape.memory-of.comshapeimage_19_link_0shapeimage_19_link_1