NEWSFLASH: Dan Shackleford (Trent's big bro) is married....Here's his story:
Tami and I met at Christmas 2002, when the IMB let me come home from Brazil to see my sick grandfather. We talked for about a week and a half of the two weeks I was home. After I went back to Brazil, we talked for about another two weeks and then I kind of got distracted by all the goings on in Brazil, so I, foolishly, quit writing and calling. Well, I came home from Brazil in June of 2003 and my mom was continuously telling me that I needed to talk to Tami. I'm in seminary in Memphis, down the street from my parents' house, but I live in Wynne. Well, my mom was always telling me when Tami was in town from school (She did her masters in social work at U of Oklahoma). So I, being the individualist that American culture has made me, (really, I'm the one to blame) didn't want to take my mother's advice. Well, fast forward to March of 2005. My dad called me and said he had something interesting to tell me.
"Really?" I said. "What's that?"
"Howard Locke (a guy in his church) called me the other day to ask how you and Tami were doing."
"Why would he do that?" I asked.
My dad said, "Apparently he felt like God told him a couple of years ago that you guys were going to get married."
"Really?" I said.
Well, I started to think more about that and began to wonder if my mom was actually right. (My dad never tried to influence decisions in my life, which I guess is why I listened to him.) So anyway, the next week, I saw Tami on the instant messenger that we used to chat on when I was in Brazil. So I said hi, just to see what would happen. Well, she said hi back and we talked for 3 or 4 hours that night on the computer. The next night, we talked for another couple of hours. I asked for her phone number after that and then we talked about every night for a while beginning around the 10th of March. Then, the last weekend in March, I actually drove to Oklahoma to see her. I was nervous and excited all at the same time and it went very well. I got to meet some of her friends, and we had a lot of fun. Then, April 1, we started dating. She graduated in May and moved to Memphis (largely b/c I was here). We went to Brazil together at the end of May (we stayed with the missionaries with whom I worked down there). After that, I went to a few youth camps and while I was on those, I worked on a poem that I was going to read to her when we got engaged. It turned out to be long, so I turned in into a book and illustrated it with photographs. I took her to a nice restaraunt and afterwards, up to the roof of the Peabody hotel and there I read her the book, proposed, she said yes, and that was on July 8th. (I think). Anyway, we got married October 15th, and life has really been good since. My internship is up at my church in May when I graduate, but we have to wait until October to start the application process with the IMB. After that, it will take about 6 months or so to go overseas. We're anxious to go, but we're also anxious to see what God will do in the months after graduation. ....
Grace and Peace,
Dan