February 14th is a day when love is celebrated by couples. We want to take this Valentine’s Day to honor “the icon of God’s love for us,” (Pope Francis) sacramental marriages! To display the beauty of a sacramental marriage, we are aiming to post at least 14 love stories from our married brothers and sisters by February 14th. May their stories draw you closer to the Source of their love. Happy reading!
Tom and Heather’s love story
Tom’s side:
I lost my first wife to cancer in 2013. She was the only woman I had dated so I didn’t have a lot of dating experience.
In the spring of 2015 I gathered a considerable amount of courage and posted my profile on Catholic Match. This match site approach made sense to me since I was a single dad raising three boys; I didn’t have any time to meet random people and hope they would randomly have lots in common with me.
I began chatting with potential date-ables on CM and found that I did have the courage to put myself out there. After two weeks I came across the profile of a cutie from Maple Lake – Heather was her name. She had many common interests – faith, family, and adventure, which topped my list. After reading Heather’s profile, I got a wave of boldness and asked her on a date. She said yes and I got ready to really put myself out there.
On our first date, I was waiting in the restaurant for Heather to show up and then she walked through the door. Wow!! She was a babe! Our first date was a blast. Our second, third, and fourth dates went just as well and I quickly discovered that Heather was true gem of a woman.
Eleven and a half months after our first date, I asked Heather to marry me, with my boys present, in front of the Blessed Sacrament in her parish’s adoration chapel. She said, “Of course, I will!” I thank God for placing her in my and my boys’ life.
Heather’s side:
By July 2014, I felt my heart was ready to find my husband, or as a few men reminded me, to let HIM find ME. I set up an account on Catholic Match because I had a few women friends in their thirties who met their husbands through it. I didn’t view it as an ideal way to meet someone naturally, but I figured when the pool is smaller (both from age and location), the net needs to be cast farther.
In seven months, I talked over the phone with a handful of men and went on only a few first dates. I was getting discouraged so I decided to pray a novena to St. Joseph, asking him to bring me a man who is like him: strong, protector, faithful, pure, and good with his hands.
Ten days after I finished the novena, I received a Catholic Match message from Thomas in Delano, only 30 minutes away from me. I liked that he seemed very creative and invested in his boys. He was clearly outdoorsy, another plus. I also liked that he was an initiator; he asked me out on a casual date with that first message!
Two days later we went on our first date (March 31, 2015), four days later we went on our second, eleven and a half months later we were engaged, and six months later we were wed in September 2016. Our beautiful nuptial Mass was presided over by an Emmanuel priest and concelebrated by another. God blessed us with a baby right away and we met our fourth son, Kolbe Joseph, on July 2, 2017.
Full story
For the longer version, check out our story on the site that brought us together: https://www.catholicmatch.com/about/toms-seven-year-old-son-elbowed-him-to-get-proposing
Tom & Heather (MN)
Heather and Tom – what a beautiful family you make! So heart warming to read your story. God is awesome!
Thank you both for being bold about throwing out the net into the deep! What a happy story to read and may the graces of your sacrament fill you and the boys.