About two and a half years before Katie met George she met George's cousin, Hunter, at JMU's Student Organization Night where Katie was running the booth for the university's Orthodox Christian Fellowship Chapter. Hunter, looking very confused, came up to Katie and asked, "Orthodox Christian Fellowship..is that like Orthodoxy?" Katie and Hunter got to talking and Hunter explained his cousin had been learning about Orthodoxy and going to church down in Louisiana. Hunter failed to mention other important details about his smart, handsome, funny, SINGLE cousin, George. (Come on, Hunter, get your priorities straight!) Katie gave Hunter information for St. Nicholas Orthodox Church because he mentioned him and his wife may want to visit and as she was walking back to her car she thought, "Shoot, I forgot to tell him about the wedding on Sunday..oh well, they are never going to come anyways." Well, they proved Katie wrong..
Hunter and Stephanie showed up to St. Nicholas the following Sunday where there was a wedding combined with a Liturgy which was probably the longest Orthodox service Katie had ever been to, let alone someone who had never been to an Orthodox church before. Hunter and Stephanie ended up leaving during the service, but mentioned they would be back the next week and Katie thought "Yeah right, you're just being nice to me--here are people who actually wanted to visit my church and here I am scaring them off--sorry I forgot to mention the three hour long wedding service to you--hope you brought good shoes!" To Katie's disbelief, they did return and continued going to St. Nicholas and were eventually baptized into the church. Later that year, Katie graduated and moved back home to Northern Virginia.
Katie was in the middle of her first busy season working as a public accountant when she received a message from Hunter saying, "My baby is getting baptized on Sunday if you can make it". Despite her 60 hour work week, Katie squeezed in the drive to Crozet for Helen's baptism where she noticed a rather dashing, young man as Helen's godfather. "Oh he's probably already married, all the handsome Orthodox men are already all taken", she thought. After the baptism, Hunter quickly pulled Katie aside and said, "Hey Katie, let me introduce you to my cousin, George". That's when Katie started to get the idea that something was discussed prior to her arrival.. Katie asked George what he did for a living, to which he replied, "I sell drugs". He explained later that he is a pharmaceutical sales representative, however, looking back on the moment, Katie probably should have turned and walked away at this point..
Katie and George reconnected after Helen's baptism and George came to visit her and her family later in the summer. They visited sites around DC and endured the weekend metro repairs. Katie's parents obviously did not do a good job of scaring George off, despite serving him take-out pizza because Mom was too sick to cook that weekend. George also joined the Karas family for a beach trip later that summer.
Next, it was Katie's turn to visit the South! Katie was introduced to George's parents as well as all his friends from Holy Nativity and Shreveport. They spent the next several months taking turns visiting each other and racking up airline miles.
George came to visit DC in May and little did Katie know, George asked Katie's father for her hand in marriage!
George and Katie visited Destin, FL over Memorial Day where Katie learned how to catch red snapper!
George joined the Karas family on their beach trip in August. They decided to go to dinner one evening before taking pictures on the beach. While everyone devoured their plates, George only picked at his food. Yet, kept insisting that we should get dessert. (Later on we would find out he was trying to stall for time). Dad, George, and Katie ended up going to the store where Dad intentionally got lost in the store.. When they finally got back to the beach house, George quickly whisked Katie down to the beach which was set up with tea lights leading to a heart shaped with red roses. George told Katie there was something for her out on the beach. Katie walked over and found a note in a bottle that George had written to her. She started to cry while he got down on one knee and asked to marry her. Of course, she said yes!!
Later in August, George and Katie made a trip out West visiting Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Washington. They visited Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park where they saw about one hundred different animals. They were able to visit some family friends of the Johnson's and tour some of God's most beautiful creations!
In October, Katie made the big move down to Shreveport with just three suitcases and the clothes on her back. Ever since, she has been adjusting to living in the South and finding her way around town. George and Katie have eagerly been planning their wedding and they are counting the days until their Big Day!