Dana’s side of the story…
What can I say, I am not good with dates and this whole time period went by so fast sometimes it feels like it was a dream. Josh and I met when the summer before my senior year of college at the U of I. At that point I was determined to not have a boyfriend after many failed attempts at dating. I just wanted to have fun and do good my last year of school. Of course God always decides to give you what your heart really wants when you decide to stop wanting it.
So it was in the fall of 1998 that I boldly (okay, I had had a few beers) went up to this Josh Brewer and said, “Hey do you remember me? I am Dana, Sam’s friend from high school.” I talked with Josh and his Dad, Lew, for awhile and actually had the most amazing talk with his dad about God and Shiloh and etc. He is a pretty cool guy. So I figured if his dad is so cool he must be too. So later that night my best friend Lisa and I went to a birthday party for Sam and of course Josh was there.
This is the first moment i remember getting those fun “butterflies” and knowing, “Okay, this guy in checking me out.” We talked a lot and danced under the stars. At the end of the night I got the courage to give him my phone number. He loves to tell this part of the story. 
Yes, I made the first real move. Sorry girls. Words of wisdom… it is worth it to just be yourself and be honest about how you feel.
So a few weeks later after running into each other at different occasions I came home to find a note in my kitchen. It was a note from Mr. Joshua and he was asking me out on a date. Now remember this is before people really got into text messaging, emails and all the other ways we communicate. I kept this note in my bible for years until just about a year ago when I lost it. I treasured this note though. He was Mr. Muey-Suave! I was on cloud nine. I didn’t know who to call first. Something was so different about this guy.
We went on our first date and it was amazing. Josh and I sat down at the Mill restaurant in the booth in the front window. We ate pizza and talked about where we were both at in our lives. Josh and I both had been brought up in families that loved the Lord, but we were both in that place of independence and really finding out what did we really believe. This is an interesting place for any one but there was one thing we both realized - that we did really love the Lord. We just weren’t sure how to express that. Josh told me that he was sure of three things… he was a worshiper, a man of the word, and a father. I can say in all my years of knowing him, this is so true and nothing will ever shake him from it. I found this to be one of the most attractive things about him.
The rest really is history. We kept dating and it all went so fast and the next thing i know i am married and we are living in San Diego. We moved here in October of 2000 and through hard times and good times, we have loved being here. Somehow God managed to give me the desires of my heart that I never even knew existed. Love, family and knowing what it is to be so loved by God through the treasure I call my husband.
Joshua’s Version
We met on September 12, 1998 (yes, I know a guy that remembers dates… very unusual) at The Que in downtown Iowa City. We were both at interesting places in our lives, Dana at the U of I and I had moved back home and was working construction to pay off some debt. Sam (my younger brother) introduced us that night. We exchanged a few word and then returned to our friends.
However, the following weekend was Iowa City’s annual Brewfest, where Lew (my dad) was pouring beer. We ran into each other again and Dana was promptly invited to meet my parents for Sam’s first legal drink at the Green Room at midnight. That very same night we were having a big 21st party for Sam at Josh Mehaffy’s place and Sam managed to sneak away for his first legal drink with the parents and came back with Dana and her friend Lisa in tow.
We danced in the backyard under the stars. We talked on the front porch for quite a while and then as the night was ending (or day was breaking…) she gave me her number. Without me asking for it. Very nice.
Over the next couple weeks we “ran into” each other. Really it was more like, “Hey, we are gonna be at Such-n-Such-a-place playing darts if you guys wanna swing by.” You know, trying really hard to be all casual n’ stuff. But in reality there was definitely a strong attraction happening and there was something about Dana that I hadn’t found before.
So I got up the courage to call and ask her on a date… but she didn’t pick up and neither did the machine. So I did the next logical thing. I wrote her a note telling her, “I would dig the chance to hang out.” I knew where her apartment was, so I slid it under her door and waited for a response.
She called and we set up our first date (10/3/1998). We went to the Mill and ordered pizza and beers and began to talk. Turned out that both of us were in a bit of a spiritual burnout and really looking for something. We talked and talked, were late to our movie, talked some more, drove around so we could keep talking. It was amazing.
Having both come out of pretty bad relationships, we talked and realized that it was gonna take a commitment right from the start if this thing had any chance of success. Trust. Honesty. Communication. That was what the whole thing started from and its why we are the way we are today.
We continued to date and in September of 1999 we got engaged. I proposed on stage at the Green Room in a song. Obviously, it worked. 10 months later we had both graduated and we ready to get married and move to San Diego.
July 8, 2000 – One in faith. That’s what the rings said. That was our stance. What an amazing day.
We found a cute little apartment in Imperial Beach for $495.00 per month. We were so broke and couldn’t imagine finding something that cheap. Once again the Lord came through. Dana soon landed a job at Crestline Funding as the receptionist (she is still there having been a processor, load officer and now a loan coordinator).
In August of 2003 we bought a great little beach cottage in Imperial Beach. This was an amazing first home and we had many, many amazing, funny, deep, crazy times there.
But in July 2006 we bought an amazing home built around 1896 sitting on a 1/3 of an acre in the neighborhood where our church and our friends live. We sold the IB house and began 3.5 months of working on the house (every evening and every weekend). Joe and Cheryl Navalesi let us live in their guest bedroom for 10 weeks. (God bless the both of them…)
November 15th 2006 we moved into our new home and began to settle into this great place.
So now we are now pregnant and expecting our first child. Ruth is here and the most awesome addition to this family. The house is 98% finished (inside – the yard, however, is another story is in process of getting cleaned up and Matt Swanson is gonna start growing vegetables) and we are just about to paint the last room (the dining room). We have been so blessed in every way you could imagine and every day we wake up to that same commitment – one in faith. Trust. Honesty. Communication. And each day we seem to fall a little deeper in love with each other.
