The romance between Kayleigh Seymour and her future husband, Jacob Anderson, started the way many relationships do — a meeting at church. Kayleigh began attending Michael Memorial Baptist after her freshman year in high school and joined the youth choir.
The choir director thought Kayleigh and Jacob could make beautiful music together so she requested that they do several duets together. “While singing with him, I could feel such a strong connection,” Kayleigh recalls. “He was the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on and he loved Jesus! Talk about the full package.”
However, the two never pursued a relationship during those two years at the church. But fate put that back together again after they both were accepted for the Mississippi Baptist All-State Youth Choir. “I got tons of butterflies knowing I would be able to spend some extra time with my crush,” Kayleigh says. “During the weeks leading up to us going on tour with the choir, I started to get sick and I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to go. I felt like the Lord was telling me I needed to stay home. I passed up the amazing opportunity to travel throughout Mississippi and do what I love most — sing. Within that same week I got a call from Jacob saying he wouldn’t be able to be a part of the All-State Choir either because his boot camp date got moved up by four months.”
Then fate intervened again. “A few weeks later, our entire youth went on a weeklong trip to South Carolina. I kept noticing Jacob look at me, but he would look away if I looked at him. He was a very outgoing person and loved to be the center of attention, yet this whole week, he didn’t say one word to me.”
Well, they returned home and Jacob worked up the nerve to text her a week before departing for boot camp. “I got a text message from THE JACOB ANDERSON. He asked if I could meet him at Marble Slab so he could talk to me about something that has been on his heart,” Kayleigh shares.
The two met for nearly four hours, and “Jacob told me how he felt like the Lord was telling him to pursue me. He told me how he could feel the same connection I felt when we would sing together. He prayed with me and for what would eventually become a strong relationship. He told me a little bit about how difficult a military relationship would be. He informed me on how there would be NO communication, other than letters, for the next three months. Before leaving the ice cream shop, he asked me to think about everything and to consider pursuing a relationship with him.”
That final week, they hung out every day. “We ate out, we went to a festival, we led worship together one last time before he had to leave, we laughed, we cried, and, if I’m being completely honest, we fell in love.”
“He left that following Sunday. As he pulled away in a van with about 10 other recruits, tears filled my eyes. I knew in that very moment, that this would be the man I would marry.”
Jacob returned from North Carolina to see her graduate from high school and a day later invited her to his parents’ home. “He said he wanted to spend some time with me. We drove around the Coast and talked, but I noticed he was being very different. He wasn’t talking as much as usual and his face lost color. He pulled into Marble Slab, where our relationship started, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!”
Kayleigh and Jacob were married December 30, 2016. Jacob is a Marine and Kayleigh plans to attend college to become a teacher.
