Get to Know a Garden City Member: The Markwells
Howdy! We are the Markwell family: Matthew, Amanda, and Peter. We are both natives of Kentucky, but we got married and moved to California in 2013. We met at what Amanda likes to call "Nerd Camp" in the summer between our junior and senior years of high school, circa 2007. After dating for 6 years, we finally finished college, got married, and moved out to Sacramento, where I had gotten a job at Intel. More recently, we moved to the Bay area in the fall of 2018 for a job at Google, and have enjoyed calling Garden City our home since then. Amanda currently works as a Labor and Delivery nurse at Kaiser Santa Clara.
Our amazing little boy, Peter, was born in March 2019, and watching him grow and learn has been so incredibly fun. Some of you may remember us requesting prayer for Peter at various times - Peter has a congenital heart defect that required two heart surgeries. Shelter-in-place has been challenging in a lot of ways, but I'm filled with joy and thankfulness when I remember how blessed we are to have a healthy baby. God has shown incredible faithfulness to us, answering prayer after prayer, and helping us through that difficult time. Peter's health is such a demonstration of his grace. You can't bargain with God; he needs nothing from us, so we are fully dependent on his mercy and grace for every good thing.
We recently became deacons and transitioned into leadership of the Mountain View Northwest Life Group, and we have had an amazing time getting to know our Life Group and seeking God together. It is definitely a strange feeling to begin leading a group virtually. We so miss spending time together in person, but we have been trying to make the most of the situation with virtual game nights and Bible studies.
More about us: We love travelling and have had the pleasure of seeing a lot of great places (Top pick -> Japan). We both really love coffee, beer, and pub food. I'm a big nerd; I love playing video games, reading books, watching cartoons, and coding (shelter-in-place has been easier for me :D). Amanda loves getting outdoors and sipping Boba Tea under the sun. We love making friends and would love for anyone to reach out to us if you want to hang out!
We're thankful for our Garden City family and are looking forward to growing closer to God and each other!