Our story is kind of a long one, but I will try and keep it as short as possible. James and I met for the first time in January of 2018 at the BSU. I saw him from across the room sitting alone, and I decided to go introduce myself.. I ended up working a DNow at James' home church about 2 months later and he said hey to me and I had no idea who he was.. YIKES! Once I finally met James and remembered him, I knew he was the one for me, although it took him about a year and a half to realize the same. James and I were a part of the same friend group and I was content just being friends with him, kinda. This went on for about a year and then James came on a trip with my home church to Mission Arlington. James and I were on the same team during this trip and after seeing how much his heart was set on serving the Lord, I really began falling in love with him! After that trip, James and I got even closer and began to hang out just the two of us and FaceTimed anytime we weren't together. All of our friends knew something was up! All of the guys in our friend group held an intervention with me at our local Krystals.. LOL. They told me if I did not hurry up and say something, they were going to... still took me about a month after that. I finally was the one to say "okay James, we like each other, what are we doing??" and the rest is history! We started dating a few days later and we've never skipped a beat. I remember telling my friend Kyle during the summer of 2018, "I'm going to marry James". I can't believe now it is actually happening!

I don't even know how to put this day into words. James and I had talked about wanting to get married pretty soon after we started dating. I feel like our relationship was the epitome of, "when you know, you know". It was really just a matter of time. The talk of getting married got much more serious when James knew that the Lord had called him to full time ministry. We both knew that the calling was not a light one and not something that could be done with an unsupportive wife. We talked a lot about how our life would be different doing full time ministry and we were both excited for what that life would look like together. I felt like I waited forever for James to propose after that! I remember the day he did propose I was so mad at him because I wanted to be engaged so bad! We were going to visit a seminary in Dallas in just a few short weeks and knew we wanted to ask about housing for married couples, and I felt so weird asking about that not even being engaged!! Looking back on that day, I feel like such a brat because he had such a sweet surprise for me later. James and I went to eat on the square after church and he was doing everything so slowly, which is so uncharacteristic!! I was becoming so impatient. All the while, several people were setting up the church with lights, flowers, and cards. James even got a photographer and videographer for the day. After we ate, we walked back to the church where my car was and James led me through the front doors. The aisle was lined with lights and the pews held cards that told our story. When we got to the end of the aisle James got on one knee and proposed and I was beside myself! We then went and celebrated with close friends and family. Everything was so special!