We met at PFO (Pre-field Orientation), where our families were sent to be prepared for being sent back out into the mission field. Because we were only coming out of 8th grade, we were sent to the youth class while our parents were sent through the adult classes. From there, we developed a friendship and decided we wanted more. However, we quickly realized we didn't want to deal with long-distance at our age but rekindled our friendship during boarding school a year later. We took our relationship to the next step and began dating our junior year of high school. From there, we went to separate colleges and have had a long-distance relationship ever since.

I (McGwire) had originally planned to propose the summer of 2020 but then, decided that since it was going to happen anyway, moving up the date wouldn't be a problem. Thankfully, my sister and her fiancee were more than willing to help me out, so while Abby and I hung out at my grandma's, my sister set the scene at Rend Lake. When we got there, we got out of the car, grabbed the dog, and walked toward the waterfront. I realized I couldn't get Abby to the rug my sister had set out, or else she would have been suspicious, so I very nervously dropped to one knee, stumbled through my "speech", and asked her to marry me. Of course, I (Abby) said "yes!", and to sweeten the deal, McGwire had both of our families on a video call, so they also were able to see the proposal happen, despite being in Taiwan.