We’re getting married!

It all began via this adorable dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel. Both of us had spent significant time during the early months of Covid praying and growing in our relationships with God as individuals - and were feeling ready to meet someone special. Alistair thought he would meet the love of his life at his local Lutheran Church, Good Shephard, but that was before Covid hit. I hoped I would meet someone traipsing across Europe, or in relation to my book on gospel missions work in Iceland. Both of us thought - “why not give Coffee Meets Bagel a shot? I trust God with my love life and I’m open to meeting someone online.” He logged on and one week later, I did too. From our very first text conversation, we talked about how God had been working in our lives, places we traveled, and ideas we were learning through books, sermons, and podcasts. Alistair asked me out on a Zoom Date the very first day we connected - and when we zoomed for hours and hours that following Sunday, I came away thinking “I just made a friend!” He came away thinking “she’s the one.” He was my coffee, and I was his everything bagel.

It was the height of Covid lockdown, Alistair and I had connected via a couple of Zoom dates and phone calls, and we were ready to meet up in person. But what to do? Coffee shops and restaurants were closed, caution-taped parks did not allow visitors - even public restrooms were padlocked. We decided to do what every bicycle-loving couple would do - we went on a bike ride! We met in person for the very first time at the very romantic Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) trail parking lot - with our road bikes. It was so cold that day, we just kept riding to stay warm! After riding side by side for hours (and talking about God, theology, books, music, Bonhoeffer, and more) we made it back to our cars only to realize we biked 30 miles! That, my friends, was our first real date, and the first of many deliciously long bike rides to come.

Every Sunday after church, Alistair and I formed a ritual of walking through Legacy Park to this one particular rock to talk and pray. Over the months of dating, we found our relationship was forged on this rock - through many deep conversations and times of prayer, and even the occasional tears. When Alistair was planning the proposal, he knew that rock was the place to start our very own legacy. After our usual hard and thought-provoking conversation, we sang the song "Victory in the Lamb", slow danced in the spirit of the song "Dancing in the Minefields", and then Alistair got down on one knee and asked "Aimee Lee Stauf, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" (I said yes!)