It started with a message Kyle sent in May 2017—one that Alexandra wouldn't see until she reopened the app four months later. Sometimes God's timing looks like a dating app notification you almost missed. Our first date was at a taco and margarita bar in Seattle, and it lasted for hours. We discovered we were aligned on everything that mattered, and Kyle ended the night the way he'd end every date that followed: by making sure the next one was already on the calendar. He never let me go. What followed was a whirlwind. Dancing, costume parties, music festivals, camping trips, and a two-week adventure to Japan in fall 2018. We moved in together the week before that trip. In March 2019, we brought home Quigley, our labradoodle. And on Memorial Day weekend 2019, at Birch Bay, Washington, Kyle proposed. Two months later, we married at Seattle City Hall with Tyler Wall (Kyle's cousin, rest in peace) and Kira Koziak (Alexandra's sister) as our witnesses. We started planning a formal celebration with family and friends—and then Covid arrived. But we refused to let the pandemic pause our lives. In October 2020, we moved to Virginia to pursue a long-held dream: a homestead where we could grow and raise our own food. And in April 2021, we welcomed our son, Teddy. His sister Roxie followed quickly, born in May 2022. Those years on the homestead changed us. We raised rabbits, chickens, ducks, and geese. We tended a bountiful garden. And through it all—through life being born and life being lost, through the rhythm of seasons and the work of our hands—we experienced God in a way we never had before. Our hearts overflowed with gratitude for our blessings, and something deeper began to stir. Alexandra felt called to return to the Catholic Church, the faith of her childhood. Kyle, too, felt a longing for deeper meaning and purpose—and his heart opened to God. We explored faith together at home, slowly finding our way back to church. When Teddy was diagnosed with autism, we knew our little farm couldn't give him everything he needed. In February 2025, we moved to Raleigh to be closer to the resources, therapies, and educational options that would help him thrive. Here, our faith deepened even more. We became Sunday regulars at Mass. In summer 2025, Alexandra returned to full communion with the Church—confession, the sacraments, all of it. And with that came a new desire: to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony. To make our marriage not just legal, but Holy. Kyle was hesitant at first. But God worked on his heart, as He always does. In December 2025, Teddy and Roxie were baptized as Catholics. In January 2026, Kyle began OCIA to be confirmed (he was baptized Episcopalian as a child). And now, on September 5, 2026, we will stand before God and our loved ones to receive the sacrament we've been journeying toward. This isn't the "party we never got to have." This is so much more. This is two people who fell in love at a taco bar, built a family, worked the land, lost and found and questioned and searched—and finally came home. To the Church. To each other. To God. We're so grateful you're here to witness it.