On March 9th, 2024 during a wedding rehearsal Amanda put her arm in Taona's at the very place where we will soon say, "I do".  But wait . . . let's back up 6 hours . . . to the very moment they first met! Taona traveled from Dallas, Texas to be a part of his good friend Adam's wedding. Before the rehearsal, he and Adam stopped by the home of one of the bridesmaids – Amanda. From the moment they met marriage was on the mind. Amanda and Taona both assumed the other one was married! As the weekend went on, Taona observed (and sleuthed) until he confirmed Amanda was, in fact, single. And she loved Jesus. By the end of a very whirlwind, romantic weekend he asked for her phone number. Amanda gave it, not thinking anything would become of it. Less than 24hrs later, a text popped up from that handsome, mysterious groomsman. A couple weeks later a phone call and sharing about how the Lord mercifully saved both of them. Maybe God was doing something? Fast forward many texts, phone calls, and facetimes – Taona had his first visit back to the good ole' state of KY for a conference and well of course to spend time with Amanda. At the end of that weekend T was sure this was it . . . Amanda . . . not so sure. Would they break up? Would they continue?! Both sought the Lord, His will, received counsel and both had faith to keep talking. Then came more trips to KY, airport pickups, lots of prayers, and meeting lots of people. In getting to know one another, we found ourselves falling in love and uncovering the ‘hearts of gold’ we always saw in each other. December 2024 rolled around and we decided the whole long distance thing was bogus. Taona (bravely and very characteristically) took the risk and said he would move his whole life to Louisville, KY. Amanda visited the great state of Texas and ate lots of amazing food, tried Sadza for the first time, held her man's hand, and met her man's family. Then they loaded up his 2004 Mercedes "Rumbizo" and drove the 14 hours back to KY, with plenty of adventures along the way. This short distance dating, living in the same city,  was highly successful and Taona asked Amanda to marry her on September 12th, at 5:35pm. And as Taona likes to say, "In the Lord's Kindness He briefly blinded this beautiful woman’s eyes—and she said YES!’" To God be all the glory! And on January 18th we will walk down the same aisle we walked down on March 9th together, this time exchanging our own vows. We can't wait to dance the night away at the same place we had our first dance . . . and the rest is history.