Chris and I met at church group, and we got to know each other through hiking and board game nights with the group. One cold January day in 2022, 5 of us from the community group decided to head out for a hike at Raccoon Creek State Park. The plan was simple. We would arrive at 2pm, hike a 4 mile loop, and get out by 4 or 5pm for dinner. Unfortunately, the person who picked the map that day had a migraine and couldn’t make it, so we ended up parking at a different trailhead, and using the wrong map for our hike. We were 4 miles in when we realized the trail wasn’t looping around like it was supposed to, so we retraced our steps back to the last fork in the road. The sun was starting to set, and we were quickly losing daylight, but we set off down the other trail that we figured was the right one. Eventually, we came across a creek that was too wide to cross in the low light, and decided to turn around and just go back the way we came. It was dark out at this point, but Chris fearlessly followed the tracks we had made in the snow earlier in the day, and led us out of the woods. 11 miles and several hours of trying to follow white trail blazes in the snow and in the dark, we finally made it out. As we sat in the snowy field by the parking lot, drinking hot chocolate and thanking God we made it out okay, I realized Chris was going to be a very special person in my life. This was what I consider to be the start of our friendship and the beginning of our story.

We were celebrating Christmas at the Channell house on December 30th, 2023. After my family finished opening presents, we decided to sneak off to West Point Lake for some quiet time together. Little did I know, Chris had asked my sister, Alicia, to decorate the house for an engagement celebration, and he asked my brother, Morgan, to follow us to the lake, 10 minutes or so behind. He even got Alicia to convince me to "dress up for Christmas dinner with the family" so I would get ready for the photos! We headed to my favorite spot at the lake, where there was a fishing dock I loved to sit on in college, but instead of the dock, there was a brand-new wedding venue with a beautiful aisle in front of where the dock used to be. We walked down the aisle, and wandered around, talking about how sad it was that my dock was gone, and how hard change was, even though the new building was beautiful. In resonse to me talking about change being difficult, Chris dropped down on one knee and said, "Well, I have some mixed news for you..." pulling a ring out of his pocket. Morgan caught everything on camera, and we headed back to the house where the whole family was waiting to pop champagne and celebrate together!