We are getting married!

Formal! Ladies wear your best dress Gentlemen please wear a suit

Friends and Family! How sweet it is to share with you our story and our hearts in this season of life. The only takeaway from this really should just be my first memory of Andrew. Simply it was the day he took home the jeep. That’s all there is to tell. He pulled up in a pretty bright blue jeep to Kamp freshman year and all the girls lost their minds. He was the golden boy, placed on a pedestal. Timid but kind, gentle but clearly the strongest, distant but present, a hard worker, and not boastful. A man who radiated meekness. Starting sophomore year we became a little friend group, me, Ellie, Isaac, Ian, Andrew, and Liv. I vividly remember going to Clints Well (Andrew’s family cabin) for the first time. Me and Liv sat in the bathroom giggling and talking about his life and family, and how at least ONE of us had to marry him. We were dead serious. One of us had to marry Andrew so we could go up to the cabin whenever. Being with the Peterson’s is too good to be true, and something you don’t take lightly being a part of and we didn’t want to leave it. The next few months Andrew's behavior started to change and it was clear he had started to develop feelings for me. In classic Grace anti-boy fashion, I shut down and basically treated him like he didn’t exist for the rest of the holidays. I was not about to let this golden lunkhead gym boy take my heart…. here we are. After many months he was finally able to sit me down and express where he was at, and we went to Mexico with his family the following weekend. I told him I needed time to think and on the last night in Mexico I agreed to a date. Our first “date” was two hippies, and all I remember about it was him telling me I prayed too loud in public. We started dating 5 days later and the rest is history. Now, almost two years later Andrew proposed on the side of Everett Road with my closest friends and family present. He has made every day and every moment a fairytale. Being loved by him has shown me a greater representation of how my own father and my Heavenly Father love me. Andrew embodies what it means to be steady, strong, and disciplined. He carries himself with a confidence and goodness only found by the heart of Jesus. Marrying him is going to be the best day of my life and I cannot wait to share and celebrate it with you all. Lopes Up. Things we are excited about and are asking for prayer in Where the Lord leads us to live and work, how to evangelize in our positions Our future family Merging two families while creating our own family unit Finances and unity, not division Other couples who continue to encourage and surround us, live life with us

I would begin this story a bit more than 2 years ago. It was September of 2021 and I was moving into my apartment at GCU. I had everything in my Jeep, and was just arriving at GCU for the first time that year. The first person I saw on campus was Grace, Ian Watson, and a couple of their other friends. They waved hello but at that point we were nothing more than acquaintances apart of a large mutual friend group. About a week later, we all had a meeting for a college ministry we helped lead. Following that meeting everyone was headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner but, when I got there, there were not seats at the large table. I noticed that Grace, Isaac Fehlen, Ellie Meyer, and Ian Watson were just about to sit at a booth on the side, so I asked to join them. I promptly inserted myself into their group and began spending nearly every day with them. Grace, Ian, and I did everything together. Ian and I became gym partners and the three of us hung out nearly every night at Ian’s place. Two months later Thanksgiving was coming around and I had become very close friends with Ian, Isaac, Grace, Ellie, and Liv. I mentioned that if they didn’t have plans to go home, they were welcome to spend thanksgiving with my family. So, that thanksgiving all of us minus Isaac and Ellie headed north. Much of the week was spent showing Grace, Ian, and Liv around northern arizona. Exploring in the jeeps, hiking through canyons, throwing rocks off of cliffs, and healthy amount of cribbage. Those of you who know my immediate family know that we are not loud people, mornings are quiet and movies get paused if someone starts talking. Now, if you know the Hletkos, or just know Grace you will know that they are quite the opposite. Volume has a direct correlation with the amount of fun people are having, therefore it’s always loud. As thanksgiving week progressed, I began to notice that Graces heightened volume, sound effects, and other exclamatory noises didn’t get on my nerves. Fast forward, Thanksgiving is over and we are back at GCU. Grace, Ian and I continued to hangout every day (after ian and I lifted of course) BUT, something was different. All of a sudden I started caring what Grace thought. Instead of leaving Ians at 9:30 to get optimal REM sleep, I started staying later so I could walk Grace home. Despite my heightened interest, Grace didn’t really give me the time of day. December and January came to pass. My feelings grew and Grace decided to act like I didn’t exist. February came and Grace, Ian, and I decided to attend a friends valentines party. We got all dressed up and made an appearance with no expectation for how the night would go. At the entrance of this party there were 3 people handing out glow-stick bracelets. Green meant single, purple meant taken, and red meant its complicated. We all took a green bracelet but probably 45 minutes into the party, Chris Noesner handed me a purple bracelet. Now, I wouldn’t characterize myself as someone who likes to play it safe or live life sitting on the bench. That being said, I then had the bright idea to walk up to Grace and put the purple bracelet on her arm.. So i did just that. She looked down at her wrist and promptly took the purple bracelet off and handed it back to me with no words said. Night ended, nothing else happened, I drove everyone home and Grace sat in the trunk of my Jeep. The definition of anticlimax.

I had prayed for the previous 2 months that God would give me a good opportunity to talk to her, I prayed that we would have a moment sitting in her apartment where we could have an uninterrupted conversation. (This might seem like a weirdly unspecific scenario, but up until that point I don’t think I had ever been in Graces apartment without Ian or Liv. So it met my criteria for specificity) About a week after the party, I had come to terms with the reality that it wasn’t happening, after 3 months of trying and a very definitive no, I just wanted to tell her my thoughts, get a verbal no, and move on with my life. One day after climbing I invited myself to her apartment along with Chris to do homework. About 30 minutes later Chris left to go home and I continued typing away, completely oblivious. Then, I was slapped in the face by the reality that the exact situation I had prayed for was the situation I was currently living in. I stared at my screen, just thinking. My screen turned off and I sat there for a significant amount of time just staring at my reflection in my screen waging an internal war. Some of you may be wondering why I was dealing with internal conflict or why i doubted the timing of that moment. It’s because I have omitted a major detail, Grace, Ian and I were planning on traveling to Mexico with my parents 2 days later. It was Wednesday night and we were planning to leave Friday morning. i knew that the conversation would significantly change our relationship in one way or the other and I had to decide if that was something I could live with. I was convicted that the Lords timing and plan was greater than mine, and that if he put me in a situation I had been praying for I would be foolish to not trust His timing and His will. So I did, I told her how I felt, and how my feelings had changed. To which her response was asking me to leave her apartment so she could think and pray about it. (She kicked me out no later than 8:30pm) The next few days I experienced an overwhelming peace that I had said told her what was on my heart and it was no longer in my control. We went to class Thursday, left for Mexico on Friday, and had a grand time in Mexico. She didn’t mention it until Sunday night after everything was over and we were just sitting around the fire at Jim & Dawns house (shoutout Jim and Dawn we love you) She said she would be willing to go on a date with me and see if we would work in a different kind of relationship. Turns out it worked. We went on a couple dates, I asked her to be my girlfriend, 3 months later I took her to Costa Rica with my family, and I went to Wisconsin to meet her whole family. About a year into dating (February of 2023) we flew to WI to surprise her parents. On the last day of the trip, Bernie and I went shooting at the range and on the way back I asked for his permission and his blessing in marrying Grace. Like i said, Im not good at playing it safe, I wouldn’t recommend asking for a father’s blessing the same day you go shooting. Although if you do, wait until afterwards when all of the ammo has been fired, just in case. I proposed to Grace in July in Eagle river. My family flew across the country to be there (she suspected nothing). Graces whole family was there along with some of our closest friends. Now we are getting married! Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re invited:) April 5th, be there or be square.