The Koois

Okay, so I met Andrew very early on in the 2023-2024 school year. I was a tour guide at Grace College (the school we both attend). I was giving a tour to some young dude who was interested in Grace and I took him into the Lodge (Andrew's Dorm) to show him what the resident life was like. We walked onto the hall and as I was showing this kid around, I saw a guy sitting on the couch in the lobby. I typically, when I see students in their natural habitat, will ask them how they like their dorm and stuff. So when I saw this fella sitting on the couch, I did just that. I asked him how he liked the Lodge. He said his name was Andrew, and then we ended up discovering we both were from Michigan and grew up like 20 minutes away from each other. I quickly realized I was still on a tour and decided to head out. I thought nothing of it and carried on with my day. One day I felt like I needed to get out of my room so I sat on the couch in the boys lobby of the Lodge. As I was just sitting there watching a video, this tour walked in and it startled me a little because I did not know whether to leave or to stay. I decided to stay and risk being awkward. The tour guide asked me questions and I found out that we both grew up 25 minutes from each other! I thought the interaction was super cool, but I did not think much of it after that. I thought nothing of it and carried on with my day. A while later, I went with a couple of friends to a sports game of some sort. A little bit after the start of the game my friend Trinity was like, "OH MY GOSH, THERES KOOI". My initial thought was "Who the crud is Kooi?" I then found out it was Andrew and Kooi was his last name, which I thought was the coolest last name in existence. So I decided to take it. The end. Just Kidding, there's more to the story. I did think it was a swag last name though. Anyway, he came and sat with us and we chatted for a while! As we talked I started to appreciate more and more about "Kooi". I genuinely started to really admire him. I remember going to a game and looking for people to sit next to. I saw Trinity, who is my friend, and saw that there was an open seat so I decided to take it. I then re-met the tour guide Heather, who after that game became a good friend to me. Yeah, he did not experience that game the same way I did. Andrew and I became good friends after that. Little did he know that as our friendship grew, so did the feelings I had for him. I started to notice him all the time, look for him at events and gatherings, and hope for chances to interact with him during the days. I paid close attention to the ways he loved and served people and I really admired him and developed a big fat crush on him. But he was oblivious. I had no idea she had such feelings for me. She was a great friend to me, and that is all that I thought. I was oblivious. At this point, I had talked to a few friends and found out that he was single. I decided to surrender my feelings to the Lord and not pursue anything, and just love him as a brother in Christ. Christmas break soon began and I had been surrendering my feelings for months by now. I did my best to not pursue him, but a girls gotta shoot the open shots right? I had a photo that I knew he wanted, so I sent it to him the night I got home for break, and he answered! A few weeks before break started, I started to notice how beautiful Heather was and how loving she was towards others, and how she worshipped and loved the Lord. I really liked this girl the last couple weeks of the first semester, and I did not know that she had liked me way before that. I asked for a picture that I knew she could get, and she sent it to me the night of break after I had gotten home. I then proceeded to continue the conversation by asking "Did you make it home okay?" And from there, we never looked back and started talking which led to an engagement! HE KEPT THE CONVO GOING!! We fell in love, and here we are. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!