We met at church in middle school through the youth group. We became friends over the years and eventually began our love story freshman year of high school on November 2nd, 2011, Unbeknownst to many, we dated for 13 months before eventually separating. However, this was not the end of our story, it was God's way of giving us a brief (almost 2 years) intermission to grow into people that could be useful, loving, and supportive to one another in his covenant called marriage. We began dating again on September 14th, 2014. This time we were better equipped to handle the hardships of relationships, this time as aspiring young adults. Our biggest hardship came shortly after our 1 year anniversary as Arande' embarked on his college journey at FSU and Arielle to HCC. This started a 6-year journey of long-distance that included a gap of over 200 miles between us. In this tenuous season, we battled doubt, fear, insecurity, and frustration. But, what blossomed out if it was faith, endurance, purpose, identity, and assurance that we belonged together for a lifetime. By the time we both graduated we began to talk seriously about our plans to get married. This was always the end goal, but reality began to set in as 2021 approached. Intense planning and conversation about marriage took place among ourselves thru studying and council from our parents, who have been model examples of what marriage represents. These factors proved to be a catalyst that inevitably propelled us to get engaged on December 10th, 2021, and continue our journey towards marriage.