The first time I saw Austin at college was while he was playing a sand volleyball game with his fraternity brothers. I remember telling my best friend, Ellie, "He's so cute," and thinking he was so cool. Austin likes to say now, "Little did you know how not cool I was." Coincidentally, later that semester, both Austin and I were part of the group that started the club volleyball team at our college. Then, the very next semester, Ellie started dating one of Austin's best friends, Cade, and we all formed a very special friend group. Austin and I remained friends for the first year and a half of knowing each other, and it was during this time that my family met him for the first time. They were in town for parent's weekend when Austin introduced himself to them, and my mom recently told me, "Even then, I knew there was something different about him, and I just had a gut feeling about you two." As it turns out, she was right: the following year, after spending a lot of time together and realizing we each had feelings for the other, we started dating in April of 2022. Upon hearing the news, many of our friends said the same thing: "I've been waiting on you two to get together!” So, from the beginning, our relationship seemed "meant to be" to us and those around us. God used those first two years of dating to mold us into more Christ-like individuals and turn our relationship into something beautiful. We spent lots of time visiting each other’s hometowns on the weekends, attending my sorority events together, and, of course, playing volleyball. On April 27th, 2024, Austin proposed in the most perfect way, then surprised me with an engagement party afterwards with our closest family and friends. God is truly so good, as this engagement season has been so sweet and so valuable for our relationship. We cannot wait to get married and celebrate with our amazing friends and family!!