Thanks to Autumn’s Uncle Kelly and Aunt Michelle who lead the college age ministry group through Bethany Church, we met during the summer of 2024. Through the summer and early fall, we slowly got to know each other through group time and events. One night as the group was leaving together around 9:00pm, Sam noticed Autumn breaking off from the group to walk alone to her car all the way across campus in the dark. He offered to walk her there, where then she could drive him back to his truck (Yes, we understand the Sam could have just driven Autumn to her car). That started a new weekly ritual where we’d walk to the car and talk about anything and everything late into the night. These discussions, starting as shallow get-to-know-yous, developed into deep talks about faith, family, and life experiences. We then began to spend time together outside of group: going on hikes, getting ice cream, and spending time in The Word. Sam asked Autumn to make the relationship official after a night of ice skating. For the next year, we spent time with each other’s families, studied together, grew inseparable and asked for The Lord’s guidance on the next step in our relationship. In January of 2025, we took a trip to see Sam’s Grandma Cheryl and her husband Doug. Halfway through the trip (January 11th), we drove up to North Jetty Beach in Nokomis, FL where Sam had spent his childhood vacations. Sam pretended that he got a message from the restaurant saying their reservation had been pushed back. He then suggested they take a walk out onto the Jetty at sunset. Sam proposed at the end of the jetty to Autumn’s complete surprise.