It was a sunny fall afternoon, much like any other in 2019 . I logged into Facebook to find a friend request from, "Bailey Bradford." Having just moved and started a new job, I was receiving multiple friend requests and did not think too much of it. However, Bailey's name kept coming up among staff and it always caught my attention. Eventually I asked a co-worker about her and soon after, talked to her during a Sunday morning service. After that, I became excited every time that I got to talk to Bailey. Good friends conspired to make sure that we attended some of the same events and had adequate time and space to talk to each other. Their conspiracy was successful and over Christmas break, 2019, I called Bailey to ask her out to coffee. After our first two-and-a-half hour date over coffee, I immediately asked her out to dinner. I could not stop thinking about her and every encounter was filled with excitement and also, peace. She seemed to radiate wisdom, compassion, and faithfulness both to God and to me- despite the short period of our relationship. After three dates we became, "official." Soon after that we confessed our love for each other, and after that began to intentionally invest in our relationship to explore compatibility for engagement and, eventually, marriage. The COVID-19 lockdowns afforded us ample time to spend together and I quickly began to plan a proposal. After meeting her family, the race was on! COVID-19 delayed her ring's creation by weeks, but three days before she left Rhode Island to go home for Christmas I proposed on a snowy evening- and she said yes!

The first time I saw Lukas was on stage. He was giving announcements that Sunday at church. Admittedly, my first thought was "ok, he's pretty cute". So yes, I made the first move and added him on Facebook. Shortly thereafter, I asked a friend, who also was on staff at church, about Lukas: who was he, what was he about, and was he single. I guess my interest in him was not nonchalant, because from there, our friends began scheming ways to get us together. Lukas accepted my friend request. The following Sunday at church he approached me before service began, just to say "Hi" (I was pretty giddy inside). Our friends also arranged that we both conveniently show up at the same events (Christmas parties, a movie, etc.). Small talk on Sunday mornings turned into Lukas asking me to coffee, which turned into dinner and other fun dates, which turned into him asking me to be his girlfriend. In those three short weeks, it was clear to me that Lukas was thoughtful, intentional, wise, compassionate, and sought to love and follow Jesus more everyday. It wasn't hard, nor did it take long, to fall in love with him. From there, we dated for about 11 months (however, I knew I wanted to marry him by month 5--ask him about our hike ;)). On a snowy day in December, Lukas proposed. It was magical; the easiest "yes" ever!