We're Getting Married!

We officially met in the fall of 2015, serving in student ministries at our church, Willow Creek North Shore. We were friends for a couple years, getting to serve with students on mission trips and summer/winter camps and were a part of the same leader community. We also found ourselves at the same Cubs viewing parties and actually were together when our Cubbies won the World Series. We slowly began to find ourselves rubbing shoulders more and more, being involved in not only student ministry but the care ministry and discipleship leader board at Willow. Unofficially, the fall of 2015 wasn't the first time our paths crossed. Both being Purdue alumni, we realized that we had been in some of the same rooms together five years prior to meeting at Willow. While attending a fall retreat with Cru at Purdue her freshman year, Chrissy saw Bob in a talent show dressed as Mufasa from the Lion King but had no idea that crazy goofball was her future husband. As we reminisced back through our overlap at Purdue, we realized we were at many of the same events but never knew it at the time. What a small world we live in. It has been so neat to see how our lives slowly started coming together. Naturally, it just started making sense to be side-by-side and we wouldn't have it any other way. We are excited to continue our adventure together in marriage and are so excited to celebrate with you in August!

Told from Chrissy's perspective: Short: Bob proposed, down on one knee (classic!), at an escape room in the city! As we solved the room, the ring was in the last box we opened! I won BIG time! Things that tipped me off to the proposal: At the house, the dining room table was clear and had a tablecloth - prepped for something big? As we were walking to the escape room from the car, I noticed Bob's sister taking candid photos of Bob and I - very fishy In the lobby of the escape room - Bob was acting strange - he was trying to distract me because his sister had the ring and needed to pass it to the employees to plant in our room. The full story: The theme of the escape room was 'Save the Queen', where we got to 'Experience the Dark Ages like never before! As members of the royal court in 14th-century England, you have unearthed a diabolical plot by a group of knights bent on unseating the Queen. Can you uncover the clues and alert the court before it’s too late?'. As we got to the final room and were about to solve the mystery, I knew what was about to happen as Bob's cousin Trey told us to go over and solve the last clue because 'we organized the outing'....the whole mood in the room deflated as they all realized how obvious Trey had been. I think I even audibly said, OK with a suspicious look fired at Bob, haha! We walked over to the final box, tried to open the box...which didn't open because we had the wrong solution. Bob then hurried to solve the puzzle so we could open the box. Inside I saw a key to unlock the room as well as the Queen's crown and the ring box. Bob told me to pick it up and that it was for me to open. Then he got down on one knee and said, 'I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?'. I responded immediately with 'Absolutely YES!' Wahoooo! We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. See you in August!

Please join us for the ceremony starting at 2 pm on Saturday, August 31st at Willow Creek Community Church North Shore located at 2200 Shermer Road, Glenview, IL 60026. Mocktail hour begins immediately after with Reception to follow starting at 4:30 pm at Willow Creek Community Church North Shore. See you there, we can't wait to celebrate with you!