Brad and Alyssa met on a Facebook group page that was established by the Heart of Dating Podcast. HOD features podcast episodes that discuss how to pursue God in our dating lives and in our own walk of faith, and that was something that Brad and Alyssa were incredibly passionate about. Alyssa noticed one of Brad’s comments on the page- and then decided to be bold and reach out to him. After a month of hours spent on FaceTime dates; Brad decided to be even more daring and asked Alyssa to meet him in Spain for the Fourth of July weekend. They each prayed and decided that “Love Does” and so began their first international trip of many!

Brad and I were fortunate to spend the holiday break relaxing with the Staby family and catching up with friends in PA. Brad had mentioned prior to my arrival that we would be visiting the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, so the night before our engagement I was not suspicious when he mentioned that we would be visiting the Aviary with his best friends Zach and Sam the next day. The next morning we woke up early and went to the gym, made breakfast, and then got ready for the day. It was a really cold day- please show me grace as I am from AZ lol- and so I was so happy and relieved to walk into the warm tropical air inside the aviary. Zach had brought his camera to capture some close ups and Sam rocked an awesome Hawaiian shirt. We spent the afternoon looking at all the birds and the boys retold their college stories and as we reached the final lap- it was time to go to the sloth exhibit. Yes, you read that right, sloth. It was every bit as wonderful as you may have imagined lol. While my heart filled with joy, Brad was getting nervous. He shakily told me that we were gonna take a final picture at the waterfall and I agreed happily, never one to turn down a photo. We took a hugging photo and then Brad asked me to take a solo portrait. It was odd, but I obliged and as I turned around I saw that Brad had got down on one knee and had his arms extended towards me. I was so overcome with emotion that I sat speechless, which is quite a rare act for a Latin woman lol. I asked if I could kiss him and then he happily slid my beautiful ring on my finger. It was so sweet and I was so grateful for all the planning and efforts of Brad, Zach and Sam. That day quite literally changed my life and it was such a beautiful way to end the year.