We’ve known each other since we were twelve years old — two middle schoolers on the math and science team who bonded over not having a clue what was going on. Instead of studying, we spent most of our time talking, laughing, and getting in trouble for it. Fast forward to high school, and not much had changed. I’d walk into the cafeteria only to find that Jacob had hidden my chair or turned it upside down — a gesture that, at the time, drove me crazy. According to my friends, that was his way of flirting. I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought… though I didn’t completely mind it. Looking back, I guess that was just the beginning of something neither of us could have predicted. It didn’t happen all at once. There were a few false starts and plenty of growing up in between. There was work to be done on each of us individually before we could truly be ready for one another. But through every twist and turn, God’s hand was quietly at work — weaving our paths back together in His perfect timing. Looking back now, it’s incredible to think that the boy who would make me cry from laughing so hard at math and science meets when I was twelve years old is now the man I get to spend the rest of my life with. If you had told either of us even a year ago that this is where we’d be today, we probably wouldn’t have believed you. But God’s plans have a way of unfolding exactly as they should — in His time, not ours. My grandma has always told me to marry my best friend. Well, Nina, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I still can’t believe I get to marry my best friend. My confidant. My person. We’ve seen each other at our best and our worst, and somehow, we always find our way back to each other stronger than before. I don’t think a lifetime will be nearly long enough together. God is so good, and we are endlessly grateful for the story He has written for us. “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known — and truly loved — is, well, a lot like being loved by God.” — Timothy Keller