Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We went to our favorite sushi restaurant in Kalamazoo, Maru where we'd later end up going after we eloped. We hadn't met yet so we were both a little nervous at first, which showed throughout the night as Calvin spilled water and tripped up the steps. Our night went from good to great pretty quickly. Nina mentioned she wanted to see the the new Marvel movie, Captain Marvel and Calvin quickly jumped on that opportunity to prolong the date. Our night was full of laughs, food, and what would become our last first date.

Nina and I had been looking for furniture that we both liked for a while, so when the idea of proposing came up I knew I could use that to be somewhat sneaky. Who makes great furniture? The Amish, of course! So we made a trip down to Indiana where we killed some time at the mall while we waited for "the store to open." We left the mall where we took a slight detour to Windy City Chicago Skydiving. As we were going up in then plane I tried to think of what I was going to say while trying to forget that I'm about to plummet to the ground. When she hit the ground, (not so gracefully, I might add) I ran over to her, got on one knee and said, “Now for the second scariest thing I've done today. Nina, will you marry me"? For some reason she said yes, and here we are!

Our love story is surely unique, and everything has pieced itself together perfectly. From the moment we met we both knew that we were meant for one another. Calvin's deployment was the only obstacle we have had to overcome, so we called the courthouse to see if there were any dates open for us to elope. Unfortunately, there was not so we were put on a wait list. We would be called if there were any cancellations. A week later while I was sitting at work I received a call and we rushed to the courthouse, fifteen minutes later we were married! We want all our loved ones to witness the love we share so we decided to write our own vows and have a blessing placed over us. We cannot wait to share our special day with you!!!