We’re just a couple of kids from Highlands High School that found their way back to each other. Our friendship didn’t really begin, though, until Chad moved back from LA and we met up at the Kentucky Derby. Depending on who you ask, we were only friends-of-friends in high school because, according to Chad, “Ava scared me, she had a similar energy to my own and that scared me,” and according to Ava, “Chad was too cool for me, he would always be talking to my friends while ignoring me.” Either way, we know that our untamed souls were not ready for each other yet. The first real spark occurred as we ran around Louisville on Derby Day together, talking like two long lost friends. It was like the moment in “Step Brothers” where Will Farrell asks, “Did we just become best friends?!” And the answer was, “Yup!” After a long day of house hopping and partying in the rain, the day ended with Ava convincing Chad to only bet the biggest bottle of Grey Goose instead of draining his bank account. Chad wasn’t betting on the ponies that day—Chad was betting that he would beat NBA player Montrezl Harrell in a game of PIG on a nerf basketball hoop in a liquor store… Let’s just say that Chad wasn’t drinking Grey Goose later that night and he woke up the next morning with more than a big old goose egg in his bank account. Over the next few years, our paths kept crossing but the timing still wasn’t right. Ava was up in Dayton for law school while Chad was finishing up undergrad and starting his career at UC. We were both in and out of different relationships and still figuring out who we were and what we wanted in life. With each encounter, though, our friendship grew deeper. We’d pick up the conversation right where it left off. Until one day, three years ago, the timing was perfect. The picture below is a drawing that Chad drew a few months after we started dating. It reflects the decade of our lives crossing paths and the idea that “God has perfect timing: never early, never late. It takes a little patience and a whole lot of faith, but it's worth the wait.” We are so excited to enter into this next stage of life together, and we are so blessed to have all of you bear witness to us making our sacred covenant of marriage!