In length, when Shane Norris put me into a group message Fall of 2017, I never knew that it would lead to me finding the man I was supposed to walk through life with. Through starting this ministry, I gained so many friendships, but Ian's was a particularly special one. He was always full of joy and fun to be around. In June of 2018, we began the journey to see what could grow from our friendship. I have learned that Ian is not only a man of joy but of patience. He waited and as we both listened to the voice of the Lord, we found that this friendship was supposed to grow into something more than we could have imagined on our own. On October 20th after dinner with my family, I walked up the sidewalk to the sweetest question, “Be my girlfriend?”. OF COURSE, it was an overwhelming yes. Thus, the rest is history!

I had known for a good while that I wanted to marry Ian. So casually, I kept dropping hints to Emily that I wanted to be proposed to at the beach. So Ian and I headed down to Seaside with Ryan and Emily for the day. After a few hours on the beach, some shopping, and good food, Ian started pushing that we needed to get down to the beach because I wanted to take pictures at sunset and it was getting close to time. I had started picking up that he was being odd, but the thought of a proposal hadn't crossed my mind yet. On our way down the beach, I caught a glimpse of our friend Jessica and her camera and I knew something was up. He turned me towards him, got down on one knee, popped the question, and again it was an OVERWHELMING, YESS!!