I started working at church the end of March of 2018 and Courtney was one of the youth leaders that was volunteering with the youth ministry. Early on I found out that she was dating someone so I did not think twice about it. Then came our church's VBS the first week of June. I was assigned to the 5th and 6th Grade boys and she was assigned to help with the 5th and 6th Grade girls. We spent every night that week getting to do ministry and that is where I had the first thought in my mind about Courtney and I got to witness firsthand her heart for the Lord and students. Shortly after that she started working at the church for a short time and we became really good friends through that. Move forward to August 1st and we had an event for our students out at Bellevue Baptist Church. We took two busses of students and a handful of leaders and made our way there. While we were there we had an opportunity to all be together for community worship. Towards the end of that time I see Courtney walking out with one of our students and as she is getting ready to pass she stops and motions for me to come with them. We both head outside to counsel this student. Once again I get to witness Courtney's heart for the Lord and students as she holds this girl in her arms and prays over her. WOAH. That is where I felt a rush of emotions and feelings and knew that I had found the one. BUT she was still dating someone else. I did not know exactly what to do with how I felt so I did the only thing I knew how to do. I prayed that the Lord would give me discernment on how to be a brother in Christ and care for her as a sister in Christ. And after four LONG months of praying about how I felt, I got the opportunity to date my beautiful fiancé. And here we are!

I have been involved in our church’s youth ministry since I’ve pretty much started college. Lane was hired as the new youth pastor March of 2018. We were both dating other people at the time so there never was a thought in either of our minds that we would one day be together. Lane’s relationship ended early of summer 2018 but I remained in mine. With me being one of the volunteers in the youth group, of course we became friends. I also was a temporary secretary at the church over the summer so that gave us even more opportunity to talk and build a friendship. I learned to know how great of a guy Lane was and actually told all my single friends that they should be dating him 😂 It wasn’t until after my relationship ended and Candace Jerkins stating to me, “I think you’re going to marry Lane,” did the thought of me and Lane being together could actually be a possibility. Shortly after, we began to do more ministry things together like going to students’ school plays, visiting students at school, etc. Those short events would lead to 4:00 am conversations at Waffle House. We would talk about EVERYTHING under the sun like past mistakes, future goals, interests, etc. Finally Lane decided to tell me how he felt towards me. He pretty much had me hooked when he said he had been specifically praying for me, my life, my spiritual growth, etc. for a while. And here we are and now I get to physically hear him pray for me for like ever 😜

It was Memorial Day. I had worked the night before so I had been sleeping all day. Lane and I were supposed to be going over to Mrs. Andrea Underhill’s mother’s house for Memorial Day dinner since her entire family was going to be home. (What a lie, they werent even there.) I was so tired and honestly did not even want to go 😂 My family had just gotten home from a weekend at the river so when we left, they were talking about taking naps while we were going to be gone so I had no suspicions whatsoever. Once we got to the house, Lane suggested that we get on the paddle boats on the lake behind the house. I quickly agreed. As we paddled back, everyone in the backyard had disappeared and gone inside so I assumed the food was ready. We got back to the dock and as we were walking back up to the house Lane said, “Before we go in...” and as I turned around, he had gotten down on one knee and asked the BIG question. I was so shocked! And kept asking if he was joking and if the ring was even real 😂 After I said yes, my family came out of the house to surprise me. I had told Lane that I didn’t want to know when he was going to ask the question because I wanted to be surprised. Boy, did he kill it!