Odds are if you ask us how we met, either one of us will reply in a loving, witty tone, "Well, it's a classic love story…we met each other online using Bumble!" It took me a little while to deal with that reality. Courtney (with her idiot-proof one-liners to weed out the bumbling matches) and I (the dashing devil that I am) were oh so confident in our Bumble matching abilities! I asked for a meet-up quickly, while Courtney quickly took the offer as a nice nightcap to a hard day of MBA classes! After a little bit of competition at Dave & Buster’s (note to guys: let the girl win), our combined tickets of 500 ($40 American Dollars) won us a one of a kind (Oriental Trading Company, Made in China) slinky. I really needed some solid backup for Courtney to remember me and to make sure this was that forever-thing I’d been looking for. Thankfully, we were both goners from the beginning! Courtney, namely for the fear of giving mixed signals, giving me a tent hug at the end of the night (leave room for Jesus ya’ll!), but how could she resist this South Asian sensation who had jokes? So, the long-distance texting, Google Hangouts, online church, and Netflix screen-sharing began. We agree that we have been nothing but great support for each other through school, work, and life. Finally, Courtney sealed the deal for me through her kindness, love and faith in Jesus.

The first few weeks of 2020 were busy (Jibby with work and Ph.D.-writing and me with work as well), so when Jibby asked me to join him for a nice dinner, I was excited to have a special evening together! I figured he had a particular question to ask me, but he kept trying to throw me off! He surprised me by taking me to a little place in Bryan (Art of War for you Bryan/College Station friends) where he had planned a great Valentine’s Day date the year before. As we sat at the table he reserved for us, Jibby led the conversation by praying and then talking about our favorite, most fun and most difficult moments in the time we have been dating. We enjoyed dinner and each other’s company and as the evening drew to close, he asked me to stand. He knelt down and asked me to marry him! I had known I wanted to marry Jibby since the day he surprised me with hand-warmers for my cold drive from College Station to Waco in my heater-less car, so I didn’t have to think twice, I said “yes!”

Serving the Lord, loving people, and making memories are what we want for our marriage. That’s what life is truly all about. We both feel that we are marrying someone we can truly call 'partner' in everything we do. But more than the music, the flowers, and all those beautiful details that are inherent to most wedding celebrations, we look forward to the memories that we will create together with our friends and family celebrating with us and in the future.