We met in Mrs. Roberts’ first grade class. We ended up in different classes the following year, and then Andrew moved to a different school. Little did we know that Andrew would soon befriend my cousin, Dylan. Dylan and Andrew became close friends, which meant that we saw each other quite often. At the end of his 5th grade year, Andrew and his family began attending the same church that my family and I attended. We went throughout all of our teen years together through school and youth group, but just saw each other as good friends. It wasn’t until we were both in college that everything began to change. After praying and talking about it, we began a relationship December 21, 2016. Nothing has been the same since!! <3

Most of our relationship consisted of a “weekend relationship” (in the words of Dylan West). Because I was in Edmond and Andrew was in Ada for school, this is how we made it work. A few months into our relationship, we decided to start a journal- I would have it one week and write whatever I wanted in it; Andrew would have it the next week and do the same. Near the end of my time in Edmond, this journal consisted of pages upon pages of prayers, struggles, funny stories, memories, crossword puzzles, pictures, and prayer requests. Andrew had had the journal for several weeks. I asked him when he was going to give it back, and he told me that he would the following week. He took me on a date on a Tuesday night (June 5, 2018). He told me that we were going to eat and then go fishing. After dinner, we went to the church to “fish” in the pond there. We did our devotional together first. Then, he pulled out our journal. Excited to read it, and expecting to have several pages to read, I flip it open and see that he had written on only one page. That page consisted of the words, “10 things you are to me...” it included things such as “you’re my rock, you’re my best friend, you’re my prayer warrior, etc.” The last two were “You’re my girlfriend. You’re my ____” Confused, I turned to him and told him he left one blank. He then got on one knee and asked me to marry him. After rejoicing with a “yes”, a prayer that we would follow God’s direction in everything we do, and admiring the ring, we filled the blank in with “fiancé”. But the surprises didn’t stop there! He then took me home where both of our immediate families were there to celebrate!!