The first night we met, Zach was leading small group. Ellie showed up with one of her friends. Zach vividly remembers the exact moment the door opened, seeing Ellie and thinking, "wow she is really cute". Ellie found that she could not find the words to talk with him that first night, but was in awe of how he led the small group and his vision for what the group would look like. Over the next few months, Zach consistently thought, "this woman truly carries the presence of God with her". We hung out on-and-off at dinners and small group events, and slowly started to get to know one another.

It was a balmy summer evening the first night we ventured to the Scottsdale Quarter for our first date. Both our hearts were awaiting this night with much anticipation. Being a logistical man, Zach had this night all planned out. First, we ate a scrumptious dinner at the Greene House. Then, we ventured across the road to Creamistry for some delicious dessert and board games. Zach brought Forbidden Desert that night, a co-op game that would serve as the medium for building the foundation of our relationship. After beating the game in a quick 30 minutes, we proceeded to discuss life for the next 4 hours. It felt like only 15 minutes went by. We shared our hearts with one another, told stories of our past, and laughed like never before. Walking back to the car together, hand-in-hand, we both felt "is this person real?". And so the first date sparked a deep desire to get to know each other, in and out...

Ellie and Zach began the day with a road-trip to Payson, AZ. We ate at a family-owned cafe. Then, Zach told Ellie, "we are going 20 miles out of town". We arrived at a campsite, which had a trail nearby with a creek flowing. However, as we began, there was no water in the creek. It was so quiet outside. We kept walking, and we both heard the sound of what we thought was wind blowing. But it was water! We walked to where the creek was flowing, and spent a little time enjoying the peaceful sounds. We sat down, and Zach said, "Ellie, I have a present for you". It was a black journal Zach had been keeping for the past few months of our relationship. With a few dates marked in the journal, Ellie began to read the pre-marked dates. The last one was today's date, which it read, "Today is the day that Zach proposes to Ellie". Zach said some words neither of us can remember, but Ellie responded with "Yes!" And so the future has become the present...