I (Emily) eat those words every day. Nearly 2 weeks before I met Sam I said those words to a close friend of mine verbatim. Sam and I both worked at Wegmans DeWitt. The moment I met him, I swear my stomach dropped and my face got all hot. I'd never experienced anything like that before. He became affectionately known as the "cute boy in pizza" among me and my closest friends. I knew Sam was quite a bit younger than me and was adamant that I wasn't crossing any lines, especially because I was a manager. We started out with some casual conversation, mostly having to do with drinking coffee and sarcasm. Thanks to his direct supervisor, he went for it and asked me for my number. That text conversation led to a 6 hour FaceTime call, which led to a first date, which led to, well, ultimately our relationship and now MARRIAGE. Life is wild, but there were so many twists and turns that led to us. There are a number of reasons that we should've never crossed paths, but somehow God had His gracious hand intricately involved in every aspect of our lives. I think its safe to say that without Jesus, there is no way we would've made it this far. In every part of our relationship, I see the love of Jesus. Sam has chosen me and loved me so so well. He constantly puts me and others first and I'm sure I'll spend the rest of my trying to make it up to him. I would never say that our relationship is perfect. Believe me, far from it. But I wouldn't trade our story for any other story in the world. But what is Sam’s side? Let’s ask :)

From my side of the story was a little bit different, I was working in the Dewitt pizza department at the time and as I was making the pizzas there was this girl I saw filling up her water bottle and I was like, “Wow, she is very pretty!” But in my being too afraid to talk to her, I waited two weeks for me just to work up the courage to spark a conversation with her. Our first conversation was about coffee, it was simple. As weeks went on, we discussed coffee and other things and I finally decided to ask her, I called her name out in front of the whole store and asked her for coffee and a walk in the park at Clark’s Reservation Park. We talked every day leading up to August 2nd, 2021 with the infamous 5-hour phone call that we had the night before. We had a great walk with our coffee and we talked about everything ranging from our favorite foods all the way to talking about God. I knew after the first date that she was going to be the one that I could see being with someone long-term. It’s funny how a simple conversation can turn into forever with the person that you love ♥️ I’ll never forget the first time Emily brought me to church and I had decided that I wanted to know the Lord more. I wanted her to know that I was trying and making an effort not just for her, but for me. When we first started going to church I was learning a lot and I was processing everything but I just wasn’t growing as much as I wanted to…that was until Emily had started on the worship team. When I heard her sing for the first time, it was like God was telling me “Hey man, You are doing great work and I’m showing you that this girl is going to be the one you marry and you will grow in your love for God and for each other. ♥️ Emily, I want you to know that I want to be a couple who is close to God because if we can be close to God, He will continue to show us how to draw close to Him and each other. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 7 says, “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” I love you ❤️ Emily!