Matthew and Emily first met when he started his job working at her home church, Elm Grove Baptist Church. He started at Elm Grove to work as the youth and children's director around Thanksgiving of 2015. Matthew first spoke to the Elm Grove congregation on a Sunday morning before he was officially hired. After this sermon, Emily told her mother, "I think if I had to listen to his voice for the rest of my life, I might hurt myself." She found it funny when it didn't take long for the sound of his voice to become one of her favorite things to hear. Matthew still picks on her about it to this very day. Matthew asked Emily if she wanted to start helping with the children's program at the church. Emily accepted and ended up finding a true calling in life. The two became friends as they worked together with the children. After being away for school, due to anxiety and depression, Emily had returned home. During this very dark time of Emily's life, Matthew was a light that continually brightened her life, heart, and soul. Christmas of 2015, the youth group had a Christmas party in which Emily and her mother both attended as help. During the night of fun, food, and games, Emily asked to play a game of "Barnyard". For those of you who don't know, this isn't so much as a game as it is a trick. Emily wanted to see what kind of a person Matthew was and how he would respond. Matthew's response was completely perfect in Emily's eyes. It was then that she started falling for Matthew, though not necessarily fully realizing it.

The summer of 2016 came around and CaveQuest VBS led to the two working together every day for a week after all of the time spent doing prep work. At the end of the week, the two took their first picture together as they were dressed as Pebbles and Bamm Bamm. This led to the next week, where they would again spend every day together. Matthew and Emily were two of the six "chaperones" for the youth mission trip to Morehead City. As with every other opportunity the two had, the two loved serving beside one another as well as being in the other's presence. At the end of the week in Morehead City, Matthew was making sure that Emily was okay after an incident earlier in the day. That night, Matthew made sure to address "the elephant in the room." That night Emily and Matthew discussed the feelings that they had for each other and how they were going to address them.

July 23rd, 2016, Matthew and Emily went on their first date. Matthew planed out an exciting afternoon for the two. He arrived at Emily's house with 3 envelopes taped to the passenger side dash for her to read one at a time. The first gave a hint as to the restaurant they were headed to, Relish. The second included hints about an activity they were supposed to go and do together, but Em ruined that one (bad sunburn and outdoor putt-putt don't mix well). Instead, they went to the theater and watched "Finding Dory". The third envelope included hints to the place they would go to get dessert, "FRESH. local ice cream." This was the day Emily knew. During the hours of spending one-on-one time with each other Emily realized that this ridiculous, adorable, goofy, nerdy goober singing off-key on purpose at the top of his lungs was the one for her for the rest of forever. During all of this, Emily went forward to receive the blessing of the church to proceed in going to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to be better equipped to take on this newfound journey. Little did the two know, this would be where their relationship grew the most. As August came around, Matthew and Emily were able to spend a lot of time with each other between being at school and church together. They were able to devote time together to grow in and further their relationship with Christ together. They were able to see the good and the bad sides of each other. They were able to worship and serve in the church together multiple times a week. Matthew and Emily were able to see that they wanted to be partners in this lifestyle. They spent three semesters together doing this and getting stronger through it all.

Though 2017 was full of exciting times, the next big thing for the couple didn't come until 2018. In 2018, Matthew started a new job around the same time Emily's parents accepted new jobs. This meant that Emily was moving 2.5 hours east of Nashville, while Matthew was moving an hour west of Nashville. Matthew accepted a job as the minister to families at Baptist Grove Baptist Church in Fuquay-Varina, NC. Emily has often visited Matthew through the generosity of his church members who haven't even known him long. These wonderful people have opened their homes and hearts to both Matthew and Emily by allowing Emily to spend the night so she could participate in church activities and visit on the weekend every so often. It didn't take very long for either of the two to fall in love with this community and the love they share for the community and God's will.

Derailed plans, rain, alarms, police cars, falling walls. migraines, more rain, but most importantly, love. Emily came to serve with BGBC at one of their two annual barbeque fundraisers and spend time with Matthew and the church. Saturday, Matthew started the dreary, wet day by taking Emily for a visit to the NC Museum of Art. Not terribly far into the visit, a loud alarm sounded and urged everyone to exit through the nearest door. With it raining and the large group of people waiting outside to be let back in, the two decided to move on. From there, the couple went to "Relish" to enjoy brunch at the restaurant they visited on their first date. After brunch, they went to Sola Coffee Company for a new experience together. With his original plan ruined by the constant rain that had been happening for days (rain so bad the retaining wall at the local Target collapsed), Matthew took Emily for a short visit to Mineral Spring Park in Fuquay-Varina. The rain stopped just long enough for the two to walk through the park. It was here that Matthew decided he would give Emily her Valentine's day present, as they were unable to see each other before that to celebrate together. The present he gave to Emily was a journaling bible. This, however, was no regular journaling Bible. This Bible already had bookmarks in it. Matthew told her to read the verses that were highlighted on the bookmarked pages. As she went through the pages, Emily started to cry. Matthew had highlighted verses that cover the relationship between husband and wife. To add to that, Matthew had written in the journaling margins why he specifically chose those verses. As Emily finished reading the final words he'd written, Matthew got down on one knee and asked her if she would marry him. It was then that Emily White, a BGBC youth, popped out of the bushes to capture the moment. Matthew likes to point out that she never said yes, so Emily likes to point out that "of course" is really a better answer anyway.