Ben and Emma showed up to St. Pius X High School as strangers to participate in a co-ed rec league of flag football for Catholic young adults in Kansas City. Emma's team needed a few male subs, so someone asked Ben and his brother, Alex, from a different team if they'd be willing to play for us and they said yes, begrudgingly. After some quick introductions, Emma (team captain!) laid out the game plan and the clock started – it was serious business, no time for flirting. However, at one point Ben and Emma were on the sideline where a conversation began and both noticed a spark. The first thing she noticed was the way his smile reached his eyes and lit up his whole face, and the first thing he noticed was Emma's killer spiral. (Did I mention I was also playing quarterback?) When the game ended and the fields cleared completely, Emma walked by the Koca boys who were still chatting in the parking lot, regretting that she didn't have more time to talk to Ben. But in a single moment of uncharacteristic courage, she turned around without a plan, walked right up to them, and said, "Hey guys!....I don't want to go home yet." Ben and Emma spoke in the parking lot for maybe 30 minutes about Denver, musical theatre, and American Idol. The energy was electric, neither could ignore the magnetic pull between them. They immediately knew it was something special that they couldn't explain. So before they parted, Ben knew he couldn't fumble this opportunity and courageously said, "Nice to meet you, have a good weekend!" That's right, he didn't ask for her number – kicking himself and lamenting with Alex in the car the whole ride home.

Ben volunteered to sub for Emma's team the following week, determined to see her again. Unfortunately, he had unknowingly volunteered to sub for Emma, as she was the absent player of the week. Weeks went by, scheming about ways to find her and finally ask for her number. Meanwhile, Emma was telling her girlfriends about this guy she met playing flag football, the crazy connection she felt with him, and how she had no idea when she would ever see him again. Being the faithful friends they are, they offered to pray that the Lord would reintroduce them somehow. They both checked the league rosters to remember each others' names and figure out when their teams would be playing. Ben stalked her Instagram. Emma tried to stalk his Instagram, but settled for his LinkedIn (snooze fest).

The Lord is faithful and didn't make them wait too long. Ben and Emma's teams were slated to play each other in the very last game of the season. Her strategy was to stand nearby open for conversation, regardless of how awkward and obvious she might look doing it. Mercifully, he noticed quickly and struck up another conversation. Emma mentioned wanting to watch the Ole Miss game later and heard that Ben would be watching the Nebraska game, so she suggested a casual team hang at a bar for everyone to watch their teams play together. Literally no one else expressed interest in joining, so to save her, Emma's friends Raph and Alex volunteered to join knowing how she felt about Ben, despite their indifference toward college football. And that's how you wingman, people! Ben (finally) got her number and they sent a couple texts back and forth the next day. Wanting to stay mysterious and cool, he didn't want to text too much before a date, so he simply asked her if she was free for a drink the following Friday. She, of course, immediately saw the text and screamed, but waited a cool 15 minutes before saying something like, "That works."

Ben took Emma to Parlor in downtown KC. They sat on this adorable velvet green loveseat together, knees ever-so-slightly touching, and talked for 2 hours. Ben ordered sliders and fries for them both, but she was too nervous and excited to eat any of it (sorry for wasting your money for the first of many, many times, honey!) Then he announced he had reservations somewhere at 9pm and drove her to Sinkers, an immersive mini-golf lounge. Emma laughed under her breath, remembering all the times she's ranted about mini-golf being the worst first date activity. But then on the car ride home, she performed a scarily accurate rendition of Beauty and the Beast's opening number, "Belle" – character voices and all – so at least they both had to experience something horrible!

After seeing each other almost every day for a month, Emma was off to visit family for Christmas and then a trip to Ireland/Medjugorje for a wedding. Saying he needed to "lock her down" before she got a chance to kiss an Irishman on New Years' Eve, Ben asked Emma to be his girlfriend.

The morning of her 25th birthday, Ben texted that he was on his way to pick Emma up for her birthday brunch. She was surprised to find Ben's car waiting outside her building with a woman behind the wheel and no Ben, then was shocked to realize that the woman driver was her sister who lived in Chicago. It should've been obvious at this point what was about to happen, but Emma was so flabbergasted by Sarra's presence that she simply thought she was in town for her birthday brunch and paintballing party. Emma had no idea what was truly going on until they pulled into her favorite spot in KC, Loose Park (famously not a brunch spot). Ben was waiting by the pond, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. When she said yes, cheers erupted from behind, and Emma was once again surprised to find not only Ben's family who all live in KC, but every member of her own family walking out from the trees and bushes, all traveling from Denver and D.C. to surprise her. She wept. That was also when she discovered all of her friends had been lying to her for days about being ready to go paint balling with her. (We still have never gone.) The very next day she went dress shopping while her family was still in town and walked away with the 5th dress she tried on. Their families ended the weekend with a game night and talked about their plans for when society collapsed – one big, happy, totally normal and well-adjusted family. Along the way there have been a lot of Mass dates, movie nights, and wasted money on overpriced cocktails that Emma doesn't like the taste of. They've been so blessed to grow in deep, loving friendship with one another and look forward to a lifetime of commitment to God and each other.

We want to say thank you to all of you for the part you've played in making us the people we are today. There actually aren't enough words to describe the depth of our gratitude (and as you can tell by the length of this story, Emma usually has no shortness of words!) We're overjoyed to be entering into this vocation with the celebration of our dreams, surrounded by so many of our favorite people. Know of our frequent prayers for each of you, and please keep us in your prayers as we finish our wedding preparations and start our family together. In Christ, Ben and Emma