The story of how Ethan and I ended up together is my favorite to tell. For those who don’t know, we grew up in church together and are probably each other’s oldest friends. I remember Ethan once saying he “wished he could remember the first time we met,” because we’ve known each other for longer than either of us can remember. But honestly, I can’t say we were ever really just friends for most of that time. When I was in 5th grade, Ethan emailed me on New Year’s Day to say he liked me! Shocked and confused, I responded—being the responsible little girl I was—asking if we could just be friends. Not long after “rejecting” him, I realized the excitement I felt seeing him at church every week probably meant I had a crush! But, of course, no one could ever know. That excitement kept growing over the years, as did my nervousness around him. But being a quiet and observant girl, I hid my feelings well, and we stayed good friends through middle school. Then, my freshman year of high school, Ethan started flirting—texting me often and showing me extra attention. One night after youth group, he texted me and told me he liked me again. I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice, so I told him I liked him too! I had no clue what to do, so I followed my mom’s advice to “let him lead.” But Ethan, only a sophomore, wasn’t quite ready. After a few months, the texts faded, and this time I was the one left feeling rejected. Though we remained friends, we weren’t as close—busy with school, sports, and other relationships. But what kept us connected was a yearly winter youth retreat called Snow Camp. Since middle school, Ethan and I were inseparable those weekends. Some years he flirted, other years we hung out really just as friends, but I always left feeling sad, knowing we wouldn’t get that time again together for another year. Now after reminiscing together, Ethan told me he would leave feeling the same way. My senior year, Ethan was a college freshman in New Jersey. We hadn’t spoken in about a year, but a couple days before my last Snow Camp, I found out he was coming as a "leader." After an hour of awkwardness, everything felt like it used to, and we were inseparable again. I left that weekend thankful we’d reconnected, confused because my old feelings came back, and sad because I didn’t know when I’d see him again since I was going to Virginia for college. We kept in touch a bit and saw each other once more that fall when I visited New Jersey with a college friend. We spent the day together and as always had fun, but after a few months of still nothing happening between us, I decided that while I’d always care about him, it just wasn’t meant to be. We both went on to date other people and barely spoke for most of college. But the Lord had other plans. In April 2024, my mom and Jeff met up for lunch with Ethan’s parents to thank them for singing at my dad’s celebration of life service the summer before. At that lunch, Ethan’s dad joked about setting us up since we were both single and graduating. My mom told me about their conversation, and I was shocked this was still relevant 4 years later. Tired of waiting, I texted him. My attitude was, “If he replies, great! If not, great!” As you can guess, he replied (and kept replying lol). After a couple months of reconnecting over text, he finally asked me out on a real date! From that day on, everything between us felt natural. I knew very quickly that I wanted to marry him—and I had a good feeling he felt the same. Our story is a reminder that God’s timing is perfect and that trusting His plan is always worth it. We’re so grateful for the journey that brought us back together and can’t wait to start this next chapter of our story as husband and wife! <3