This story begins in the summer of 2021 in Springfield, Illinois. Haley had just begun her fourth and final year of medical school while Ben had started his third. It was late August, and Haley had organized a welcome event for the Christian student group at Washington Park. Unbeknownst to either Ben or Haley at the time, the other needed only walk one block from the opposite side of this park to meet there. While only a few words were exchanged between them that day, this first in-person meeting would mark the beginning of a relationship that would lead them to say “I do.” During the fall of 2021, Haley and Ben continued to have chance encounters at extracurricular events. When December rolled around, Haley decided to invite Ben to a gingerbread-decorating party with her close friends in Springfield. Little did Ben know…this was in fact the initial friend-vetting session. On the heels of a winter break that had both of them agonizing with close friends about asking the other out, Haley thankfully made the bold decision to ask Ben to dinner. The span of 2022 saw them grow closer to one another—Ben discovering that Haley is more comfortable in the branches of a tree than on solid ground, and Haley realizing that Ben’s board game-playing hobby is more accurately characterized as an obsession. Subsequently, many days that followed were spent in trees or playing board games (though never simultaneously, unfortunately). Walks in the park in all manner of weather commenced, as did Bible studies and hangouts with now mutual friends. Soon thereafter, each met the others’ family: Haley fittingly being introduced to Ben’s parents on a primitive trout fishing trip while Ben met Haley’s family on the day she matched to Rush University in emergency medicine in Chicago. This heralded the beginning of a long-distance relationship that often felt more intimate than the distance would dictate. They learned of the other’s walk with God and how each viewed the central role of faith in relationships. They comforted and supported one another through the grueling clerkships of a third-year medical student and the literal trauma witnessed by emergency medicine interns. And as is often said, the depth of their relationship coupled with the distance between them did indeed make their hearts grow fond. However, as Haley is often quick to state, there comes a time when the heart is fond enough. In the waning months of 2022, both knew they wanted to be engaged to be married. Only one practical question remained: Would Ben match to a Chicago program allowing the young couple to begin their marriage avoiding a continued long-distance relationship? In March of 2023, they received their answer as Ben opened an envelope with the enclosed letter containing Rush University Emergency Medicine printed on it. The next day, Ben invited Haley on a walk to Washington Park. The park that separated their two homes when both met in Springfield. The park where countless walks, lunches, and shenanigans had taken place. The park where a special tree stands on a corner, one that had been scaled multiple times before March 18th, 2023. It is in this tree that Ben knelt to ask for Haley’s hand in marriage.

We are overjoyed to welcome you to the celebration of our wedding! We pray that God will bless us as we begin this lifelong journey, that our roots would be steadfastly anchored in Him, and that the branches of our marriage would spread out to bless all those with whom we come into contact.