Alec and Callie met at Northwest Bible Church in August of 2023! One Sunday, Callie saw Alec and decided that she wanted to introduce herself to him. Unfortunately, her first attempt to infiltrate Alec's conversation circle failed, and there would not be another natural chance to introduce herself that morning. Determined that Alec would know of her existence, Callie smiled in his direction. Fortunately, Alec saw her smiling at him and wondered who this girl might be. They both left church that morning without a proper introduction. As Callie was leaving church with her roommate Jessie, she pointed Alec out to her. "Do you see that guy? He is so attractive to me! He is so good looking!" Callie learned from Jessie that Alec would be at a church event later that week, and decided that she would introduce herself to him then. Alec had also decided that he would introduce himself to Callie at the next church event they attended. But as the minutes and hours passed that Sunday afternoon, he couldn't wait any longer! He found her contact in a GroupMe chat and messaged her that afternoon, much to Callie's surprise and excitement. They messaged throughout the rest of the day (and have messaged every day since), and by the end of the day, Alec asked Callie out to coffee to get to know each other better. Of course, she excitedly agreed! Before getting coffee together, however, Alec and Callie had the chance to meet in person at a church choir practice! Callie could tell just from texting with him that Alec was special, and was very nervous to officially meet him. She had a sense that she just might never un-meet this man. At choir practice, Callie could tell that Alec was a truly kind, genuine, and intentional person. Alec could tell that Callie was a little nervous, but thought that she was beautiful, and interacting with her felt as natural as if he already knew her. Hearing her sing during practice, he thought her voice sounded like an angel. At the end of that week they met one-on-one for the first time to get coffee at Eataly. Over their iced coffees, they shared more of their stories and got to learn about each others interests and hobbies. Alec expressed his interest in Callie, and his desire to get to know her as a friend before officially dating. Callie felt very honored by Alec's honesty and desire to take time to know her before jumping into anything, and was excited to build their friendship over the coming weeks! Little did they know how quickly God would draw them together and lead them towards one united path!

Just over a week after meeting in person, Alec and Callie joined friends from Northwest's Young Adult Group to go Two-Stepping at Red River! They danced together most of the night, and Alec already knew he was falling in love. Soon after, Alec asked Callie out on their first official date! Although the date had a bumpy start (Callie may or may not have scraped a truck while trying to park and Alec kindly rescued her by moving her car to minimize damage) the two had a wonderful time together! They talked for nearly 5 hours, and didn't even finish their chips, queso, and french fries on the rooftop of HG Supply Co. Alec didn't even think to ask if there would be a second date, because he knew that there would be. :) Five minutes into their second date, Alec and Callie had already planned their third! Before long, Callie met Alec's sweet English Bulldog, Lola (her future dogter). Thankfully, Lola approved! Alec got a taste of Callie's world too, and used a day off of work to spend the day with her at her grad school, Dallas Theological Seminary. Alec even attended Callie's Apologetics class with her! The next day, Alec left for a weeklong trip to Boston with his Mom, Miranda. It was on this trip that Alec realized he was in love with Callie! While Callie was a little slow to the game, God was moving her heart in the same direction. Two weeks after their first date, Callie realized she was falling in love with Alec. One month after their first date, she knew that she loved him. On October 10th, 2023, Alec and Callie officially became boyfriend and girlfriend (this meant they could now hold hands, which they did the rest of the day)! Ten days later, Alec told Callie that he loved her for the first time, and Callie excitedly told Alec that she loved him too! In that moment, Alec removed his cross necklace, which he had worn every day since 8th grade, and put it around Callie's neck. "I've told you my heart is yours..." he said, "...and I want to give you the closest thing to my heart." The significance of this gift was not lost on Callie, and she has worn Alec's necklace every day since. Towards the end of October, Alec got to meet Callie's Mom, Kerri, who was visiting from FL. Kerri didn't tell Callie this yet, but as she was talking with Alec she felt like she was talking with her future Son-in-Law. On October 31st, Alec and Callie had their first conversation about marriage. Alec felt called, more strongly than he had ever felt called to something before, to marry Callie. Callie was surprised by the certainty and peace she felt when talking about marrying Alec, and she knew she wanted to marry him too! God continued to confirm their calling to one another in the coming days, and it felt as though he was making their path towards marriage undeniably straight!

Once we were set on becoming married, the Lord started to move things along. I was invited to spend New Year's Eve with the Schneiders back in Tampa, and that is where I would meet John (Callie's Dad) for the first time, to then ask for his blessing to marry his beautiful and Christ loving daughter - Callie. However, I had two doctor's appointments on the same day in early November, and noticed that there was a KAY jewelers right there. So I ran in to get some more ideas on an engagement ring for Callie. The ring was shining through the glass, and the lady tried it on to show it to me. It was exactly what I had imagined for Callie, and it fit all of her dreams for what her ring would be! I walked out of the store with it, much sooner than expected. Just like in the Lord of the Rings, the ring began to burn a hole in my pocket. I reached out to John to see if he would be willing to have the blessing talk over the phone or in person, and we set up a zoom meeting. A couple of days later we had a memorable discussion and he granted me his blessing to marry the Love of my life. Immediately we began to plan the engagement. The challenge was Callie was expecting a January or February engagement since we talked about me asking for her dad's blessing over New Years. However, we realized the best way to surprise Callie was to propose to her before she went back to Tampa for the winter break. The longest three weeks of my life were the ones in between receiving John's blessing and asking Callie to marry me! I spent a lot of time coordinating with John, Kerri, Mema and Papa on the logistics of when and where to stay once they arrived in Dallas, because they wanted to fly all the way out to be there when I proposed!! In addition, I had lots to coordinate with the Hanshaw Family, our photographer, the caterer, our Northwest venue, and dozens of friends and family. The Hanshaws and Schneiders were working together to set up a surprise engagement party at Northwest Bible Church with many of our dear friends and family. December 10th finally came and the Schneiders were in town, the venue was set, the food was ready, family and friends from all over DFW were on their way. I was on my way to pickup Callie for "surprise dinner reservations" to celebrate our two months of being boyfriend & girlfriend. On the way to our reservations, I asked if we could stop at the 2nd most beautiful view in Dallas (Callie is the 1st most beautiful view in the city), the top of White Rock Lake. We get out of the car and are standing on top of the hill that overlooks the lake and skyline as the sun is setting. I tell her that I would rather spend one lifetime with her than to face all of the ages of the earth without her. And that she encourages me to be the man God wants to shape, and that I serve Him better with her than without her. Then I got down on one knee, pulled out the ring and asked her to marry me. Kerri, John, Mema, Papa, Mike, Miranda, and Dedo were behind us to share the most memorable moment of our lives! Callie said yes :) then we went back to the surprise engagement party to celebrate our new journey with all of the amazing people the Lord has put in our life to walk with us. Never would I have thought I would ask a father's blessing before meeting him in person, propose on two months of dating, or fall in love so quickly and deeply. But the Lord is one heck of an Author, and He has made it abundantly clear that Callie is my Eve and we were made to be together to bring glory and honor to His Kingdom. Cal Bo is my Baby Love.