Hava: “It all began a couple of years ago, when my sister Lydia got it into her head to play matchmaker… Coming home on weekends from her travels, she told me about her new friend Gabriel, subtly inserting him into conversations more and more, and sharing pictures of their hangouts. I may have developed a slight crush, and she knew it. All was going according to plan. When my brother Mathias announced he was getting married, she called up Gabe and convinced him to attend, even though it was a long drive from Wisconsin (where he was living at the time) to Virginia. On April 3rd, 2025, we finally met for the first time. Lydia made the introductions, and then somehow we ended up across from each other at the same table for the reception. The more we talked, the more impressed I was. He was biblically grounded, came from a large, homeschooled family, and shared a lot of the same interests as me. It didn’t hurt that I thought he was incredibly cute, either. He was in town for a few days, and over the weekend we spent more time getting to know each other. I was able to see how he interacted with my family as well. When he had to leave, I knew i didn’t want it to be goodbye. Over the summer, we kept in touch… FaceTime, texting, and even one weekend that Lydia and I were in Michigan and he drove the 6 hours from Wisconsin to see me. Becoming friends was easy, not falling for him immediately was hard. We prioritized having the deep conversations right off the bat, making sure we were on the same page and not rushing blindly into a relationship. In early October, he came to visit me in Virginia and we officially started dating. Then in April of 2026, I flew to Michigan for his best friend (my cousin) Ethan’s wedding, and stayed with his parents for a few weeks. It was wonderful getting to know them better. They are the sweetest people. On May 12th, he took me for a walk in a local park we love… All the way to the top of a big sledding hill, where he asked me to marry him. I said YES!” Gabriel: We met on April 3rd, 2025 at Hava’s brother’s wedding in Virginia. During the reception, we sat together at the same table and had our first conversation, which went surprisingly well. When it was time to say goodbye, we both knew that we wanted to stay in touch. We continued to talk, and got to know each other better over the summer. In October, 2025, we started dating, and after many visits, we got engaged on May 12th, 2026.