Jaci and I met in the Spring of 2016. I was a senior in college at Ole Miss and had come to Houston to do an internship with KPMG. The way our internships fell at Ole Miss, the “texas kids” didn’t show up until halfway way through my internship. One of them was this really cute girl who made a habit of coming in the conference room where I sat. And that is where our love story as interns ends. I went back to Mississippi to finish up school for the year and Jaci was still at KPMG finishing up her internship. Like every great relationship, ours really got rolling with a series of sarcastic insults over social media. I roasted her about her bedroom decor I saw in the background of a snapchat she sent and from that day on we have talked every single day. I came back to Texas in May for a fraternity brothers wedding (thank you to The Scholhamers). By this time we were really getting to know each other and I made sure to come a few days early to hang out with her. We were dating by the end of that trip. We did a year of long distance during our grad school and have been enjoying living in the same city for about a year and a half now [Edit: Derrick took a new job in Ft. Worth in February which has lead to a little more long distance, but the end is near!] . On April 21st, 2018 I asked her marry me and it will always be the best decision I have ever made.

I have never met a more genuine person who has honestly pursued someone as well as Derrick as pursued me from the beginning of our relationship to this very day. He has such a consistent, calm, easy way about him. The more I learned about him the more I loved. I am so thankful that God chose ME to be the one who gets to hear the details of Derrick’s heart forever. Loving him is such a privilege. To everyone who has played a role in our relationship: our parents, our families, our life-long friends, Ole Miss friends, Baylor friends, our Houston friends – we thank you for your love and support. We are so excited to celebrate with y’all on our big day!