Shelley- It's Easter Sunday, 2018. I had been trying for over a month to find out more about the cute drummer that I had seen at church a few times. I had asked around the church (even recruiting Denise Macanally as my main contact and partner in crime) and it was just my luck that no one had any clue who he was. My detective skills were no help. My big break in the case came when my little sister, Amber, decided to be baptized, and because my family was the cornerstone to the functionality of Children's Ministry, I had to leave my sisters baptism very quickly. This caused me to later watch a video (a clue gifted by Denise) of all the church baptisms from that day, and as I was scrolling looking for my sister, you can probably guess who's face I landed on instead. I watched his baptism, saw his stupid smile, and instantly knew that he was the one. I sent him a message on Instagram with appropriate congratulations and an invitation to hang out. Josiah would like me to add that in my anxious waiting for a response, I checked to see if he had read the message, and accidentally sent him a heart (it was very easy to do this accidentally- by now Instagram has fixed this issue). I quickly reeled with apologies for sending something so embarrassing. Little did I know that the heart was one of things that solidified our future in his eyes. A few weeks and a few messages later, we met in person in-between the two church services. His family was out of town, so it was a perfect chance in order for him not to be asked a million questions. A week after that short meeting, we had our first date at a cute breakfast spot, and a month after that, on June 3rd, 2018, we were officially dating.

Josiah- I have this nickname that I use for myself when I do something (not so) amazing- Magic Man. Shelley eventually commandeered this nickname and used it when I did something dumb. If I tripped and fell or spilled a drink, Shelley would amplify my shame by hitting me with a "good job Magic Man lol". So when I was wracking my brain, trying to think of anything somewhat original I could do to propose to Shelley, I came back to that nickname. "Well, I could put on a magic show..." I thought. Weeks passed and still the only remotely original idea I had was this stupid magic show. So, deciding that waiting for something better to come along was a waste of time (I'm not the most creative when it comes to these things), I decide to look into my options. I asked everyone I knew who had access to anything that resembled an auditorium and thank sweet baby Jesus that Rachelle (Shelley's mom) was totally on board. She said she would handle the venue, the setup, and the audience. All I had to do was figure out the magic. By some twist of fate I found myself in Reinke Brother's magic shop getting the rules of putting on a magic show, and by the time I left I had a good idea of what I could do to put on a C+ magic show. So the day comes and everything added to the tension- I feel like I haven't practiced enough and there are way more people in the audience than I wished and of course Shelley stops to get Starbucks before coming so we have to wait even longer. Not to mention the weight of knowing there is no turning back now. Anyhow, Shelley gets there with the notion that she was helping her sister with a talent show, and I perform the show, along with a very clever speech tying together love and magic, to the kind (pitying) applause of 40 middle schoolers. She comes on stage at the appropriate, "I need a volunteer from the audience" moment and I get on one knee and tell her that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. When she said yes I couldn't have been happier.