#HopkinsHurtados

We met in college through the InterVarsity campus ministry Hopkins Christian Fellowship but we had no idea we would end up together then! If you ask her, she’d say they were friends in college because of HCF and the several runs they went on together. If you ask him, he’d say they weren’t really friends because it was only a few runs. Regardless, 6 years after meeting they went on another run together, this time at 6am in sub-freezing temperatures in St. Louis at InterVarsity’s student mission conference called Urbana, and they haven’t stopped talking ever since.

At Urbana, Julian asked Macie to “debrief” the conference together once they got home and had let things sink in a little more. Macie texted Julian to start that convo, and they texted pretty much every day after that. After about a month of texting and a few phone calls (I’ll mention the first phone call later), Julian asked if he could come down to Gainesville for a day to hangout. She decided weeks ago she liked him but he didn’t realize he liked her until right before the drive to Gainesville, when he told his parents “I’m going to Florida, I think I like this girl.” The first date included bagels for breakfast, getting her to pick out her own valentine’s day card, a hike and some trespassing, making a whole lot of guacamole, lighthearted but deep conversation at dinner, eating gator tail, and just to make it even more memorable, a $600 speeding ticket. At the end of the night, we said, “So, are we exclusive?” and that was that. Then he drove back to Atlanta at 4am.

After the first phone call in January (3 hours long btw), Macie thought, “He’s the one.” In February, Julian started and finished The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller. In May, they said they could see marriage in their future. In June, Macie had a note of random thoughts in her phone, one of which included, “I want to marry Julian.” In July, Julian started looking at engagement rings. In August, Macie read The Meaning of Marriage. Julian and Macie didn’t expect to know so quickly they wanted to get married, but God had brought them together in his divine timing. If you ask Julian, it was Macie’s dependency on Jesus that inspired him to want more of Jesus and let him know she’s the one who makes him better. If you ask Macie, it was Julian’s kindness, selflessless, and the way he loves his family that let her know he would love her with a love as close to Jesus’ as he could.

On January 3, 2020, Julian popped the question after an elaborate scheme that included tricking Macie into going back to Gainesville by that date to see a friend, and getting Macie’s medical school friends in on the planning. She should have seen it coming when all of a sudden one of her friends offered her a free manicure, but he had thrown her off with a fake hint that led her to think it was happening on MLK weekend! On their way to dinner with that friend who was in town, Julian took a wrong turn to end up at Macie’s “favorite place in Gainesville,” the pond where Macie first told Julian she loved him (and also where Julian’s longboard slid down the storm drain on one of their dates). She saw the words “Marry Me” lit up on the picnic table and she immediately burst into tears because she knew it was happening. They walked over to a heart of rose petals on the ground and after Julian said some beautiful things she can’t quite remember anymore, he got on one knee and popped the question. She said yes! They prayed together for their marriage and when they opened their eyes, each of their families had walked up. Macie cried yet again, and then at some point they realized Julian had forgotten to put the ring on her finger. :) They went to a dinner afterwards with their families and a bunch of Macie’s friends, and Julian had compiled a video from Macie’s friends who couldn’t be there. Julian did good :)