Junior found my profile on CatholicMatch & we had our first convo back in December of 2022. My first reaction to seeing him reach out to me was wow we have so much in common, he is really handsome & seemed to have all of the qualities of a man I would want to marry one day, but he was on the other side of the country! I wasn't sure I wanted to get involved with someone so far away, yet we hit it off & had regular phone calls to get to know each other. Then the summer of 2023 I went to France & had the opportunity to visit the tomb of St Zelie & Louis Martin. They were the first married couple canonized together & are patron saints of marriage. I wrote them a letter to ask for their intercession in finding my future spouse. Meanwhile, Jr was taking the summer before medical school to serve our friends on the streets in Denver CO with the organization called Christ in the City. During his time there he asked me to come visit & meet him in person for the first time. I felt crazy for even considering going to another state to meet a guy, but my roommate at the time said, "you could go & end up meeting your future husband, or you could go & end up not liking him and still have an amazing vacation in the mountains. There's nothing to lose." I did love the Rockies. After coming back from France I did a novena to St Zelie & Louis in regard to my discernment with Junior.​​ To my surprise I got my first letter from him in the mail at the end of the first day of the novena which was enough confirmation for me to decide to go meet him. On the last day of the novena Jr called me & officially asked me out on a date. There were so many God nudges. July 14th, 2023 we had our first date in Denver. Junior was so sweet and intentional, he walked up to my rental with flowers, a card and a miraculous medal for me. The nerves that I initially had disappeared quickly and it was as if I was talking to my best friend the rest of the night. He was not any different from the man over the FaceTime calls. Praise Jesus he wasn't one of those serial killers from criminal minds. That weekend we had an incredible time. I didn't want our time to end. We decided to make the long distance work and would go out to visit each other every few months. In between our visits we had regular calls, weekly FaceTime dates and write letters to each other. As things became more serious I started looking into travel nursing, and in March of 2024 I landed my first travel job in Cali. I quit my job in Texas, packed my car and moved across the country. God's providence has been so evident throughout our relationship. He provided another contract and safe home time after time for me to be able to stay in SoCal to continue pursuing our relationship. We have had many fun adventures together. One of my favorites has been our road trip in 2024 up to Oregon, Washington and Canada. We explored all the national parks camping along the way and never got tired of each other. I can't ever get enough time with him. Anywhere he is, I want to be there too. He is my home and safe place to come to. He inspires me, motivates me and loves me so so well. December 2024 he surprised me with a day trip to Big Bear and proposed. The best day of my life. I can't imagine walking this road to heaven with anyone else. God continued to answer all our prayers by providing me with a permanent dayshift job in San Diego in March of 2025. Prior to this we were still about a two hour drive from each other, but way better than being states apart. Now as we prepare for marriage we are enjoying life in the same city laying down roots for our future. It feels so surreal to see our prayers answered and unfolding right before our eyes. I am forever grateful Junior expanded his search and found my profile on catholic match. If he didn't, I am not sure if we would have ever met and I can't imagine my life without him now. This story of ours is better than any story I could have ever dreamed of

On August 8, 2021, I began to pray my first 54 day novena with the main intention of a future spouse. From miraculous stories I heard, I was partly hoping that I would bump into my future wife the day I finished the last rosary. Fortunately, that’s not how it happened! About a year and a half later I received a message back from this girl named Gabrielle on CatholicMatch on the eve of the immaculate conception- Dec 7, 2022. Mary’s hand was still in it despite the amount of waiting I endured. As many of you know, Gabs and I are from different states. To make things even more fun, the first time we met in person was in Colorado! This worked out because I was in Colorado doing mission work with Christ in the City and she loved the Colorado mountains. So one afternoon there she was, pulling up in her cool jeep truck rental, sun burned and all, post hike. My first thoughts were wow that’s rad, she's breathtakingly gorgeous, and goodness gracious I'm so glad I did not get catfished! We hit it off right away and had a wonderful time together over the next few days. The fact that we had been FaceTiming regularly since Dec of 2022 made it feel as if we weren’t on a true first date. In some crazy way it felt as if we were old friends catching up. It blew my mind how much we had in common and how well we got along. By the end of that 5 day long mega date, I gave her a card saying I’m 100% certain I want to continue to pursue her if she felt the same. To my surprise, she said she did feel the same. Everything felt so right with her. Everything feels so right with her. Something I journaled that weekend was this: “I always thought the phrase ‘when you know you know’ was not true because I had never experienced it. I’d be hesitant to say it so early on, but there really is something special here.” From then on we were creative in pursuing each other while being over 1000 miles apart. We took turns visiting each other every couple months. Got to meet each other's families. Got to continue growing closer. We had talks about closing the gap and given that I was in med school and landlocked in Cali, we knew the only way this would be possible was if Gabs made the move. So in March of 2024 she made the 22 hour drive from Houston and began travel nursing out here. In hindsight, God had wonderful plans in store. He continuously provided an opportunity for her to stay after each contract ended. On December 8th of 2024, after getting her parents blessing, I asked her to spend forever with me. That weekend of engagement was one of great joy that I think back to often. Being able to make her feel loved and being loved by her is SO good. I simply cannot put words to it. In March of 2025 He blessed her with a permanent job in San Diego. Now we are only a 25 min drive away from each other and things could not be any better! God has blessed us with the opportunity to receive the sacrament of marriage. What a beautiful vocation this is. To know, to love, and to serve the Lord on this earth and to be with Him in the next. This sacrament will help us help each other and our future children do just that. May the Lord guide us and help us have a joyful and Christ-like marriage that radiates His love to everyone we come in contact with. In the end, I can say with full confidence that all my prayers and the desires God had slowly been placing on my heart in regards to a future spouse have been answered. All of those are summarized in one beautiful word- Gabrielle. It is absolutely insane to me how many “God incidences” had to happen to make today possible. If I had moved that little dot on CatholicMatch to expand the distance just a fraction of a centimeter less, it's possible we would have never met! So if you’re reading this, we love you deeply and you have significant meaning in our lives. From the bottom of our hearts we say thank you for all that you’ve done, thank you for your love and support, and thank you for being part of our special day!