D: Do we say we met on Hinge, or do we say we first actually met at the Coffee shop? I really don't know! K: I thought might as well since I had just moved back to DFW during the covid time period and the great freeze of DFW. If nothing works out that’s okay. And then Daniel messaged me :) it’s so funny cause we grew up 20 minutes from each other our whole lives

K: He asked me to get coffee to meet up and talk which to me is a date haha. We went to a coffee shop in downtown Carrollton and we talked for a couple hours cause he had about 80 questions for me...it felt a little like an interview but it was also really good because he knew what he was looking for and helped me get to know him right away since we were basically strangers. Afterwards he walked me to my car and that’s when he asked me on our “first date”. I liked what I learned about Daniel from the interview but I wanted to see if we could really hold a conversation and get along without prompts and we definitely can :) D: There will be a debate about this for the rest of my life. I never asked her out on a date over Hinge. Who does that? I wanted to be intentional and ask her out on an actual date in person, not over an app, or text or over the phone. So I believe that our first official date was when we went to Whiskey Cake. She will say otherwise, but our first "date" in my mind was when I actually asked her out on a date to dinner at Whiskey Cake.

K: We actually met each other's families before we started dating! He is gonna say that I waited too long which maybe I did but I’m thankful he was patient with me and respected me to know that I wanted to pray and consider our relationship before deciding to officially date! In Daniel, I see the kindness, patience, and servant’s heart and his source of love from the Lord and his consistent daily walk with Him! D: Yes, I do believe she took too long for us to make things official, but knowing that eventually she would be the person that I get to marry, the wait was worth it. It definitely was intimidating meeting her whole family when we were just "dating" but again, I'm happy to be patient with a girl like Kara. Whether it is a trip to Hawaii, the Squires initiation (torture) of learning how to water ski, or any of the other adventurous dates, trips or things we have done together, I'm thankful for any time I get to spend with Kara whether there are official labels on things or not.

D: Kara had been dropping subtle hints that she would like to be engaged before the end of September 2022... And we both had wanted our immediate family present if at all possible. This created a little bit of a time crunch knowing that my dad was leaving town on August 10th and that her parents were leaving town on the 15th... But the VIP Dinner was absolutely a real thing... The plan (that I told Kara) was for us to get ready, drive to the church that I work at, meet a friend at the church and uber to Downtown Dallas where the dinner was being held. But in reality, my mom, Kara's mom and I had set up the chapel at church with pictures of Kara and myself and little decorations and memories of our time dating. Once I picked her up, we drove to the church, parked, and walked inside, once Kara saw the pictures of us and a photographer, all she could say is oh wow... we walked down the aisle, looked at all the pictures, and I proposed... With the ring box upside down... Which she then told me the box was upside down. Once I flipped the box over she then said yes. K: On a Tuesday he wouldn't do it on a Tuesday...at first when he told me that there was a VIP dinner for his realtor I thought it was an excuse for me to get dressed up for something special but then I thought well it’s on a Tuesday night so he wouldn’t do it then especially since I wanted our family to be there to celebrate with us after. But he surprised me!! He took me the long way to get to HP Presbyterian church and I was asking questions the whole way and he was having to come up with excuses haha We got there and he took me into the Chapel and it was all decorated with pictures of us from our relationship and he proposed and (after he flipped the box since at first it was upside down) I said yes! Then he said he wanted to demonstrate how he would love and serve me in our marriage like Christ so he prayed over us and washed my feet (they weren’t that dirty which he repeated several times haha). Then he surprised me again by taking me upstairs and having our families waiting to celebrate us and the engagement!