Keep scrolling to learn the backstory of how God brought Ashley & Kevin together!

Ashley graduated from Texas A&M in May 2016 and job searched for nine months (while working as the High School Program Assistant at Grace Fellowship's Student Ministry) before formally accepting a position at Bay Harbour United Methodist Church as the Student Minister in July 2017. She was growing frustrated waiting as she didn't understand why God was making her wait so long to find a job. Meanwhile, Kevin returned home to League City from Texas Tech in the summer of 2017 where he saw Ashley visit Bay Harbour for the first time one Sunday morning during her interview process. He can recall exactly what she was wearing from across the room, even though she didn’t even know he was there. Looking back now, if he hadn’t come home, Ashley and Kevin never would have had the opportunity to get to know one another or hit it off. Kevin fully credits God for keeping His promise in Romans 8:28, that “God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” When Ashley officially accepted the job at Bay Harbour UMC and was moving into her first apartment in July, Kevin was one of the guys that got asked to help her family move her into her apartment on the second floor. At this point, Ashley still didn’t know of Kevin but got to meet him for the first time when he showed up to help move her in. Kevin was definitely quiet that day…

Fast forward a month to College & Career Beach Retreat in August 2017, where all the 18yr olds to 30 yr olds at Bay Harbour got to spend a weekend together worshipping Jesus in Surfside, Texas. Kevin started to make a point to talk more to Ashley and she thought to herself, “Wow, either this guy is really nice to newcomers or he wants something.” Several moments at that retreat were significant in helping them move forward toward a relationship: 1.) B Hickman and Kevin were going to take a walk on the beach, and since Ashley was bored and wanted to do something active outside of the house, asked if she could join them. It 100% turned into poor B 3rd wheeling on the beach while Ashley and Kevin talked. Some of Kevin’s questions were, “What is your favorite candy?” And “If you can only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” (Sorry B!) On their way back to the house, Ashley stopped to pick up some seashells. Kevin used that opportunity to playfully place a seashell on her head and scurry away. Up until this point, Ashley had mentally decided Kevin was just being a nice guy and was welcoming her into the group. Now she laughed and thought, “No, he’s definitely is trying to get my attention.” 2.) Kevin learned real quick that weekend that Ashley is pretty clumsy. Ashley made a total of three messes over the course of the weekend, but the #1 mess he recalls is Ashley trying to open a new cereal box only to have it completely spill out from the bottom and all over the floor. Noticing a mess trend starting to develop, he remembers thinking, “Is she really this clumsy or is she trying to get my attention?” At the same time, Ashley took note that Kevin was the only one who would stop to help her clean up the messes she made (everyone else joked around about it). She definitely noted his kind heart and his gift for service.

After the beach retreat, Ashley got wrapped up in learning her new job and caring for her new students that she forgot about Kevin. (Sorry Kev!) It wasn’t until two months later when the annual pumpkin patch season started at Bay Harbour did they get to spend time together again. During the first unloading of pumpkins from an 18-wheeler truck, Ashley started to pay more attention to Kevin. He was hard at work inside the hottest part of the truck to unload 6,000 pumpkins and she admired his desire to serve by doing the hardest job so others wouldn't have to (and maybe she thought then he was a little attractive too). She soon found out she needed lots of volunteer help to man the sales table while the patch was open during the day, and she asked Kevin to volunteer which also helped them spend more time together.

During the whole month of October, Angela Hembree (one of Ashley's students at the time) definitely kicked things up a notch for Ashley and Kevin. Angela had been friends with Kevin for a while now, so she started to notice how he would go out of his way more often to be around Ashley. So she went into match-maker mode and often dropped not-so-subtle hints by making comments and situations awkward for Ashley and Kevin. For example, coming back from a lunch break to work at the pumpkin patch again, Angela said, “Wait, you guys went to Chick-fil-a? Just the two of you? BY YOURSELVES?!” Another awkward scenario worth sharing is after a church event, Hank, Angela, Kevin, and Ashley decided to go to Double Daves for dinner. The guys let the girls go first in line so by the time Ashley and Angela got around to sit at the table, Angela said, “I’ll sit next to Hank. You sit next to Kevin.” (So subtle Ang!) When the group started to leave, everyone was exchanging hugs and Angela said, “Kevin gives the best hugs,” while she hugged him. Feeling completely put on the spot and awkward now, Ashley said, “I’m sure he does,” and quickly left to get in her car. To this day, Kevin holds it against her for not giving him a hug. Ashley did feel bad the next day and made a point to ask him to come help her at the patch so she could make up for her awkwardness. Good job Angela for helping to speed things along! By the time pumpkin season was over in November, Ashley was trying to find another excuse to keep hanging around Kevin so she asked him to help her clean out and organize the storage area in the youth room. To wrap up their project, they were taking out the trash to the dumpster in the church parking lot, and Kevin used that opportunity to officially ask her out to go to see Thor: Ragnarok in theaters with him the next day. Extremely happy she didn’t have to come up with more excuses now to spend time with him, Ashley accepted his invitation.

Kevin picked up Ashley from her apartment in the morning because the morning was Ashley's only free time that day. They proceeded to head over to Baybrook Mall to go to Star Cinema Grill to watch the movie Thor: Ragnarok. After the movie, Kevin took Ashley over to Salada for lunch knowing from his questions on the beach back in August that Ashley loved eating salads (that was her answer to what food she should would eat for the rest of her life.) Even though this was the first time Kevin had gone to Salada, he enjoyed it and was introduced to a new way of eating salads. The two had a great time on their morning date as Kevin returned Ashley back to her apartment to go back to working on what was needeing to be accomplished that day.

Two weeks later and after many day dates at several dog parks with Tucker, Ashley and Kevin sat down over Sonic drinks and talked about moving forward into a relationship with the intention of marriage as the end goal. November 22, 2017 is their dating anniversary!

Three years later, Ashley moved to Boerne to accept a position as the Student Pastor at Cibolo Creek Community Church and Kevin proposed to Ashley at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio on 1/31/21. The rest is a story in the making! Ashley and Kevin want to invite you to be a part of their story either in person or online when they get married on 8.8.21. They know they wouldn't be where they are today without God leading them the past few years and their community supporting them in League City, Katy, and Boerne. They know God has their future as they both dream to grow and love on the next generation within Student Ministry and as a math teacher and coach. If you haven't already, please visit the Wedding Registry/Adoption Fund tab of the website to learn more about how you can be a part of Ashley & Kevin's adoption story in the future. And for more personal, funny moments you can check out the "Photos of Ashley & Kevin" tab of the website for a closer look into how their relationship developed over the past 3.5 years. ~ See you on 8.8.21! ~