So, It's really funny for me to think about Kevin before we started dating, because I really just thought of him as a friend. There wasn't much more there for me, even though I knew I loved being his friend. As I think of it now, I realize that I've loved him as long as I've known him, I just didn't realize it. Kevin and I had a couple classes together, but didn't really hit it off until Rachel and David started dating (shout out to the Swan's). At that point, I knew I probably needed to try to get to know some of the guys that were now part of our friend group, since David was sticking around. (: I really wasn't looking and had been a little interested in someone else when Kev and I became good friends. We went to DC with all of our friends, and I decided I wanted to be better friends with him. There was just something about him I liked. So come June, I have concert tickets for a friend and I. A couple days before the concert, my friend tells me she cannot go. So I'm frantic, looking for someone else to invite. Kevin pops in my mind - but we hadn't ever hung out just the two of us, and I was a little weary. but I asked him anyway. and he said yes. So we go to the NF concert together, and at this point I'm interested. For the first time, I'm looking at this guy beside me who's jumping up and down in this crowd covered in water that had just been thrown on us - and I'm like "ya know, I could do this with him a lot more". So we go the rest of the summer talking more and more, and by August I know that I like him. So eventually we talked about how we had some mutual feelings, and took time to pray about dating. Then, we dove in. And it's been the second best decision i've ever made, next to following Jesus.

So we'd been dating for about a year and a half, and I'd known since like seven months in that I wanted to marry him and do ministry with him. We had been in Utah together in June, which was really really good, but also hard because it was very telling of two things: that we were ready to get married, and that we wanted to eventually move to do ministry here. Neither of these things though were happening right now, though, and that was hard. So we started seriously talking about engagement (since our whole time in Utah we were talking to our friends about where we'd live when we got there and how we were going to be moving, lol). We decided that we'd be engaged that next fall. So, I waited. Things got weird around October with our timeline, which started to make engagement feel hard or maybe not quite possible. Then, November 10th - things felt like a normal day. Kev and i went to church, and then lunch with our friends like every Sunday. We decided to go for a walk after, which is pretty normal for our relationship, so i didn't think much of it. We are walking around this lake that we live near, and i'm talking about my weekend and how our friends dog had thrown up three times the night before while i was with them. All the while Kevin's pretty quiet, but i'm just going on and on about this dog. When all the sudden, he's talking about our relationship, and what he loves about it. Then, he moved to get in front of me... and it becomes real, this is it. He's proposing. and i stop hearing him. and all i can do is see him, now, because everything in me is moving 10,000 mph. He bends down, and pulls out the ring - only for me to say yes before he even asks. Then, all of our friends jump out!! It was the best day, and I couldn't have asked for anything better.

My relationship with Cat is totally a gift designed by God, because i had no plans to date or even be close friends with her. We really started to really get to know each other the summer of 2017. it started off slow; but, we went from barely talking to texting a ton everyday I thought, "maybe she likes me, but Cat is so friendly to everyone that it's just in my head!" (She still gets like a 100 texts a day so I wasn't completely thinking wrong! ) Cat invited me to the NF concert with her and she really poured into me about her time in Haiti over the summer. Even if Cat was being her sweet and friendly self, I still fell for her and was hooked pretty early on that summer.. When school started back for the Fall, we went to Carolina Ale House (one of of our favorite spots now) to really catch up. It was going went great when Cat causally asked me while we are eating "How are you doing with your singleness?" Immediately thought "Okay I have to tell her how I feel. but not in this loud restaurant!" We went for a walk around campus and I told her how I felt about her. Even after all the obvious signs, I was shocked when she told me she felt the same. That was one of the greatest nights of my life and i love how God has made our story so.. us.

One of my favorite memories with Cat is when we had a group date night with her YoungLife Team. I really did not want to go because I am not a big fan of being a new person in a big group of people who really know each other. Cat used her magic on me and just asked so nicely that I did not want to let her down. The group all went out to go bowling, which I am so bad at. The group decided to make a bet where the couple with the lowest score had to get punished. I was so determined not to embarrass myself in front of all these people, I knew I had to win it for her!.... Me and Cat ended up with like a 30 combined. Since we lost we had to slow dance in the parking lot in front of everyone. Once we started, I realized it wasn't bad at all and I even gave her a spin for fun. Even though we are both far from athletes (Besides Cat's when she is Skiing) I love stumbling through things together and love being able to slow dance with the girl of my dreams.