We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

On May 23, 2021, I was at Silver Dollar City with my best friend (and maid of honor), Natalie. We were talking about her upcoming wedding plans, and joked about how single I was. I wanted to "prove a point" so I downloaded Hinge, a dating app, and created an account. I swiped on one boy, said "Ugh, no, I do not like this" and closed out of the app. Not too long after, I had a message from Zach! He was so sweet and intentional, and had already started to plan a first date for us, despite living 1.5 hours away. We had planned our first date for the next weekend, but after texting for a few days, we decided to move up to Wednesday, because we were so excited to meet each other! Zach drove to Springfield and we went to Orange Leaf for our first date. We didn't want the date to end because of how much fun we were having, so Haley decided to show Zach the most important Springfield spot, the World's Largest Fork. They also went on a walk at Phelps Grove park. The second date was when Zach asked me to be his girlfriend, after him showing me around Osage Beach and taking me to a beautiful lookout spot. I fell in love with him fast because of his love for the Lord and his testimony of God's grace, his compassion for those around him, and his patience and grace that he showed me unconditionally from day one! It did not take long for us to start talking about spending the rest of our lives together! Zach proposed on December 3rd in the Japanese Stroll Gardens underneath the Christmas lights. It was the sweetest surprise!

For the longest time, my Mom was trying to get me on a dating app. She’d constantly be like, “Okay, Zach! I’m setting up your Christian Mingle profile now!” So I finally decided to try one (Hinge, not Christian Mingle) and the one girl that I swiped on was Haley. We got to talking and within about the first couple of hours of texting, my phone messed up and texts stopped coming in so I thought she had ghosted me already LOL… I wasn’t going down that easy so I got her Snapchat from her phone number and I later learned that my phone had messed up and she, indeed, was not ghosting me. After talking more and more with Haley, I could just sense her love for the Lord which made me more and more interested in her. That same day (Sunday, May 23rd), we decided to set up a first date for that next Saturday, but we made it about halfway through the week before we decided that we wanted to have our first date now so I drove to Springfield from the Lake and we went to Orange Leaf and a couple of other fun sightseeing things in Springfield (like seeing the World’s Largest Fork). I fell for Haley on our first date. I knew in those moments that she was who I wanted to spend the rest of my life. She continuously pushes me closer to Christ and is constantly encouraging me, which makes me a better believer, a better person, and a better man who she deserves.