We met on May 31st at Timber Wolf Young Life Camp in Lake City Michigan. I was at the camp to serve in the kitchen for a few weeks. I was in the game room with some of the other summer staff crew. I remember seeing Megan but only for a few moments because I was focused on the game we were playing. The next day I showed up for my shift in the kitchen and that is when I saw Megan truly for the first time. She was cutting something and all I can think at the time was how cute she was. In my mind I was thinking, "Lord she is so cute, and I was not trying to have a crush on anyone. I am here to serve you and the camp". For the next couple of weeks, I had the pleasure to work alongside and get to know Megan very well. We formed a friendship fast, and our time in and outside the kitchen was filled with laughs, jokes, and enjoying each other's company. A couple of days before I had to leave, I asked Megan to go on a walk. I was really into her at this point and had a feeling she was not into me, but I wanted to shoot my shot. We talked for a while, sharing with each other our life stories and about our families. When I got back home from camp, I wrote her a letter and she wrote back to me. I remember praying if I was to be in a relationship with her or not. As the end of that summer came and went so did the fall semester at college. We did not talk except through our kitchen crew group chat every now and then. Every time she texted, I made sure to reply first. Megan remained in the back of my mind throughout the fall. January 11th rolled around and I was thinking, "Man I should call Megan and see how she is doing". I called her and it was awesome to laugh with her again and update her on how life was going. From that moment, the Lord opened the door to pursue Megan. I started talking to her every day. Spring break rolled around; I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I decided that I was going to go down and visit her. It was awesome and I really enjoyed my time and wanted to date her. We made the commitment to do long distance and we started dating on March 4th. Around June/July I knew I wanted to ask her to marry me. I was not sure how and when at the time. I started praying about when/how I should do it and the Lord answered. In October, I had the idea of proposing during a picnic. A few days later, Megan was talking about going on a picnic, and I knew the Lord confirmed that for me. I still was not sure about the time. I was looking at rings and bought the ring early November. I knew I was going down to visit her and her family for thanksgiving, so I took that as my opportunity to ask her. I ended up proposing to Megan on November 19th on our picnic.

Joel and I met on May 31st, 2022 at Timber Wolf Lake, a Young Life camp while serving on summer staff together. On the first day, I walked into the game room, and I saw Joel with some other people playing a game. We met briefly and didn't think much of it. We ended up both getting assigned to work in the kitchen. The next day (my birthday) he saw me in the kitchen cutting something. He says it was love at first sight (even with my braces LOL). We instantly became friends later in the day. I didn’t tell anyone it was my birthday so when Joel found out he made everyone sing me happy birthday. I thought it was very sweet of him to make my birthday surrounded by strangers a little special. Over the next two weeks, Joel and I were inseparable. Constantly laughing and cracking jokes. I didn’t think much of it. The day before Joel had to leave, he asked me to go on a walk (shout out to Matthew Gelhard for suggesting to Joel to ask me to go on a walk). That's when I realized he had feelings for me. I had no idea. During our walk, I was expecting him to tell me he had feelings for me, so I was terrified. I was scared he was going to tell me he had feelings for me and it was going to ruin our friendship. But he didn't mention any of that. We talked for like three hours getting to know each other better. He left the next day and it was really sad. I stayed at camp for two more weeks. Joel ended up writing and sending me a letter while I was still there. I think that’s when my feelings for him really started. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff. After I got home from camp, Joel and I texted sporadically. Joel was always the first one to reply to my text in our kitchen group chat. Then when school started in August, we didn’t hear from each other for a few months (except for the occasional group text). On January 11th, 2023, I was getting ready for my sister’s birthday dinner and I got a call. It was from Joel. I started freaking out because we hadn’t talked in months and thought it was really weird he was calling me without warning. I of course answered, we talked for an hour or so. After that, we talked every day. Towards the end of February, Joel jokingly told me “I think I’m going to come down to Georgia for spring break”. I instantly knew what that meant. Still, neither one of us admitted to having feelings for one another. We were purely just going off of assumptions. I was pretty hesitant because of the long distance, but I prayed about it and felt like the Lord told me to take a chance. I told Joel “Come on down”. So a couple of weeks later, Joel drove the whole twelve hours down just to come see me. I have to say- very bold of him. You don’t just drive twelve hours to be friends with a girl you haven’t seen in nine months. He finally asked me to be his girlfriend a couple of days later. Joel left to go back home. I knew the long distance was going to make it very difficult, but I felt so much peace about the whole thing. I called my best friend, Hayden, to give her all the details. I told her I knew I was going to marry him. When you know you know. And 260 days later, Joel asked me to marry him.