After many years of using different dating apps and nothing working out, I was told by a friend about how they met someone on Hinge, so I decided to give it a shot. I was burned out from dating apps so I didn't really put a lot of effort into filling out my profile. After not finding anyone within 100 miles of Ann Arbor, I changed my location to other parts of the US. I decided to give San Diego a try because my sister Ruby and I planned a vacation to San Diego and it was on the top of my mind. Once I changed my location, I was able to see Liz's profile and I was impressed by what she had to say and also by her love for her family, so I sent along my interest. It took a few days, but eventually we matched and Liz's first question was how long had I lived in San Diego. I had to quickly give her the disclaimer that I wasn't from San Diego, and explained to her why I changed my location, and she was okay with it. We continued to talk, share about our lives and hit it off!

My cousin Jennifer came to visit San Diego in September and late one night she helped me set up a Hinge profile. After 1 week I got a rose from Rebi. As I was going through profiles, I was specifically screening for people who mentioned something about their faith/relationship with Christ. Rebi actually didn't say much of anything regarding his faith so I wasn't too impressed, but his profile indicated he was in San Diego so I figured there wasn't much to lose and decided to give it a chance. I googled him and came across his final sermon at Harvest church and heard his testimony and learned so much about him- his faith in Christ, his love for his family, people, missions and so much more. This inside look gave me peace to move forward, and gave me enough reasons not to turn and run when I soon found out he wasn't actually from San Diego, but Michigan! We hit it off on the first call and immediately realized this was something special, and something from the Lord.

I wanted to propose the week of Christmas. Both of my sisters were in town and Liz's siblings were all in town. I also wanted to propose quickly cause carrying around the engagement ring was more stressful than I had expected. I asked Liz's sister Susie if she was able to get Liz to La Jolla cove on the morning of Sunday, December 26th. My plan was to be seated on a bench where Liz and I first told each other that we loved each other. Then Liz and Susie would walk by and see me and I would ask Liz to marry me there. So Susie, along with Charlie and his family went out to have coffee near La Jolla cove and used the fact that Adrian, Charlie's son, had never seen La Jolla as the cover. Thanks to technology, Apple sharing location, Susie was able to take her family on a walk where they would eventually pass the bench where I was seated. Eventually Liz saw me, sat on the bench, I shared my feelings with her, got on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes quite quickly and after a hug, we turned around to see our family and several bystanders with their camera phones out recording the whole thing. Everyone asked me if I was nervous or if I cried and I have to say I wasn't and I didn't. Considering that Liz's dad had already put down a deposit on the Grand Tradition, I knew what the answer would be! :)

By December Rebi and I had talked about getting married, met each others families, booked a wedding venue, and I found my wedding dress. I kept teasing that all I was missing was a ring! I suspected he would propose either in December when his family came to San Diego for Christmas, or in January when I was planning to next visit Michigan. Even though I knew it was coming, he still managed to surprise me! On 12/26 my family got dressed up to take our annual family picture. After that my sister suggested the siblings go to La Jolla to get coffee. I said I would pass because I wanted to go to church. She insisted that I come, saying this was the only chance for all the siblings to be together and hang out. I then volunteered to watch the kids so Charlie/Jean and Mason/Susie could enjoy the outing together. (Apparently they all started to sweat wondering how they would convince me to miss church!) Susie assured me we would be back in time for church, so off we went. It was raining all week but that day the sun came out and I texted Rebi that he should take his family to the beach and that I wished he could be with us in La Jolla. Little did I know he was already there, waiting for the past 45 min! We got to La Jolla, got our coffee and my siblings said my nephew Adrian had never seen the ocean so they wanted to take him there. It was 10:50 am and I was a little annoyed that I would not make it back for church at 11:00 am, but went along with them. I didn’t have my contact lenses on so I did not see Rebi sitting up ahead on the bench where we first said I love you. I walked along the beach, oblivious, enjoying the ocean with Adrian while everyone watched my sudden shock when we reached the bench where Rebi was sitting and I realized what was happening. After his sweet proposal he asked me to marry him and I immediately said yes! The rest of our siblings and nephews/nieces all appeared and the mission was complete.