P&L

Him: Paul looks at his phone seeing a message from his realtor/friend, Aaron Wright. Thinking that it is just another listing, he swipes the message away. What he doesn’t realize, however, is that this particular message was the contact information for a girl that Aaron knew back in Minnesota who was living in Lafayette, Indiana at the time the message was sent. The saying “out of sight, out of mind” now comes into play, as Paul completely forgets about this message from Aaron until about two weeks later when he notices the missed message. It wasn’t a listing, but the contact information. Feeling foolish and embarrassed, he finally reaches out… Her: Luci was living in Lafayette, filling her days by working at a women’s shelter part time, as well as a daycare with no male employees. As you can imagine, she thought she was totally and completely tucked away from all men in this season of her life. A week after she had told her roommates that she had no intention of entering a relationship any time soon, Erin Wright (Aaron’s wife) reached out to Luci asking if she could give out her number to a sweet man from their church in Warsaw. Thinking that it couldn’t hurt, Luci gave permission for her number to be shared, and waited…and waited, and waited. She had convinced herself that Paul was just not interested when, one fateful evening, she received a text message from him introducing himself. When she saw the message, she asked her roommate for help crafting a response—not too desperate, but also making sure he knew she wanted to talk. She waited about twenty minutes to send the message, since she did not want it to appear as though she had been waiting by the phone (even though she totally had). The two talked for several hours over several days, and planning out the first date was quick to follow.

Him: The first date went well, Paul thought, but when Luci said she just wanted to be friends for now, he was a little confused and disappointed. She was going back to Minnesota for a couple of months and still wasn’t sure what she wanted. Being a gentleman, Paul put on a smile and agreed, but he would be lying if he said the disappointment didn’t run deep. The weeks passed, but the conversations never stopped. Paul continued to learn more about Luci and the caring, God-fearing woman that she is. All of that information only piqued his interest in her. When she finally came back to Indiana, Paul and Luci still continued to talk, and Paul began to wonder what kind of relationship they had. She wanted to be friends, but the amount of conversations they were having, and the topics of the conversations, were suggesting something that could possibly be more. One day, Paul and Luci went on another date, and Luci finally brought up the idea of entering into a relationship. Caught off guard and excited, Paul said that would be a great idea and that he was all for it… Her: After the first date, Luci knew a few things to be true: 1) Paul was truly one of the sweetest men in the world and she wanted to get to know him better. 2) She was about to go back to Minnesota for a couple of months, and didn’t want to start a relationship with hundreds of miles between them. And finally, 3) She had prayed her whole life for a God-honoring relationship and did not want to rush any part of this. Since Luci knew she did not want to lose touch with Paul but was still not sure what their relationship was supposed to be, she traveled back to Minnesota with the intention of continuing their conversations, and the understanding that things could be reevaluated upon her return to Indiana. Paul and Luci continued to talk over the next several weeks in between work shifts and social lives. The more they talked, the more Luci grew to appreciate this sweet, funny, nerdy and godly man. While she was still in Minnesota, Luci became more and more excited to return to Indiana and see Paul again. After several more dates following her return, a define-the-relationship conversation was had, and a relationship was formed.

Him: The months passed, the dates came and went, and Paul continued to fall in love with this beautiful young woman and knew he wanted to marry her. So, he started to devise a plan on how he would “pop the question”. Naturally, secrecy was of the upmost importance, especially since Luci told him that surprising her is an extremely hard undertaking, but she wanted him to try. Taking up that challenge, Paul started to think about how he wanted to ask Luci to marry him. He had to be cautious not to give away any details. The day finally arrives, Thanksgiving, and what better way than a holiday surrounded by family. After asking Luci’s Dad (Scott) for his blessing and getting a stand-in ring while the real ring was getting sized, Paul was ready to get down on one knee. The family was sitting in a circle and writing down things they were thankful for on pieces of paper for others to draw and read and so Paul’s plan gets set in motion. Paul’s parents walk around and pick up all the pieces of paper and, using some next level misdirection, kept Paul’s paper/marriage proposal out of the bag while the other pieces of paper were passed back out until Luci was left and picked Paul’s paper last. When the turn to read reached Luci, she was left a little confused and originally thought the proposal was a joke, until Paul got down on his knee and asked her to marry him. The following weeks had much joy and laughs and thanks to the Lord for bringing them together and much prayer that He would continue to bless their relationship. Her: After several months of dating, Luci had grown to see Paul’s love for the Lord and for the people around him. She was confident that Paul was the man that God gave her to marry. Luci isn’t easy to surprise, but she was hopeful that Paul would pull it off with his proposal. Once it was out in the open that Paul and Luci were both ready to be engaged, Luci would pepper Paul with questions about the time and place of the proposal, but Paul kept things close to the vest. The day before Thanksgiving, Paul and Luci were hanging out, and Luci’s radar went up when Paul seemed a bit more jumpy than usual. She wrote it off as just overthinking, but when Paul still seemed frazzled on the morning of Thanksgiving, Luci wondered if there was something going on. A proposal wasn’t on her mind, but she thought Paul might’ve been planning to give her a gift or something. Upon Paul and Luci’s arrival to Paul’s family Thanksgiving, Paul’s sister asked him how he was doing—to which he responded with an enthusiastic “Great!” By God’s grace, Luci didn’t hear this—Paul is not what one would call an expressive guy, so this would’ve put her on high alert for sure. A sweet tradition that Paul’s family has on Thanksgiving is sitting in a circle and writing what they are thankful for on a slip of paper, then taking turns drawing those slips from a bowl and guessing who wrote what. Unbeknownst to Luci, Paul did have a gift to give her that day—an engagement ring! With the help of Paul’s parents, the slips were distributed in such a way that guaranteed Luci would draw the slip Paul wrote the special question on. Paul took a knee in the presence of family and loved ones, and Luci gave an enthusiastic yes. Since then, God has been gracious to us through all stages of our planning for this special day. We make our plans, but the Lord directs our steps, and we appreciate continued prayers for a special, God-honoring wedding on May 17th, 2025.