Sadie and I met in high school--actually middle school--7th/8th grade Competitive PE was our shared first class (tells you a lot about us, never doing anything normal). We knew each other but never much more. In high school, we ran cross country and track together and hung out for those events but not much outside of that. I always admired her (how could you not...). She was cute, sweet, fun, godly, and a joy to be around, but I never had much intent to date her. She also had no intent of dating me. We went off to college and never thought of each other really, except for the annual “Happy Birthday!” text Sadie would send me each year with my excited reply of “Thank you". One year though, I just had a profound sense of, “I should reach out to her. She’s a special person, and I need to keep in touch with her”. This started our bi-annual catch up over text for the next couple of years and also prompted us meeting up in Vegas over winter break whenever we were in town. Shout-out to our dogs for giving us something to bond over and giving us a reason to hang out - I mean they had to meet and walk together. At the end of college, I got a job in the rotational program I’m in. I knew I’d be moving around and that she was wrapping up OT school and staying in DFW. The last time we met up in Vegas we said goodbye, and she said, “If you ever move to Dallas let me know”. I said, “I will”, not knowing what that meant but feeling something different. Last year, I was assigned to Dallas, so I let her know, and with her super interested response of “Wooo!” and nothing else, I knew she cared. However, I had a trip to check out housing in DFW and so naturally, I wanted to meet up. Praise God for there being a graduation party at her house that she did not want to be at that gave her no other option but to leave and hang out for an evening. We got ice cream, had dinner, and went to Billy Bob’s with some of her grad school friends. In driving her back to her car that night, I never felt so happy and so disappointed to go back to Connecticut before officially moving out here in two months; the night felt like a movie. She was incredible, so easy to hang out with, so beautiful, and we worked so well together. I knew when I moved back something was going to happen. Boy did it, but not at first. The first weekend I got here, we had a great time together and admitted we liked each other. We both left for the fourth of July week, and in coming back, we had our moment that brought us here. Before moving to Texas, I had two strong convictions: I needed to grow closer to God, and Sadie Oakley. However, one comes before the other for a reason. Sadie, in her boldness, knew this and said I needed to grow first before anything happened between us, and this needed to happen separately. No contact, no friendship, just "text me when you know you are ready". Every good marriage needs a break up first right? Without this time, nothing would have happened. As I was being radically transformed by God in His discipline, learning what it meant to lead and becoming equipped to do so through the Spirit, Sadie was patiently waiting. We trusted in God and nothing else, and without this time, we would have failed. Marriage is serious and needs to be respected. We both knew that’s where we were heading, so we needed to start with the right foundation. After THE LONGEST FIVE WEEKS EVER CREATED we met back up and that was it. First date - I love God, second date - I love you, third date - what’s your ring size. This wasn’t too fast; it was planned, ordained, and we have nothing but faith in that. We never knew God was working in our lives for this until it happened, and then it all made sense. We both say this has been the easiest thing we’ve ever done and has never felt like dating. Everything fits perfectly and has fallen into place. We are each other’s person, each other’s gift, and we have nothing left to do but praise God and be married.