Matthew's Version: I first laid my eyes on Lauren back in 2015, our freshman year of college. We had a class together. Even though we never spoke, I was completely aware of who she was. Lauren transferred to a different school as my baseball career started to take off. After some time away, she decided to move back to North Carolina, so naturally, I reached out to her. The only problem was I was about to leave for New York. After our first date in September of 2019, we hit it off and everything worked out great for us. The pandemic started shortly after forcing me to stay home and miss a season of baseball. This allowed us to build our relationship stronger since we were able to be together. After a surprise proposal on Valentine's weekend of 2022, she said yes to forever with me. Lauren is beautiful, caring, and the one for me. I’m looking forward to starting our life together. Get ready 2023, here we come. ____ Lauren's Version: I still remember the first time I saw Matthew. It was our freshman year at Campbell University (2015). He sat a few rows in front of me and I definitely had a crush, but I was too shy to say hello. Later that year, I transferred to Kent State University and we never spoke... that was until we both graduated college in 2019 and I moved back to North Carolina. One summer night I received a notification that Matthew Barefoot sent me a message. The memories of my freshman year crush came rushing back to me. After a few days of talking, we decided it was time to go on our first date. Little did I know, he was about to get drafted and sent off to New York for the whole summer. After four long months of keeping in touch and anxiously waiting, Matthew finally made it back home and picked me up for our first date… and then never stopped picking me up for dates. My mom always said, when you know, you know, and she was right. It feels like the stars aligned, and I found my perfect match. Matthew has always made me feel so loved and I am lucky to call him mine. I can’t wait to share our day with all of you and marry my forever crush! See you in January ♥️

1 Peter 4:8