Our story begins with our friend Kim Rice. Kim works with Matt at Millard Public Schools and she attends Journey Church with Maureen. Kim and Maureen ran into each other at Gretna Days in July of 2017, and she mentioned she had someone she wanted Maureen to meet. She said playing matchmaker wasn't necessarily her thing, but we are forever grateful she listened to her heart and set us up. God definitely had a hand in that;) Fast forward a couple weeks later, Maureen knew Matt had her number but she hadn't heard from him yet. She decided to take matters into her own hands and sent him a Facebook message, asking him if he wanted to go out that weekend. Matt had plans, but they exchanged texts for a couple weeks and had their first date on September 4, 2017 at Blue Sushi. They sat and talked for hours. They knew instantly there was something special between them and, as they say, the rest is history... :)

Matt, Bryce, and I went out to dinner at Blue Sushi on September 7th, where Matt and I had our first date almost exactly one year ago to the date. Going out for sushi is a regular thing for us, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Little did I know, that night was going to be anything but ordinary:) We had decided we would go fishing after dinner so we had loaded up our poles before heading out. Unfortunately, when Bryce closed the car door, his pole snapped off at the tip and broke. Later they told me fishing was just an excuse to go to the lake, but in order to keep the story going, we headed to Scheels after dinner to get Bryce a new pole. Matt was getting a little anxious as the night turned a bit chilly and the sun began to go down. I even remember Bryce saying, "Hey Matt, did you know the sun sets at 7:45 tonight?" Haha! I thought it was odd for Bryce to randomly say that, but I didn't ask any questions. When we got to the lake, Bryce walked off a bit to fish off the bank and I cast out my line, determined to be the first one to catch a fish. We're a little competitive in our family:) Matt began saying really sweet things to me, something he does often and something I love about him, but then it turned serious sweet and I realized I should probably reel in my fishing line. Matt told me he loved me, he loved Bryce, and he wanted to make us a family forever. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and of course I said YES! It was perfect and full of love. I am so excited for our future together. I get to spend the rest of my life loving this amazing man. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

My plans for asking Maureen took shape in early August when I spoke with Bryce about marrying his mother. I had rehearsed over and over in my head of what I was going to say and talk about with him. I maybe was able to articulate 50% of my thoughts. As I fumbled through the, ”Would it be okay with you if…you know…” he quickly interjected and said, “Matt, I think that would be just fine. You are a good guy and you make my mom really happy.” Bryce’s only question to me was. “What’s your plan Matt?” I told him that I was hoping that we could all go to Happy Hour at Blue Sushi (our favorite spot) and then go check out a new lake in Omaha (Lake Flanagan) that we had been talking about. It was there that I would ask Maureen. He quickly suggested that we go fishing there as a family so it would seem even more like a typical family outing. The plan was beginning to really take shape! September 7th. It was going to be perfect. As we were packing up, Bryce’s pole was in the way of the rear passenger door…when he went to close it…” SNAP!” – about a ¼ of the end broke off. Who was the smart one that laid the pole by the door? Me of course! I didn’t want any of this to derail our plans, so I calmly and quickly suggested we go get Bryce a new pole at Scheel’s on the way to the lake. Timing is everything when setting a plan in motion. The extra time at Scheels was certainly unexpected and impacted us getting to the lake on time. Why the time crunch? With it being early September and dreary weather, light was going to be an issue if I was going to do this outside. Bryce – “HEY MATT…I think the sun is going to be setting in about 15 minutes.” I can picture him winking on the inside as he said that. I would say he is a good wingman! A quick run through the checkout and $30 later we were on our way to Lake Flanagan!

Once we got there we made our way down to the water’s edge. I completely lost my train of thought and what I was going to say. Maureen and I had barely taken a couple of casts when I set my pole down and turned towards her. I’m not even sure what words fumbled out of my mouth, but I do remember asking her, “Will you be my Forever?” and her saying, “Yes!” As I was on my knee I quickly looked to Bryce, who was fishing down the bank, and cleared my throat to get his attention. Bryce capped things off with such a beautiful mother-son moment…. he picked a sunflower nearby and gave it to his mother. He is a very thoughtful young man. September 7th was the next step toward my Forever with this beautiful woman and amazing son. Maureen was surprised, Bryce was happy, and I became the luckiest man on this Earth. Did the plan go perfectly? No, but that doesn’t matter. We are perfect together and that’s what is most important!