When I met Desiree, the first thing I noticed about her was how great she was at connecting with people. We were at a young adults group at our church when I started getting to know her. I often saw her with a group of people smiling and laughing and having a fun conversation. As I started having my own conversations with her, I found that along with her joyful personality she had a deep and foundational love for Jesus. Over time, I got to know Desiree better and we started to develop a really great friendship. Every time I would get to spend one on one time with Desiree, I was just struck by how much I loved spending time with her and how much I enjoyed just being around her. She really prioritized loving others well and was willing to be vulnerable and humble as she was trying to grow to become more like Jesus. When I realized that she had all the qualities I was looking for, I started trying to spend more time with her one on one, and I was met with a variable amount of success. During the Summer, Desiree invited a group of us to join her for a sunrise yoga class. I told her I was in and I secretly hoped that no one else would end up joining us. Fortunately no one else did and it ended up just being us. I had very little interest in doing Yoga but every Thursday I would wake up at 5:30 am and join Desiree in that class. One night, I was talking to my cousin about how I could ask Desiree out and I realized that the time that we chat after our yoga class would be perfect. Desiree and I were also texting that night and I was caught off guard when she asked me, “Do you even like yoga?” I started brainstorming with my cousin about what I could say to her and after a lot of back and forth, I finally decided on this: “Let me try one more time and then I’ll let you know.” The next morning, we had our normal time to chat as we were walking out to our cars after the class and that’s when I told her, “So I don’t actually like yoga that much, but I like you."

I often write out my thoughts and prayers, and that morning I wrote, “It’s been 9 months since the love of my life said we should go on a date - oh what an adventure it’s been. Truly the best decision of my life. The relationship that was born out of a deep friendship, that was the dream and now it’s my reality. Is today the day, Lord?” Ben and I knew that we were getting engaged, but I didn’t know when it would happen. As we texted throughout the day, he kept asking me what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go. I suggested a picnic at the park where we had our first date. At this point, I assumed that was all we were doing and I was excited to simply spend the evening with him. We grabbed dinner and had a lovely picnic in the park. The weather was perfect, so we thought a walk along the waterfront after dinner would be nice. I needed to use the bathroom and hoped we'd find one on the way. We were almost to the waterfront when I saw the Society Hotel and pointed it out. We had been to the hotel a few times for rooftop concerts, and it was a place both Ben and I loved. I thought, "Maybe they’re open and I can use their bathroom." The door was locked, but there was a lady inside who opened the door for us. We asked if I could use their bathroom and to my surprise she said yes and even offered for us to go see their rooftop, too. She said, "It’s such a beautiful night, why don’t you go see the view?" This was the first time I realized that he might propose to me! We rode the elevator up to the roof and as the doors opened, I saw rose petals sprinkled on the floor. My heart started beating faster - I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. We were on a rooftop overlooking Portland, the sun was setting, and the man I loved was getting down on one knee. He is everything I've prayed for and more. He's invested not only in me but also in my family. He's taught me how to trust and lean on Jesus more. So when he asked me to marry him, it was easy. Of course I said yes!