Nathan and Alexa both attended and graduated from Trinity University: Alexa in 2021 and Nathan in 2022. Despite attending the same small university with mutual friends and interests, they never met during their time as students, until the night before Nathan’s graduation in May of 2022. Alexa’s Point of View After her graduation, Alexa took a job in communications and marketing at Trinity. It was through her work that she came across a Trinity University interview with Nathan regarding his hobbies, interests, and accomplishments in college. Despite the fact that she was impressed and thought he was handsome and kind looking, she thought it best not to interact with him as a staff member of the university that he was graduating from that spring. (Technicalities…) As time went on, she continued to randomly hear more about Nathan through mutual friends. Nathan’s Point of View As graduation approached with a lot of uncertainty regarding next steps, Nathan continued his weekly habit of eating lunch outside by the university fountain. One of these days was the first time that he saw Alexa in person, also eating lunch outside, and he was immediately curious about who the beautiful woman was. Around this time, Alexa followed Nathan on social media, and they began to see each other in mutual friends’ posts. Alexa While Alexa was definitely intrigued by this seemingly kind, smart, and down-to-earth guy, and had heard about his interest in her through their mutual friend (shoutout to Josefina), she decided to let the situation play out however it would. Nathan After seeing Alexa appear on his friends’ posts, Nathan took a leap of faith and messaged her to ask if she was interested in getting to know each other. After eventually getting left on read by her (but hey you gotta shoot your shot)…. he continued preparing for graduation finals and celebrations. The night before graduation, Nathan learned that Alexa and some of their mutual friends were celebrating the upcoming day at Jandro’s, a nearby bar in SA, but he decided to spend the evening with his family and go to bed early to prepare for the big day. However, as he was driving home that night he felt the Holy Spirit encouraging him to take another leap of faith and meet Alexa and their friends. That was the night that he began to fall in love with her. Alexa In her defense… :) Alexa was sorting out some things on her end, but appreciated and was impressed by Nathan’s initiative! That night at Jandro’s, Alexa felt that there was something different about Nathan. She noticed that he was, in fact, down-to-earth and kind, and that conversation with Nathan was fun—she looked forward to getting to know him more. Nathan After politely crashing his friends’ celebration that evening, Nathan dropped Alexa off at her car. As he drove home, he prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide him and be with him in whatever came next in their (hopefully) future interactions. Within the next week they hung out twice again. After spending time together for two or three weeks, they started dating, quickly became best friends, and after almost a month of knowing each other, and in a whirlwind, they fell in love and started to talk about getting married. Nathan still thinks about that prayer he said the night that they first met. In the two years that they have been together, they have gone through lots of challenging events and seasons of loss and change. But through it all, they’ve learned how to love hard—in emotion and in action, with patience, understanding, community, support, laughter, adventure, a growth mindset, and an open heart. They look forward to a lifetime of adventure, laughter, growth, and love. They expect the reality of life’s messiness, but hope that with a solid foundation and God’s guidance, together they will finish well. They would love and appreciate your prayers for God’s hand to be always in their story! Thank you for being on the journey with us.