After making the trek cross country and moving to Colorado in September 2021, my sister and I stumbled upon our church (Restoration) where we had visited for the first time in May a few months prior. I remember, (although he may recall otherwise), meeting Nick for the first time at an event we served together while being involved with “The Brook” college ministry at Denver University. We remained friends for quite some time getting to know one another during group friend hangs and serving alongside each other at church. I’ve always admired Nick from a distance with how loyal, disciplined, and servant-hearted he was and still is for all of his friends, family, and community at RST and in Denver. Back in October of 2022 my family came to town to visit. After picking them up from the airport on the way back home, my poor car, Mags, was a victim of an unfortunate hit and run that left her in need of a pretty gnarly butt lift. :( The first person that came to my mind to help me and my damsel in distress of a Subaru was Nick. As per one of my love languages, I proceeded to send him extensive audio messages explaining my situation which ended up shifting our friendship into……the texting zone. The first time Nick and I spent ANY one-on-one time together was in our little realm of back and forth iMessages that led to him checking out my car 🙈. To preface, I swear I did not have any feelings for Nick during this time!!! However, in December of 2022, I created a group chat with Nick, my sister, and our friend, Deon and took it upon myself to volunteer Nick to host a dinner at his house. I have never been over prior (although Nick would interject by stating that I’ve always been invited 🤚), where I offered to cook dinner for us and spend some quality time together because they were the first friends I wanted to pray with and disclose my desire to move to Germany and apply for the Steiger Missions school. I remember so distinctly… as I was cooking and helping myself to Nick’s kitchen, all discombobulated, and attempting to use all of his supplies for the first time, I needed to reach for the olive oil on his counter. When he handed it over to me, I will never forget the amount of butterflies floating around in my belly as he was standing next to me and watching me probably all flustered trying to keep anything from burning! All I kept thinking in that moment was, man, there really is not a whole lot of room for Jesus between me and him right now 🫢. After our dinner, before I left, Nick asked if he wanted to give me a *personal, private* tour of his house which really escalated the whole butterfly situation! As I tried to remain cool, calm, and collected, all I kept thinking was “woah, Nick Lipski is so cool, his house is so cool, Nikki, you need to make sure you keep your cool!!!” So much so, that when we hugged goodbye, I accidentally stole his Tupperware and took home his leftover cheesecake that my sister so graciously made for him. Talk about a foreshadow into our relationship… About a week later, to my surprise, Nick asked me out at the end of a surprise party that we attended for one of our dear friends. Sweet Nick and his boldness never ceases to catch me off guard…especially when I have to pee! (I’ll let him tell that side of the story 😜). It took about a week of waiting for us to finally go on our first date, since at the time I had a ‘less than ideal’ night shift nurse schedule, but all I have to say is, boy oh boy, it was totally worth the wait! ❤️‍🔥

Before I even met Nikki I remember hearing about "the twins from Chicago." When I finally did meet Nikki and Jenni on the patio outside our old church building I remember Nikki's smile and laugh. After getting to know her better I started thinking about asking her out. I don't quite remember which Sunday, but one Sunday after church I remember talking to a friend who asked me, "What do you think about Nikki?" To which I replied, "She's awesome!" He then said, "Great. I'm going to ask her out!" Well, I guess it wasn't meant to be...yet :) Nikki and I stayed friends for awhile and in my mind I had relegated myself to believing that we would always be that, just really good friends. Then one day Nikki put me, her sister, and our friend, Deon, into a group chat to get dinner together. She promptly volunteered me to host since she had never been to my house (despite multiple invitations haha). That night, Nikki shared her desire to go to Germany for a missions school in the fall. I remember hearing her heart for Jesus and another side of her in a depth I had never known before. Prior to this I had decided to not date for awhile, but I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't ask her out on a date. Despite her expressing her desire to move across the world for missions and the possibility of anything happening between us, I decided to ask her out and risk our friendship changing in the hopes of something more :) We were both invited to a friend's birthday party the next week and I decided if I saw her there I would ask her out. Well, when I walked in the door she was the first person I saw. We chatted briefly and she proceeded to talk to another one of our friends most of the evening. As the night was drawing to a close I knew I had to make my move haha. I awkwardly inserted myself into their conversation and waited for a moment alone with her. We all stood up to leave and she said she had to go to the bathroom. I said, "Hey Nikki, can I ask you a question before you go?" To which she replied, "Of course, I can hold my pee for twelve hours since I'm a nurse!" I don't remember how I responded to that, but I shared my feelings after hearing her desire to go to Germany and I knew it didn't make sense, but asked if I could take her out on a date sometime to which she said... "Yes!" It was another week and a half before we went on that first date, at which she tried to keep it a secret from her roommates but they found out anyways. I picked her up and we talked for 4+ hours over our pasts, some concerns, and ultimately decided to go on another date. Before that next date though, Nikki said we needed to talk and I assumed that meant she didn't want to go out anymore. Before we met up Nikki's car broke down and I met her to fix it (loose ground wire to the battery). Afterwards we talked in the car for almost an hour about if we should date or not based on her potentially moving and some other concerns. In the end we decided to try it out and "just go on dates" for the foreseeable future. The next day we went on a double date with some friends to see the Chosen Season 3 premiere. Afterwards, Nikki came back to my house and she said, "Nick, I don't want to go on dates anymore, I want to say we are dating!" (That was a quick turn of events!) After that we proceeded to go on many dates from long walks around Sloan's Lake, to skiing, and eventually our "Big M" dates as we started talking about marriage and the future of our relationship. During all of this, Nikki still went to Germany for missions and we dated long distance for two months with only 3 phone calls the entire time! But God had a plan and I eventually took her advice that she liked diamonds and surprises and on January 20th, 2024, I proposed to the love of my life while cross country skiing <3