Rachelle: Phil grew up in Iowa until middle school, when his family relocated to Mukilteo, WA. He spent his high school and college years in the Puget Sound area, followed with his two year service in the Peace Corp in Vanuatu. It was seeing his mention of Peace Corp in his online profile blurb on Bumble that greatly intrigued me and motivated me to reach out. We quickly found common ground through our worldview, low bar for jokes and desire to improve the world through service. I introduced Phil to the world of art and he introduced me to the world of nerds. We have been through a lot in the past four years together, including many stunning hikes in the PNW, living at his parents place for a good chunk of Covid (thank you Saikaly's!), Phil working hard to get into medical school and most recently and joyfully, the first few months of marriage. Phil: Rachelle was born and raised in Alaska on the island of Kodiak. She grew up in a commercial salmon fishing family. She dreamed of one day leaving to pursue her love of painting. After college she moved to Seattle just her skill set and no job (a daring move that I could never accomplish). The first time I met Rachelle was at a brewery in Edmonds after arranging to meet up through Bumble. I was immediately interested in meeting Rachelle because of our shared faith backgrounds. She regaled me with tales of growing up with bears for neighbors. One of the first pictures I saw of Rachelle was a self portrait on her Bumble profile, which gave me an immediate look at her artistic prowess. I had to meet this outdoorsy, artistic beauty. We were the last people at the brewery that night and continued the date with a walk. The whole time we spoke, I felt so stiff, because I was nervous, because I really liked her. I couldn't wait until the date was even over to ask her on a second date, and then another date, and another date. I owe so much to Rachelle, and I'm so excited to celebrate my marriage to her with all of you.