Our story starts in kindergarten when we met at a homeschool group and had class together. Over the next several years we saw each other yearly for homeschool events and Daniel developed a crush on “the cute redheaded girl that kept showing up at.” Come middle school, we were in separate groups, however, and didn’t see each other. Then one day in 7th grade, Daniel noticed a visitor in his art class. It was the same redheaded girl he had had a crush on for years. He didn’t know her name, but he did recognize her face. Even though Daniel had not realized it, Bekah had actually started going to Daniel’s church in 6th grade. She knew his name and thought he was really smart. In 8th grade, Bekah joined PEP, Daniel’s homeschool group, but she and Daniel only had math class together. He still remembers that she seemed to be the only one from that class who would listen and respond when he was talking. The next summer, our youth group travelled to Kansas City for a conference and on the drive back we talked together about our summer reading for PEP. It may not seem like much, but it rekindled Daniel’s crush on Bekah. In 9th grade we had almost all of our classes together and became consistent competitors, especially in Physics. We were usually the only students to answer questions in class. Bekah still didn’t have a crush on Daniel. But she did admire his discipline and academic skill and knew he was respected by the teachers. That summer we went with our youth group on a mission’s trip to Logan, West Virginia. During the trip we had multiple deep conversations and began to get to know each other a bit more. Bekah paid close attention to Daniel whenever he was around and definitely started liking him.

Then 10th grade came, and we were both disappointed to find out we only had 2 classes together. Then one day we were in study hall trying to get homework done. Daniel was there to try and impress Bekah with his homework dedication. Bekah was trying to be efficient with her time. Daniel ended up in an extensive conversation about superheroes with someone nearby, Lauren. By the end of the hour, Bekah had joined in. And little did we know, the three of us, Bekah, Daniel, & Lauren, would quickly become a tight friend group. Every lunch hour we would all talk and often have very serious conversations. Two weeks in, Daniel brought up the question to us of what we thought dating should look like. Bekah thought it was just another casual conversation. Daniel thought it was an opportunity to figure out how best to pursue Bekah. Throughout the entire year our friendship extended into church and Daniel and Bekah became best friends that very much liked each other. Daniel played coy. And Bekah was oblivious to his intentions. At the end of the school year, Daniel gave Bekah a bookmark with a fern he pressed and the Bible verse “A friend loves at all times” to describe our friendship. Both of us were excited about our summer youth group trip to Louisville where we would have a whole week together. But Daniel felt God tug him that we needed to talk to other people that week. Bekah felt God’s tug that we needed some distance because we had become so close and exclusive. Bekah was the one to act on this prompting and brought it up in conversation. And we promptly and awkwardly stopped talking and hanging out almost completely. Apparently, we did not how to do things in moderation. This shift was extremely difficult for both of us.

11th grade was the year of awkwardness. It was a very hard year for both of us. We went the entire year with hardly any interaction even though we had many classes together. Daniel’s way to cope with the stress was working excessively at Chick-Fil-A. And meanwhile, Bekah was busy dealing with emotional drama with her job at Kroger. The year passed gradually and painfully. That summer, on another church trip, Bekah wrote Daniel a note thanking him for respecting her need for some space. Daniel interpreted it as there was no chance of ever becoming friends again. Next up was 12th grade. Because Daniel was so done with the drama of the uncertainty, he wanted to just be done with it. Even though God was telling Daniel to talk to Bekah about dating, he fought against it as hard as he could. He knew he was going to lose the fight; he just didn’t know how. During this time, Bekah still wondered if there was a possibility of us reconnecting and maybe one day dating. So, she decided to try to drop a few hints since Daniel showed no sign of taking a first step. She started going to more of her brother Judah‘s soccer games (he was on the same team as Daniel) and trying to start conversations with Daniel there.

Because he had been so resistant to talking to Bekah, Daniel was terrified that God would prompt her dad to talk to him about talking to her about dating. It turned out it wasn’t her dad. It was her brother. One evening Bekah was driving Judah home from a friend’s house and they were talking about crushes so of course Daniel came up in the conversation. Judah proceeded to pull out his phone and text Daniel “Hey, when are you going to do something about the weirdness with Bekah and ask her out?” Daniel knew then that he couldn’t run anymore. That evening he finally texted Bekah asking if we could talk soon about our relationship moving forward. So just few days later, after Thanksgiving breakfast at church, both petrified, we stepped out into the hall for a pivotal conversation. Bekah directly asked Daniel his intentions and he told her he eventually hoped that reconnecting would lead to marriage. Although we did not call it that at the time, we look back on that first conversation, November 19th, 2018, as the day we truly began dating. And from there we slowly started rebuilding our friendship from what we had lost over the last year and a half from not talking. We enjoyed time hanging out over the next several months and on our first date we went to the Morrow Bike trail for a bike ride. That Spring, at Bekah’s graduation, Daniel told her he had something to say. Bekah, distracted by the heat and painful heels, wondered what in the world he could have to say since she already knew he liked her. He then said, “I love you” and she responded “thank you” and grinned the whole way home. The next month, on our last date before Daniel left the country on a mission’s trip, we went hiking, and while resting, Bekah leaned over and said, “I love you.”

That fall, we went reluctantly off to separate colleges, 6 hours apart. Bekah went to Lee University in Tennessee to study nursing and Daniel went to Liberty University in Virginia to study Biblical Studies. Long-distance was very hard, but by the end of the year, through all the hardships we went through individually and together, we knew our relationship was worth the wait and the pain. Sophomore year was unique. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we both ended up back in Cincinnati but quarantined with our respective families. Thus, we continued “long-distance” dating from only 17 miles apart. We also had to deal with poor internet which impaired our ability to video call making it an extremely difficult 7 weeks of not seeing each other. Finally, in May, we were able to meet up again at the Morrow bike trail, which was one of our favorite spots.

In early summer, Daniel visited a ring shop. Even though the ring would come in it’s own box, Daniel wanted to make his own box with special meaning behind it. So, copying the book mark design from 10th grade, he created a shadow box with string art to propose. Then, on August 9th, 2020, we went out for a picnic chipotle lunch at Bekah’s favorite park. There Daniel presented the box to her in a brown paper package tied up with string. And as you may have guessed by now, she said yes. “Heck yes,” to be precise. The next 2 semesters passed slowly as we trudged on through school, but we had the light at the end of the tunnel ahead. As we have planned for our wedding, we continue to become increasingly excited about getting married and continuing our story and our friendship when . . . WE BECOME MR. AND MRS. KINGSLEY ON DECEMBER 18, 2021 !!!