We met on Facebook Dating. Not in the “looking for love” section. Not in the “ready for something serious” section. Nope. We met under the “Just Friends” option. Because obviously… we had zero intention of dating each other. I slid into Roger’s DMs first. Bold, I know. 😂 I complimented his smile and told him I liked his shirt, a red sweatshirt with a cross on it. It caught my attention, but honestly? So did he. We messaged for a few days. The conversation felt easy. Natural. Different. He talked to me about God. Not in a forced way just real, honest conversation. And I remember thinking, okay… this is refreshing. There was a food festival I really wanted to go to, so I invited him. And he bailed on me last minute. (Yes. This is part of the love story. Stay with me.) But he recovered quickly. He asked if we could go bowling instead. He said he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to hang out because he had really been enjoying our conversations. So we met up at Main Event. Right away, he didn’t let me open my own door. Green flag. We walked in, he paid for bowling, I paid for the arcade games. It wasn’t awkward. It wasn’t forced. It felt… balanced. We bowled. We played games. We sat and talked. We bowled some more. We sat in the food area… and didn’t even order food. A year later, we realized we were both starving that night, but neither of us wanted to eat in front of the other. 😂 The conversation never ended. Hours passed, but it felt like minutes. When we left that “hangout session,” we were both pretending it was casual. Roger went home thinking, “I want to see her again.” I went home thinking, “If that had been a first date, that would’ve been the best first date ever.” The next day, he called me. We were just talking like normal when he randomly said, “Had it been a date, that would have been one of the best first dates.” We both laughed. At first, we agreed it wasn’t a date. Just two friends hanging out. We decided we’d stay friends and see where it went. And somehow… we started hanging out more days than we didn’t. What started under “Just Friends” quietly turned into something neither of us were looking for, but both of us were ready for.

After Angie and I met, we walked through some challenges. During that time, I knew I had a lot of work to do on my own character. I knew I wasn’t ready. And I told myself I wouldn’t move forward with her until God made it undeniably clear. She wasn’t in a rush (at least not that I knew of lol), and I made her wait almost 10 months before officially asking her to be my girlfriend. But it wasn’t out of hesitation, it was because I wanted to date with intention. In the beginning, Angie wasn’t a Christian. She had said she was agnostic. Throughout our friendship and the early stages of dating, I constantly prayed over her. I talked about Jesus little by little, not forcefully, not manipulatively. I just always told God, “I don’t want to flirt to convert. If this is You, it has to be You.” I invited her to church once. Just once. Months later she jokingly said, “If only you ever invited me to church lol.” And I told her, “I did, but I wasn’t going to pressure you. The invitation was always open.” Then one day, about a month or two later, I remember looking up and seeing the most beautiful, incredible woman walk through the doors at 360. I was speechless. I was excited. I couldn’t believe she came. she was actually there. From that day on, Angie kept coming. She kept receiving. And I have watched God move in her life in ways that only He could. Eventually, she decided to give her life to God and became a member of our church. Seeing her relationship with Christ grow has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. As our friendship grew deeper, I felt a strong urge to ask Angelique to be my girlfriend. But again, God kept me patient. I didn’t want to ask out of emotion. I wanted certainty. I didn’t want just another relationship; I wanted a wife. I wanted a future with Christ at the center. So, I sought approval and wisdom from my mentors and leadership. Every single one of them was excited for me. They told me she was amazing — and basically told me to hurry up and stop wasting time lol. So, one night, we went to our favorite restaurant, Umiya. We sat down, ordered our food, and after a while I handed her a card I had made. Inside was a tiny handwritten book telling her how incredible she is and what she means to me. On the very last page, it said: “Will you be my girlfriend?” Praise God, she said yes. And now look at us. I love this woman deeply. What started with patience, prayer, and surrender has turned into something beautiful, something built with Christ at the center. And I wouldn’t change a single part of the journey.

Roger has always been intentional, I always knew at some point we would be getting married, but also he was just mysterious enough to keep me guessing when that would be. Months before the proposal, I was convinced it was coming. A “Christmas gift for his boss” package arrived that he was being very weird about. I knew he was being suspicious . I KNEW IT! But then he threw me off completely. The Monday before the proposal, he told me it wouldn’t be happening for a very long time. “like a very, very, VERY long time “ he said. I believed him. (I shouldn’t have.) On the day of, he took me to the beautiful Valerie Marie Greenhouse. It was just the two of us and our photographer. Even walking in, I wasn’t fully convinced this could be it, because if you really know Roger, you know he absolutely could have taken me to a greenhouse “just for pictures.” He’s a cheese-ball guys. Before we even got inside, we had our insider moment. He was supposed to blindfold me when we got out of the car, but instead I shut my eyes tight and hid inside the hood of my sweater. ( I didn’t even try to peek. Props to me. Also, ask me what I thought I was being surprised with because I was SO OFF.😂 ) hint:🐷🐐 We took two steps and a branch smacked me in the face because it caught onto his shirt. I started laughing, He panicked , “Oh my gosh, Babe…are you okay?” I was fine! We kept walking and giggling. I said, “Why do I feel like I’m about to fall into a hole?” Two steps later Later.… I tripped into one. We were laughing SO HARD I could barely hear the music playing. (It was my favorite song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”)🥹🌈 When we finally walked into the greenhouse, it was filled with flowers, candles, and the softest glow. He told me to look around and take it all in. So I did. I was staring at everything,the florals, the lights, every detail. But I still was not fully convinced this was it.😅 Then I realized he had both of my hands in his. He was gently trying to shimmy me, to get me to look at him, but I was busy soaking in the room. When I finally looked up, he had the biggest, cheesiest smile on his face He said, “Soo… I brought you here for a reason…. I have a very important question to ask you.” And then he got down on one knee.🥹💓 In that moment, I wasn’t just overwhelmed with excitement. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. For the prayers that led us both here. For the growth. For the way he loved me intentionally. I was crying so hard that I genuinely think I may have forgotten to say yes, because the next thing I heard was, “So… is that a yes?” Through tears and laughter (and a very real ugly cry), I said, “Yes! Of course it’s a yes! I thought it was implied”😂 Later, we couldn’t stop laughing about our little mishaps outside …the branch, the hole, the chaos before the beauty. And I remember telling him that moment felt like a glimpse into the future of our life together. Life might smack us around a little, It might even trip us up. But I can’t imagine wanting to go through any of it, with anyone else in the world. So on that day, in the middle of flowers and laughter and happy tears, I got to say “YES” to forever with my best friend.🤍