The decision to propose to Sabrina snuck up on me. For years, Sabrina and I discussed the possibility of marriage, but we were never quite in the same place. I wanted to, she was scared 😂. After we started making plans to go to Germany for her lab-mate’s wedding, she started saying that she was ready. Suddenly the ball was back in my court. About 3 months before the trip, I started rolling the idea around of proposing in Europe, but it wasn’t until about a month before that I resolved to actually do it. By the time we were boarding the plane, I had the perfect ring, her parents' blessing, and Sabrina had no idea. We coupled our trip to Germany with a side trip to Italy. It was on our first day in Rome that I decided to propose. I suggested we go to a nearby hill that looks out over the city first thing in the morning. I made sure I had the ring, and we made the climb to the top. Unfortunately, there were a ton of tourists - not ideal. I wanted the proposal to be a private moment. I looked around and saw a park nearby and told her we should go explore that area next, hoping this would be more private. When we got there, it didn’t pan out. At this point, I'm starting to frantically look for places to propose. That's when I spotted a couple disappearing down stone steps under a canopy of lush greenery, and noticed a dirt path heading in that direction. Hoping that I'd finally found the proposal spot, I suggested we follow the path. Her reaction was, “I’m loving this adventurous spirit of yours!” 😂. She still didn't know what was happening! We walked down the steps to the first landing into a beautiful space surrounded by palm trees. She started taking pictures, and I started to tell her how much I cared for her and loved her. She wasn’t having any of it, and started towards the stairs. Quickly realizing actions would speak louder than words, I dropped to one knee and asked her to marry me. She was speechless at first, then quickly said yes, and the rest is history.

Sabrina and I met on a cool Wednesday night during the spring semester of our Freshmen year at Auburn University. Wednesday night’s were the college ministry’s worship night. Unfortunately, my computer lab class conflicted with the worship night, so I was never able to make it. However, there was one fateful night that it was taking place on campus instead of church and I happened to finish my classwork early enough to attend the end of it...and lucky for me, that's when I was introduced to Sabrina. What I love to look back on is how close I came to not showing up that night, but God had other plans for us.