It is Sept 7th, 2022 and Samantha asks her dear friend (and now bridesmaid) Grace Wilson to sit next to her at church. Grace leads Samantha to a group of her ONU friends and Samantha sits next to this guy she has never seen/met (Matthew Howard). After church, a little later in the day, Samantha and Matthew both (unknowingly) reached out to Grace to ask if the other person was single. (Shoutout Grace for being our wing-woman!) Grace encouraged each of them, individually, to talk with the other person. The following Sunday, Sept 14th 2022, Samantha saw Matthew again at church and he asked her if anyone was sitting next to her, making it known to Samantha that he wanted to sit next to her. After church, Matthew ran after Samantha as she was headed to the Big Room to help teach the 1-5th graders during the second service and asked her out for coffee "at the place that has two g's" (referring to Biggby but Matthew has no idea what he is talking about, he only knows that Grace shared that Samantha likes coffee, so he is trying to know coffee). Samantha agreed and they went on their first coffee date Sunday Sept 21, 2022, which was also the day that Samantha and her roommate Ashley were moving into their apartment, so Matthew (wanting to spend more time with Samantha) offered to help her move and also went to Samantha's parents' house (!) and helped move boxes to her and Ashley's apartment! Talk about a first date! A month later, Oct 19th, 2023, Matthew officially asked Samantha to be his girlfriend and then about a year and a half later, June 1st, 2024, Matthew proposed to Samantha on their beautiful trip to Alaska!! Getting married Sept 2025 is full circle as we met in Sept 2022! We are so excited to walk, run, dance, fall, get back up, in our marriage. We believe when God designed marriage, he designed a very good thing. Something to glorify Himself through and a process of choosing someone, every day, despite their flaws, faults and so much more. Choosing to forgive and to truly be sanctified through the process of choosing to love a flaw filled human, every day, for the rest of our lives until Eternity! We are so blessed for a community that has seen us as little individual babies, whom God molded in his mind and heart first, to now adults who truly have been blessed by God in the most awesome ways. We are so excited to continue to not only walk and learn about God individually, but as one! For our wedding, we would love to glorify not only the work each of you has poured into our lives but magnify and thank God for the work He has done in our lives, and also expect Him to do so much more good, out of the vessels He continues to shape us to be! We hope you can celebrate with us and look forward to seeing each and every one of you!