He knew who I was, I knew who he was, but a mission trip to El Salvador brought us our first interactions. We were in the same group and spent a week on the same mountain top, and a calm and cool Shane teaching the story of Abraham to a group of screaming 5 year olds made me try to convince some of the other girls on the trip that he was a catch, an opportunity THEY should not miss out on! Upon the arrival home, a friendship began and after a few months, I realized he was a catch, an opportunity that MIKAILA should not miss out on! After spilling my guts and saying the classic, "I really dig you a lot," (yes that is unfortunately actually what I said, people) Shane encouraged me to move along, because you know, he just didn't need to be dating anyone at this point in time. After a LONG AND TREACHEROUS (AND SOMETIMES CONFUSING) 8 months of getting to know one another and just truly becoming the very best of friends, Shane finally came around and asked me out. And praise the LAMB that he did, because he is truly my best friend in the entire world. We can't wait to spend our lives together, glorifying our Lord and living every moment together for Him!

As you already know, coronavirus stole our original plan. It was hard to swallow and every new plan that we tried to make got changed within hours of it being formulated. With an impending state lockdown looming over our 237th plan in 4 days, I woke up around 8am on Saturday, March 21. I was texting one of my bridesmaids just venting about how stressful it all was and how I didn't know what to do if we were in solitary confinement next Saturday at this time. Basically she said, "um, you can do whatever the heck you want," and I said, "maybe we should just do it tomorrow. I'm gonna get up and talk to my parents." About 20 min and a few texts with Shane and our photogs and wedding party later, our new date was March 22. Approximately 36 hours later LOLZ. The day and everything about it ended up being so sweet, so perfect. The spontaneity of it all brought back the excitement and fun that was kinda taken away from us. If you ever question how much people love you and care about you, make up a global pandemic and cancel a wedding. Our people showed up for us in ways that we couldn't have ever fathomed. Now it's all over and we get to celebrate with YOU! FINALLY! We are praying BIG that God will be all over everything and everyone on October 24.