We met briefly at Crossings Community Church in Summer 2016. We both share a love for student ministry, and Jan had just finished a summer internship at Crossings, the same job Sonnet worked the summer before. We ran in the same circles of friends since then, but never spent any time together. The opportunity to "meet" didn't arise until nearly 3.5 years later- via instagram! Jan slid into Sonnet's DMs, asked her to coffee, and the rest is history!

We had talked for several months about the calling we felt towards marriage, so I (Sonnet) knew the proposal would be coming before the end of the summer. My wildest dreams couldn't have compared to what he ended up doing! He arranged to surprise me on a Sunday afternoon after my women's bible study. From there, he took me to where we had our first date (Elemental Coffee), and as we turned a corner, there was the most romantic setup ever: live musicians singing our song, a picture mural that journeyed through our relationship, a rose petal pathway. We got to the bottom of the stairs, he shared a lot of sweet thoughts, and then got down on one knee! I was so excited I couldn't even utter "yes!". I just cried tears of joy and hugged him! Afterwards, he took me to a park where my entire family was there to celebrate, there was a drive-by party with dozens of our friends (hello COVID-19), and even video messages from additional friends and one of my favorite music artists. It was pure perfection from top to bottom.