God tends to work in ways no one expects… which is why I had no idea that I was going to marry the guy I flipped pancakes with in the church kitchen. Jonathan and I were friends for about a year before we started dating. He was one of the first people that said hello when I visited North Fort Worth Baptist Church in August 2019. We were the only volunteers to flip pancakes for the Youth Ministry on my third Sunday at church, and we bonded over the massive griddle in the kitchen. We’d grown pretty close during the summer of 2020, thanks to a weekly virtual Movie Night and teaming up to create trivia nights for our Sunday School class. After I came back to DFW to prepare for the new school year, we started hanging out in Willow Creek Park, where lots of long walks and sunset-watching occurred. I mistakenly referred to one of these nights as a 'park date' instead of a 'park hang' and proceeded to freak out to anyone who would listen, thinking I'd ruined a great friendship with a typo. God clearly had other plans-- Jonathan had feelings, too! He planned a perfect stargazing first date in Azle and agreed to give dating a try. Our relationship was social-distanced and masked for seven months before our vaccines took effect, which brought several unique challenges. God worked through the quarantines and the Icepocalypse and the roadblocks to create something beautiful, based on our faith in Him and our willingness to follow wherever He leads. I see more of God's love, kindness, and faithfulness in Jonathan every day and plan on spending the rest of my life trying to love everyone the way that he loves me. I am so grateful to NFWBC for bringing us together and to God, for all of the little miracles along the way. Cheers to forever, y'all!

Finding the girl of my dreams in a church kitchen was not what I had planned in August 2019, but it's also not a surprise to see God do more than I could ever imagine while serving Him. We began a strong friendship, not knowing that we would be met with the seemingly immovable wall of the pandemic in March 2020. Thankfully, God's plan had a way around that! We began having movie nights during that time and began talking more than we had before. As feelings grew and we both hoped the other felt the same, we started talking about Covid-safe hangouts at the park. One night as I was giving my sister Shannon the updates on my crush, the infamous "park date" typo happened. I didn't see it till after I had hung up with Shannon. I immediately freaked out and called my older sister back! We had our "first" date on August 28th and both had an amazing time. Thus began Covid dating. You would think that sitting six feet apart, masked up, and having more video calls than in-person dates would be tragic. Once again, God knew what He was doing. We were able to build such a strong and genuine relationship based on communication and care for one another through this time. Make no doubt, we definitely waited for vaccines and a more typical dating experience with great anticipation. After eight months of waiting, (including surviving Snowpocalypse together), we finally got some normalcy. Through weekend day trips, anniversaries (I always enjoyed the monthly anniversaries), and more time together with maskless smiles, God continued to create growth within ourselves and in our relationship. We started reading, praying, and pursuing God, to see what He wanted for our relationship going forward. As with every other step of our relationship, we saw God move in mighty ways as only He can. I started making plans to propose and had the unbelievable opportunity to propose to my best friend on October 15th, 2021.

In typical fashion, Taylor was the last person to know about any of this. Taylor was under the assumption that the Elys and the Gaskins were meeting for the first time for a low-key dinner in one of Jonathan's favorite places. In reality, the proposal had been in the works for weeks. Jonathan masterfully organized the entire night, from getting both of our families to the Riverbend Retreat Center in Glen Rose to divvying up who was bringing what for dinner. When Taylor got to Glen Rose, she was thoroughly surprised to find that while everyone was present, no food was out on the table yet. Jonathan asked her to go for a walk, down a hill towards the riverside. On the way there, he spoke of forevers and how God guided us together. Taylor might have yelled Jonathan's full name when she figured it out. They arrived at the overhang, which was covered in string lights, and Jonathan made a blanket with our initials on it (which now hangs proudly in Taylor's apartment). Jonathan asked the magic question; Taylor said yes. They both cried, and everything was perfect. After a quick set of photos, they went back to the retreat center to find a beautiful dinner and a wonderful cake, courtesy of Jonathan's sister, Shannon. Halfway through dinner, there was a knock on the door. Taylor was shocked to find her best friend, Korinne, on the other side! Much merriment and happiness lasted through the night, ending with Jonathan and Taylor calling their loved ones to tell them the great news.