For those who knew me well leading up to 2019 I was never much of a ladies man (probably due to the fact that I incorporated sports into every conversation within 30 seconds). The fact that Aleisha was a “good friend” of mine during my first year of college should have been a clear sign that maybe she is a good person to go out on a date with. Who knows what may have happened, but, due to COVID and the both of us studying abroad, we never broke through the “good friend” criteria. That was until our last year of college when we ended up spending what seemed to be more and more time together as the year passed. Looking back, our big breakthroughs in our relationship came from two key events. 1) Aleisha injuring her back on a group hike in which I carried her back to the car (she very well may have been faking the injury) and 2) you guessed it…. men’s bible study (where she interpreted for a deaf friend). In the following of both of those moments/reoccurring events (I would drive Aleisha to and from our men’s group), I found that Aleisha was not only the easiest person to talk with but that she was extremely genuine and sincere. We continued to then “date” but were hesitant to become boyfriend/girlfriend as Aleisha would be gone for three months that summer. I ultimately decided that due to those circumstances we should stop hanging out one on one and see where things go once she came back. Aleisha agreed that this boundary would be a good idea and we will see if we still have feelings for each other at the end of the summer. Forty-eight hours later she became my girlfriend (so much for discipline). Extremely early on into our relationship I was oddly confident that although we had just started dating I knew that I would ultimately marry this lovely woman. That feeling was officially cemented when she told me she would become a Patriots fan, Tom Brady is the G.O.A.T., and that “Deflategate” was a myth. Furthermore, my family enjoys spending time with Aleisha than they do myself, and I would rather not have it any other way! However, in all seriousness, I truly believe that the Lord had hidden Aleisha as a romantic interest for me in my earlier years of our “good friends” stage due to the work that the Holy Spirit had been doing in my heart and identity. As much as I love the feeling of knowing I will spend the rest of my life with Aleisha I am so thankful of the timing throughout the totality of our relationship as I know I am now able to love and encourage her better than I could have in my younger years. I can say without a doubt that the best years of my life have been the ones with Aleisha as my companion, encourager, and accountability partner. I can write forever about the moments the two of us have shared together but for these purposes I will keep it short. Aleisha and I both cannot wait to celebrate our covenant of marriage we will make on June 7th in front of you all, and until then much love!

The first time that Thomas and I met was at the beginning of freshman year at a Young Life event for University of Redlands. Although we were both involved in similar crowds our freshman year, it wasn’t until Spring of 2020 that we really began hanging out as friends. I remember Spring of 2020, we banded together a sweet friend group consisting of Amy (my college best friend), Connor (Thomas’ college best friend), Thomas and I. About two weeks before the COVID shut down, the 4 of us got pizookies at BJ’s and we promised we would become “besties”… then COVID hit. I remember sporadically FaceTiming Thomas during this chunk of time and always appreciating him and our blooming friendship. Fast forward a year and a half, it wasn’t until Fall of 2021 that we all were back together on campus again. I distinctly remember Amy and I picking up Thomas and Connor, in Amy’s white, convertible slug bug, where we would force them to listen to the re-recording of Taylor Swift’s, Red album. Honestly legendary. At this point in time I definitely considered Thomas to be one of my closest guy friends at University of Redlands, but for whatever reason didn’t see him as a romantic prospect. This was probably due to his obsession with sports and just being one of my bros… (sorry Thomas). In January of 2022, we both embarked on our respective study abroad experiences and reunited September of 2022 for our senior year at University of Redlands. We continued to be good friends that fall semester, where we served on Young Life student staff together. In February of 2023, a small group of us from Young Life went on a Valentine’s Day hike together to Heart Rock. About, (I kid you not) 15 feet into the hike, I tweaked my back so horribly, it knocked the wind out of me and I could barely walk. Without hesitation, Thomas turns to me, offering me company and a piggy-back ride back to the car as the rest of the group finished the hike. We sat in the car for 2 hours just chatting about anything and everything. It was about an hour into this conversation where I had a very prominent thought of, “Oh my gosh… AM I IN LOVE WITH THOMAS CHRONIS?!”. I can’t explain it any other way than God removing the scales from my eyes. I kinda knew from that point forward that I was really supposed to be with Thomas (maybe even supposed to marry him!?). The next two months we began hanging out more and more, specifically on Monday nights where Thomas would give me a ride to Men’s Bible Study (I was ASL interpreting for a deaf student) and he would always drop me off last, where we would talk for hours in my driveway. About 3 weeks before graduation we both admitted feelings for one another, but I knew I was interning at a Young Life camp for three months that summer and I WASN’T looking for a relationship during that time. We decided the healthiest thing would be to create some distance between ourselves and maintain a friendship. We put boundaries up to not hang out one-on-one, but in doing so it felt like I had lost my best friend... A few days later we “reconsidered” and Thomas officially asked me to be his girlfriend on April 25th! Over the past two years, I have fallen so in love with Thomas in every way. He is the exact man that God had for me all this time. He is hilarious, a connector of people, my best friend, passionate about life and desires to be transformed into the image of Christ everyday. We have adventured through many experiences during this sweet season of dating and endured through so much life change during these years as well. I believe that marriage is a covenant relationship that directly reflects the covenant that Christ yearns to have with each and every one of us, where he promises to love us unconditionally, for eternity. I am beyond grateful that I get to embark on the adventure of this covenant with Thomas! We can’t wait to celebrate the sealing of this covenant with you all on June 7th!